COMM 2500 Exam 3
Basic steps in conducting content analysis
- Develop a hypothesis or research question about communication content - Define content to be analyzed - Sample the content - Select units for coding - Develop a coding scheme - Assign each occurrence off a unit the sample to a code in the coding scheme - Count occurrences of the coded unit - Report results, patterns of data, and inferences from data
Strategies for interviewing
- Funnel approach: starting broad and going narrow - Reflecting comments back to the participant rather than offering opinions
How focus groups are used
- Gets the opinion of 6-12 people at one time during a discussion lead by a facilitator - Can be used to discuss pragmatic issues and gauge how people respond and perceive it - Often used before surveys to pretest survey questions - Can help campaign managers find week points in campaign and market strategy
Challenges that interviewers have with focus groups
- Getting people to stay on topic - Managing a dominant participant - Avoiding group think
Difference between logos, pathos, ethos as persuasive techniques
Logo: fact an logic argument Pathos: emotional argument Ethos: characters nature in the argument and rationality
Value of historical research for various applications
Gaining perspective of soft-drink industry to understand the competitive landscape today, examining ads of an earlier time period to understand cultural norms, etc
Characteristics of a good and bad lit review
Good: assesses The Who, what, when, where, and why of a scholarly article and assess the methods and process of collection of the data Bad: summary of the literature and doesn't relate to your own research and question
Constant comparison method of analyzing qualitative data
Should always be comparing the qualitative and quantitative gathered, seeing I correlation exists and why
The best balance between how much the researcher says versus the participant
not as much
Advantages/disadvantages of a focus group
- (adv). Can be generalized to gauge the opinions of a target audience by providing multiple attitudes at once - (disadv.) Discussion can be overtaken by on outspoken member, group think can emerge
The role of "meaning" as a central concept
- Meaning arises out of social interaction - Meaning changes over time and place - Meaning is both individual and shared - The same act means different things to different people - Despite individual differences, patterns of behavior exist
The qualitative methods
- Participant observation (ethnography) - In-depth interviews - Focus groups - Text analysis
Strengths and limitations of each qualitative method
- Participant observation: - In-depth interviews: - Focus groups: - Text analysis:
Differences between qualitative and quantitative research
- Quantitative: number based research - Qualitative: Observation based research
Applications of content analysis
- Representation in the media, IG posts, etc.
The role of a moderator in a focus group
- Take a middle ground position on topic being discussed - Keep discussion on task and maintain order - Share prompts and questions to promote effective discussion - Make sure there is equal participation
Types of probes/prompts
- Think about a time... - Tell me about when...
Advantages/disadvantages of content analysis
Advantages: - Unobtrusive approach (human participants not involved), emphasis on systematic sampling, can be 100% reliable if done with computers Disadvantages: - Can be seen as unreliable because material issues so subjective, addresses only questions of content, only has application or comparisons, validity
Text analysis of Ads using surface, advertiser intent, ideology
Analyzing advertisements by deciphering the purpose, the message, strategy and deconstructing the image by considering the intent
Origins of rhetorical analysis and its purposes
Aristotle came up with the idea of rhetorical analysis to examine communication content and to identify persuasive strategies within it.
Why qualitative research prefers the natural setting
Because people tend to shift their behaviors to what they perceive as favorable if they know someone is observing them
Understand how "content analysis" different from qualitative approaches to analyzing content
Content analysis looks to understand why literature or media was constructed in a specific way rather than what people think of it through analysis of coding
The role of the researcher compared to that of journalist, friend, therapist, etc.
Interviewer is simply looking for how people perceive something r
Importance of finding relevant and quality information
Relevance: immediately useful Quality: credible information Must find a balance between the two in sources to be most efficient
Differences between scholarly, popular, and trade sources
Scholarly sources: go through peer review before publication Trade sources: more topical than academic and are not peer reviewed Popular sources: give a summary of topic and other authors works
Differences between search engines and databases and their advantages/disadvantages
Search engines: (adv.) ease of use, ease of access, simple interface, good idea of what's out there (disadv.) too many results, not narrow enough Databases: (adv.) place to find scholarly research, sophisticated interface, multiple to choose from (disadv.) can bring up quality into that's not relevant
Range of applications
Speeches, ads, music videos, any content that has meaning and a message
Why generalization is not a goal of qualitative research
The goal of qualitative research is to understand phenomena as seen through the eyes are research participants , not necessarily to generalize these findings as quantitative research does
Understand the benefits and limitations of rhetorical and qualitative analysis of content
There are always multiple ways o viewing and interpreting literature and this can lead to it being discredited
Boolean operators (or, not, and)
Tools to use to narrow down search results in a database Ex: communication AND pathways
Ethical concerns with observations: Do participants have an expectation of privacy in public settings
Yes, it is expected that what is said in an interview o forum group is not linked back to them and is only used or research
How the role of the researcher differs between those forms of analysis
research questions are more of a guide line to content analysis
Primary v. secondary sources
yours vs. not yours
