forms of textual analysis
in which the aim is to exhibit the structure of discourse and discourse
formations" or analysis of the role of the reader or viewer in
reading and creating meaning. The assumption is that a discourse
has identifiable formation rules which distinguish it from
other discourses
.
Advances in computer technology have greatly expanded the ease
of usage and accuracy of content analysis. Only when the software
for conducting content analysis on desktop computers becomes as
convenient as word-processing or spell-checker programs Ð and this
should only be a matter of time - are many investigators again likely
to utilize it in their research
, stated Borgatta in 1992 (p.
292). Advances in our knowledge of artificial intelligence during
the 1990s are similarly likely to extend the usage of this research
tool.
In historical analysis, it is often the only means available to
the researcher. However, if we are concerned with analysis of the
larger social picture, one has to ensure that the material is not
so restrictive, either in points of view or in actual numbers, as
to make it unrepresentative.
It is relatively inexpensive research in terms of financial cost,
as the data is normally found in public or accessible private archives.
Much national and even international research can be done with little
funds, from the comfort of ones own location. The increasing access
to the Internet will also greatly assist the adoption of this form
of research in many areas. However, the main research cost will
continue to be in the large amount of time expended on setting up
the study parameters, and the actual data logging and collection.
In preparing the study specifications, the sublimation of the
researchers personal attitudes, biases and assumptions must be complete,
or the outcomes or conclusions derived from the study can quite
rightly be called into question.
As with other secondary data analysis forms, a major disadvantage
is that the researcher has no control over the original data collection
and preliminary analysis Ð if one is making conclusions from the
data, one must ascertain the accuracy, validity and time-frame of
the data, and deduce with caution.
References
Borgatta, E. & Borgatta M., Encyclopedia of Sociology, Vol 1,
(1992), New York, MacMillan
Jary, D. & Jary, J. Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 1995, Glasgow,
Harper Collins.
David C. McClelland,
The use of Measures of Human motivation in the Study of
society in Motives in Fantasy, Action and society, ed.
John W. Atkinson (New York:
Van Nostrand, 1966), p.518.
Webster 1& 2 Ð wysiwyg://23/http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/netdict
Part B: - CONTENT ANALYSIS
(Presentation by Leonie Newnham Precis and comment on selected
textual materials
Fishe, J., 1982. Introduction to Communication Studies. New
York: Methuen & Co.
Fishe provides a succinct definition of content analysis.
It is designed to produce an objective, measurable, verifiable
account of the manifest content of messages
(p.119). It
analyzes the denotative order of signification and works best
on a large scale as the more it deals with the more accurate
it becomes. Applying it to its use in the study of communication,
Fishe notes that content analysis works through identifying
and counting chosen units in a communication system. The units
are open to choice by the researcher and only need to be readily
identifiable and occur frequently enough for statistical methods
of analysis to be valid. It is non selective and must cover
the whole message system or a properly constituted sample. In
the section of this book on content analysis, a number of case
studies of research undertaken using this method were reviewed
as a way of explaining how it can and has been used. For example
as ways of checking the subjective and selective way we normally
receive messages through various media such as television, a
study of job stereotyping on American fictional television,
Seggar and Wheeler (1973) found that there was a far more restricted
range of occupations for women compared to men. Form can be
studied as well as content when reviewing some media such as
television commercials for how actively boys were portrayed
as opposed to girls. Content analysis can reveal a media distortion
in terms of a particular message however it cannot identify
why that exists. It can provide data upon which to base discussions
of larger social issues that could be the basis for the phenomenon
observed.
George Gerbner is identified as having produced the most fully
developed theory of how content analysis can shed light on deeper
cultural matters. He believes that culture communicates with
itself through the mass media and reinforces the broad consensus
of values in a culture. Content analysis by having the ability
to analyze the whole message system is able to overcome the
selectiveness of the individual. Content analysis can reveal
patterns and frequencies within the denotative order of communication
that connate values and attitudes. Fishe notes that some general
laws can be related to content analysis in the denotative order
to connotations of social values. For example being a victim
on television is a metaphor for being of low status in real
life. This book reviews content analysis as it applies to communication
studies. It reveals the ability of this form of research to
reveal larger cultural issues when used in this field. While
it is acknowledged there is a difficulty in using information
from this research to identify why certain messages are manifested,
it can indicate connotations of social values. This differs
from its use in other disciplines where there appears to be
caution with the use of the research outcomes from content analysis
to explain what they indicate in the larger picture.
Kolbe,R.H. and, Burnett, M.S., 1991. Content-analysis research:
an examination of applications with directives for improving
research reliability and objectivity. Journal of Consumer Research,
Sept. 1991 Vol.18 No2. Pages 243- 251.
This article reviews content analysis as used in consumer
communications. It studies a number of research pieces completed
to review how research was meeting research methodological standards.
Through this a number of benchmarks established through the
work of Kassarjian (1977) on the use of content analysis in
consumer research. The work identified that content analysis
offers the benefits to consumer researchers of allowing for
an unobtrusive appraisal of communications and can assess the
effects of environmental variables that can be regulatory, economic
and cultural. Source characteristics such as attractiveness,
credibility and likeability can also be related to message content.
Different kinds of message content can impact on receiver responses
and have cognitive, affective and behavioural effects. This
type of research can also provide a starting point for new research
evidence about the nature and effect of specific communications.
The assessment of the critical methodological issues identified
that there was difficulty meeting the objectivity and reliability
requirements of the research method. The measures used by the
authors to review the various components of the research identified
a number of categories to measure objectivity, to establish
hypothesis testing, review data collection designs and develop
reliable categories and coding designs. It was noted by the
researchers that content analysis was an important method for
facilitating many other types of analyzes for example in protocol
analysis, process analysis and integrative literature reviews.
The authors identified that it can also assist in theory development
and they identified five roles for content analysis in theory
development using Lijpharts (1971) categorizations for case
study research. This research method can embellish, augment,
accumulate and describe information. The need for systematic
study and information acquisition, part of the initial steps
in theory development, can be readily provided by content-analysis
research.
p.99.
Further references:
Kassarjian,H.H., 1977. Content Analysis in Consumer Research.
Journal of Consumer Research,
June Vol.4. Pages 8-18.
Lijphart,A., 1971. Comparative Politics and the Comparative
Method. American Political Science Review,
Sept. 1971 Vol.65. Pages 682-693.
Minichiello,V., Aroni, R., Timewell,E., and, Alexander,L.,
1990. In-depth Interviewing- Researching
People. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire. 1990.
This work reviews content analysis as an adjunct to research
that incorporates interviewing as a data collection method.
As a work that concentrates on the practical how-to of
interviewing, content analysis is reviewed as a way to make
sense of the information that has been obtained through this
process. They identify that this could be used in the perhaps
more traditional way of reviewing messages or elements in terms
of their frequency of appearance as they appear in interview
transcripts or written documents such as diaries, etc. However
the authors identify that meaning should be examined as well.
The elements or units of analysis they identify are words, concepts,
sentences, and themes. Here they distinguish between the manifest
context or elements that are physically present and countable,
and the latent content, or the symbolism underlying the physically
presented data. The latter is open to interpretation by the
researcher and introduces the need to consider how interpretation
is consistent with the informants perspective. With this extension
of the idea of content analysis is the need for the interviewer
to try to understand the patterns of meaning in the conversation
and actively work towards empathic or verstehen understanding.
Also the researcher operates within the constraints of the knowledge
of the informant and the researcher. Participant concepts, expressed
in their everyday language have to be interpreted into theoretical
concepts by the researcher for analysis. This broader use of
content analysis requires a review of the whole text to extract
the essence of the informants meanings. Logical analysis is
a technique that can be used for this process. Techniques for
doing qualitative data analysis are outlined. Developing a coding
system is reviewed and ways to develop codes and strategies
for doing this outlined. Coding the data is discussed including
a brief discussion on index cards and computer packages such
as NUDIST. A number of case studies are provided to assist in
understanding. This book provides an interesting perspective
on content analysis that introduces the use of this with interviews
conducted by the researcher as opposed to already published
sources. It explores the need to include an interpretative component
to assist with coding to ensure that the researcher provides
the correct understanding of the piece. This introduces another
level of complexity with the use of the data that needs to be
considered in the context of the ability of one person operating
in one frame of reference to interpret information presented
by a person operating in a different frame. The book expresses
the issues without exploring them in great depth theoretically
and works through them on a more practical level through the
case studies.
Morris,Rebecca., 1994, Computerized Content Analysis in Management
Research: a demonstration of
advantages and limitations. Journal of Management, Winter 1994,
v20 n4 p903(29)
The use of content analysis in management research is reviewed
in this article along with the ability to use computerized approaches
to this method. Management research has used this technique
primarily to draw valid inferences from the textual communications
of managers. Content analysis allows the values, sentiments,
intentions, and ideologies of managers to be studied in an unobtrusive
manner. It also provides a methodology for the systematic analysis
of information contained in corporate documents and so opens
a rich data source.
The objectives for which content analysis is used in social
science are related to the focus of many areas of management
research. These being: 1. To make inferences about the values,
sentiments, intentions or ideologies of the sources or authors
of the communications; 2. To infer group or societal values
through the content of communications; 3. To evaluate the effects
of communications on the audiences they reach.
Computer content coding schemes are able to formalise coding
rules through the creation of computer content-coding schemes,
this provides perfect coding reliability is obtained as well
as the ability to analyze large volumes of written communication.
This has been used in other disciplines such as psychology and
sociology.
The author reviewed the use of computerized content analysis
in management research by comparing the analysis of human coders
to computerized coding of the same text communications. She
found that the systems were able to provide a number of advantages
including: · Perfect stability of the coding scheme as the computer
applies the rules in the same way; · Explicit coding rules yielding
formally comparable results; · Perfect coder reliability of
the computerized approach allowing the researcher to concentrate
on other parts of the study; · Easy manipulation of the text
to allow statistical analysis of factors such as word frequency
and allow further research of certain terms or themes; · Ability
to process larger volumes of qualitative data at lower cost.
There were limitations as the computer programs do not have
natural language processing capabilities in the software and
so are unable to assess ambiguous concepts and identify the
communicative intent of word usage. Programs cannot resolve
references back or forwards and it cannot analyze data as strips.
Also the researcher is unable to provide an exhaustive list
of key words for categories that are by nature indeterminate.
The use of computers can provide results that are meaningless
as they use literal processing algorithms that result in word
crunching without context or meaning. Continued reliance
on human coders for the more subtle analysis will be needed.
The author completed the article by an analysis of ways in
which Content Analysis could be used in management research.
Neuman, W.L., 1991. Social Research Methods, Qualitative and Quantitative
Approaches. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Boston, 1997.
This is an excellent general research methods book that explains
and outlines content research in Chapter 11 titled, Nonreactive
Research and Available Data. Neuman identifies nonreactive
research as beginning when a researcher notices something that
indicates a variable of interest and uses nonreactive or unobtrusive
methods. He identifies the key being that the people being studied
are not aware of the study and so leave evidence of their social
behaviour or actions naturally. A researcher first conceptualises
a construct, then links this to nonreactive empirical evidence
which is used as the measure and uses the logic of quantitative
measurement for further examination. Neuman identifies content
analysis within this framework purely as a technique for gathering
and analyzing the context of text. Context can refer to words,
meanings, pictures, symbols, ideas, themes, or any message that
can be communicated. The text is anything written, visual, or
spoken that serves as a medium for communication. Objective
and systematic counting and recording procedures are used to
produce a quantitative description of the symbolic context of
the text. Neuman emphasises the quantitative rather than the
interpretive version of content analysis. He notes that as Markoff,
Shapiro and Weitman (1974) suggested it might be better named
textural coding. While identifying that content analysis
has been used for almost a century and is used in many fields,
including literature, history, journalism, political science,
education, psychology, it is noted by Neuman that the qualitative
content analysis is not highly respected by positivist researchers.
Topics appropriate for content analysis are identified in
this book. It identifies the range of studies that have been
done including studying themes in popular songs, trends in topics
newspapers cover, sex-role stereotypes in text books or films,
gender differences in conversations. There is a reference to
work by Seider (1974) who content analyzed the public speakers
of U.S. corporate executives. This identified five ideological
themes that executives emphasised more or less depending on
the industry of their corporation. Woodrum(1984:1) noted that
content analysis had wider applicability within social science
for studying beliefs, attitudes organizations and human relations.
Neuman identified it being useful for three types of research
problems: · Those involving a large volume of text; · Those
that must be studied at a distance ; · To reveal messages
in a text that are difficult to see with casual observation.
Measurement and coding are reviewed. General issues revolve
around developing careful measures as often the researcher is
dealing with symbolic communication and trying to make it precise,
objective and quantitative. Units of analysis are determined
by the researcher and can include a range of other units including
recording units, context units, and enumeration units. What
is measured is based on structured observation based on written
rules. Coding systems are identified that identify characteristics
of text content such as frequency of occurrence, direction of
message content, intensity of the message and space allocated
to the message. Types of coding include: · manifest coding that
records visible, surface content in a text but does not consider
the connotations of the word or phrase; · latent coding (also
semantic analysis) that looks for underlying, implicit meaning
in the content of a text; Intercoder reliability is often an
issue where a number of people are working on a large project.
This must be catered for in the design of the research and taking
care with training about the use of the coding system.
Content analysis research starts with the question formulation,
a determination of the units of analysis and an identification
of sampling techniques. This is explained in this book by the
development of a case study during which a research project
is established through the question formulation, to developing
variables and coding categories and a process for recording.
Neuman identifies as critical the ability of the researcher
to be able to determine what inferences can be made by the researcher
about the results of content analysis research. As it describes
what is in the text it cannot reveal the intentions of those
who created it or the effects that messages in the text have
on those who receive them. There is a limit to inferring causality
or testing a theory based on nonreactive data accordingly.
This work is a good starting point for understanding content
analysis as used in a quantitative manner and using already
published material. It does not explain or review using content
analysis in combination with other research techniques such
as interviews or case studies. By classifying it as nonreactive
research, its ability to be used on a wider basis is ignored.
FURTHER READINGS TO BE EXPLORED AT YOUR LEISURE
Bouma, G.D.,1996 The Research Process. Melbourne, Oxford University
Press,Third Edition:, 1998.
Burns, R.L.,1998 An Introduction to Research Methods. South Melbourne,
Longmans,Third Edition:, 1998.
Babbie, E.R., 1991. The Practice of Social Research. Belmont,CA,
Eighth Edition:
Wadsworth Publishing, Boston, 1998.
Kvale,S., 1991. Interviews. Thousand Oaks,CA: Sage Publications,
CA, 1996.
Weber, R.P.,1985 Basic Content Analysis. Beverly Hills, CA., Sage.
PART C: - COMMENTS ON THE USE OF CONTENT ANALYSIS IN MANAGEMENT
RESEARCH
(Leonie Newnham)
Content analysis has been used for almost a century and is
used in many fields, including literature, history, journalism,
political science, education, psychology. Neuman (1991) identified
it being useful for three types of research problems: · Those
involving a large volume of text; · Those that must be studied
at a distance ; · To reveal messages in a text that are
difficult to see with casual observation.
Within management research it can be used as follows: · To
make inferences about the values, sentiments, intentions or
ideologies of the sources or authors of the communications;
· To infer group or societal values through the content of communications;
· To evaluate the effects of communications on the audiences
they reach.
Content Analysis is a technique for gathering and analyzing
the context of text. Context can refer to words, meanings, pictures,
symbols, ideas, themes, or any message that can be communicated.
The text is anything written, visual, or spoken that serves
as a medium for communication. Objective and systematic counting
and recording procedures are used to produce a quantitative
description of the symbolic context of the text. There is a
wealth of textural material that can be analyzed from existing
sources within organizations including annual reports, speeches
given by leaders, and management communications. Material can
be assessed over time to compare changes in approach. Also research
can be done in a non intrusive manner, as work could be done
on published material that is in the public domain. In addition
content analysis can be used to analyze information created
through other research techniques such as interviews and other
material gathered for case studies, action research or narrative
research. Many research methods produce a large amount of material
that can be reviewed and understood through the use of content
analysis to identify major themes and underlying messages. Computerized
systems assist to aid in content analysis and these are able
to review large volumes of information and enable a number of
ways of assessing information. They are limited in the ability
to review the subtlety of language use however this can be overcome
by the use of humans to code particular sections. This method
is seen to provide information that can lead the researcher
to draw inferences about the reasons why the information is
portrayed in these ways. However, Kolbe and Burnet (1991) identify
that it can also assist in theory development and they identified
five roles for content analysis in theory development using
Lijpharts (1971) categorizations for case study research. This
research method can embellish, augment, accumulate and describe
information. The need for systematic study and information acquisition,
part of the initial steps in theory development, can be readily
provided by content-analysis research.
p.99.
PART D : DISCOURSE ANALYSIS IN MANAGEMENT RESEARCH
(by Jean-Jacques Pantebre)
There appears to be significant diversity of views regarding
the definition of discourse analysis. One view of discourse
analysis, stemming from the philosopher H.P. Grice, sees it
as a further development upon linguistic or semantic analysis,the
study of the use of language as it flows or unfolds, as opposed
to the rather atomistic sentence-based focus of stylistics or
traditional linguistics
(Sim, 1998, p. 231). As is, however,
the case with much of the terminology utilised by postmodernist
writers, the term "discourse", and consequently "discourse analysis"
has a broader meaning in the context of the work of the seminal
postmodern theorist Michel Foucault. "A discourse, for Foucault,
is the matrix of texts, the specialised languages and the networks
of power relations operating in and defining a given field"
(Sim, 1998, p. 242). More concisely, a discourse may be considered
as "a well bounded area of social knowledge" (McHoul & Grace
1993, p. 31). The Foucaultian concept ofdiscourse challenges
the basic premise that language conforms to, and indeed reflects,
a rational, underlying objective pattern or structure of reality.
Rather, the context, content and use of language, both spoken
and written, is the consequence of political forces, and the
dominant discourses which have emerged as a result of these
political forces today define the reality within which
we live. Whilst discourse analysis may not constitute a stand
alone research methodology, it provides a valuable tool
by which the researcher can analyze the objectivity with
which a given research question is approached, and may also
provide a means for elucidating the manner by which social forces
shape individual cognition, and subsequent collective actions.
Within organizational research, particularly that which is concerned
with the nature of organizational change, discourse analysis
may prove to be a fruitful technique for uncovering the epistemology
of the underlying assumptions which shape organizational culture
and behaviour. Discourse analysis can be used to trace the
interconnection between a discourse and the social context in
which it emerges. By analyzing a discourse critically alongside
the social context, the method (of discourse analysis) can take
account of agents and groups of agents who take part in discourse
and trace the relations between discourse and socialprocesses
(Garnsey and Rees, p. 1042)
PART E :-DISCOURSE ANALYSIS Ð SELECTED READINGS
Hamilton , Sheryl N., Incomplete Determinism: A discourse
analysis of cybernetic futurology in early cyberculture
Journal of Communication Inquiry, Vol. 22, No. 2, April 1998,
pp. 177-205
This article examines the terms cyberculture, and the
ubiquitous present usage of cyber-hyphen-everything, from a
Foucaultian perspective. It attempts to uncover the way that
the use of cyber and associated terms and concepts influences
our attitudes towards technology, knowledge, and the resultant
power relationships between the cyber-savvy and those less so,
leading to a particular view of the future which is gaining
increasing currency.
Garnsey, Elizabeth, Rees, Bronwyn, Discourse and enactment:
gender inequality in text and context, Human Relations, Vol.
49, No. 8, August 1996, pp. 1041-1065
This paper analyses the discourse associated with the UK Opportunity
2000 program Ð a government supported UK business initiative
intended to increase the quality and quantity of womens participation
in the workforce. The researchers examine how discourse influences
individual cognition, in particular how the underlying assumptions
and expectations which shape the discourse of equal opportunities
make actually work against the espoused objectives of equal
opportunity intitatives. The suggestion is made that "discourse
analysis provides a tool for exposing the preconceptions and
interests behind apparently neutral facades".
McHoul, Alec, Grace, Wendy, A Foucault Primer: discourse,
power and the subject, Melbourne University Press, 1993
This work presents an overview of Foucaults writings, particularly
the relationships Foucault explored between discourse, power,
and subjectivity. The placement of Foucaults concept of discourse
(as opposed to the Non-Foucauldian conceptions of discourse
is considered within the historical context of linguistic analysis
and structuralism. In the opinion of this reviewer, a fairly
demanding work, despite its claim to be an introductory account
for the non-specialist reader
.
Norris, Christopher, Deconstruction, theory and practice,
Methuen, London, 1982
A comprehensive overview of the major players in the field
of deconstruction, presented as a historical analysis of the
development of deconstructionist philosophies as a response
to structuralism. An in-depth discussion of the work of Jacques
Derrida is presented. Of particular interest is a chapter detailing
the critiques of deconstructive approaches, commencing with
the ironic, and perhaps valid observation that deconstructionists
do not, in general, tend to deconstruct their own works and
interpretations.
Sim, Stuart (ed.) The Icon Critical Dictionary of Postmodern
Thought, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1998
Any neophyte to the postmodernist world rapidly becomes overwhelmed
by the vast array of new terminology, or worse still new meanings
for "well known" terms and concepts which this field engenders.
This work is therefore invaluable as a constant reference when
pursuing other readings by post-modernist authors, who inevitably
write for audiences assumed to have a deep and instinctive understanding
of postmodernist jargon. The first section also provides a number
of succinct overviews of the influence of postmodernism on modern
culture and philosophy.
PART F:- CONTENT AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
QUESTIONS POSED FOR DISCUSSION AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE SEMINAR
PRESENTATION, AND ISSUES ARISING FROM THE DISCUSSION
1. Compare the traditional (quantitative/nonreactive) approaches
to content analysis research with the newer (qualitative/reactive)
approach ?
Business research must include a social or human relations
side (that includes the industrial relation influences) and
cultural analysis lends itself to this within organizations.
How could you apply this to your own organization in implementation
and maintain the credibility also? How to get to a practical
approach otherwise it would be dismissed as academic "gobbledegook"?
The message, in order to get it accepted by the business world,
might have to be adjusted Ð this means that it is not really
to be presented in its pure research context but simply reviews
outcomes - and the methodology has to be explained in terms
of higher level components (for example, interviews are to be
conducted but not that the outcome is to be analyzed using content
or discourse analysis).
However, it will have to have a defined outcome that is identifiable
in terms that those agreeing to the research in the organization
will understand. This would also have to establish some sort
of outcome for the research and conclusions that could be drawn,
even though academically these would only be seen as suggestions
rather than academic findings using the content analysis technique.
Others who had done this type of research identified that the
product delivered to the organization had to be translated into
a report that made sense to the way they did business rather
than providing the academic paper.
Note - It could be seen as esoteric (and therefore impractical
or useless) as it is grounded in social research theory instead
of fields associated commonly with organizational business research.
Another way of using this approach could be to look at the well-trodden
paths and the gaps between them and to look at the changes within
the organizations to find some new insights. It was noted that
there were functionalist paradigms existing in organizations.
Research methods were not interested in following these lines,
therefore the translation into the more accepted forms could
be part of the research activity. Content and discourse analysis
is to collect data and shape further work. Discussion about
using the instrument to achieve what purpose, and the necessity
to discuss it with people in the organization.
2. Evaluate the ethical implications of using a combination
of nonreactive and reactive approaches. One needs to consider
the ethical issues when using reactive approaches in setting
up and collecting the base information that will later be assessed
using the nonreactive approach.
3. How can you overcome (a) the inherent bias and use of preconceptions
in designing and analyzing the data ? Not answered Ð seem to
have been covered to the satisfaction of all in the research
outline given.
4. Can you validly infer outcomes from such analysis ? Can
use the analysis for discussion of outcomes. Some researchers
say you must use assessment of the total meaning to make sense
of the answers. It was noted that a reductionist approach would
be rejected in systems theory. Taking information out of context
of the complexity of the environment would reduce its meaning.
Content analysis would be an issue, however discourse analysis
would reveal the total picture. It needs to have an environmental
context. Each might be appropriate for some purposes.
5. What are the dominant discourses in your chosen field of
research. Why? It was identified during the course of the weekend
seminar that both Content Analysis and Discourse Analysis could
be used in a number of different types of research to analyze
the data collected in the form of words or images, for example
case studies, action research and narrative analysis. It was
seen as a tool that in business would be useful as an adjunct
to other forms of research.
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