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23.05.2011

CONTENT ANALYSIS AS A METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY OF MEDIA-TEXTS

   

Anna Zhamakochyan1

The way of expression of thoughts (ideas) usually has a kind of settled characteristic which on the one hand characterizes the author or source and on the other hand it becomes his style. The way of expression characterizes both the stances, ideas of the author and his goals. Being spread the thought (idea)-message turns into a piece of information and thus, into factor which gives a hint or directs societies. Correspondingly, the sources of mass distribution of the ideas (thoughts), in short, media, are one of the most studied “authors” in the modern world.

Very often the reader or TV viewer on his own experience may get an idea of the efficiency, subject, ideological, value focus and general strategy of the media. But this idea mostly depends on the specificities of the reader or viewer too, so it is of subjective character. So it follows, that there is a demand for the objective and systematized methodical research.

The development of the content analysis

The content analysis (CA) is one of the widespread methods of studying media. As a method it arose and developed within the scope of the analysis of the texts of mass communication. The term appeared in the first half of the 20th century, though there can be found even earlier examples of applying this method. It acquired most systematized form in the US while studying the propaganda materials and ideological orientation of the press during the World Wars I and II; the most remarkable researches were made by H. Lasswell and his partners. The methodological literature which was created at that time is considered to be a classical. Due to the permanent researches of the CA in 1960s the method continued to develop, it was adapted to different social sciences, various techniques and approaches were elaborated. Even today its different forms are applied and theoretical approaches are improved.

The formulations of the CA and its types

Different authors offered different formulations of the CA; they even considered it as a mode of observation, according to which the questions are offered not to the respondents but to the content of the communication produced. Especially in the early period of the development of that method such researchers as Berelson, Kerlinger and others emphasized its systematic, objective and quantitative sides2. Probably, due to this very reason the CA was considered exclusively quantitative method in the Soviet science. And today, following that tradition, on the territory of the CIS the CA is taken in the same way, while qualitative aspect is called “qualitative analysis of the documents”, where text, recording or video material can be taken as the documents.

However, the CA has both qualitative and quantitative types and it is a methodology of revealing regularities and specificities in diversity. Much prominence is given to the quantitative method of content analysis mainly because it implies rather facile and standardized procedure, which allows lessening the threats of subjective consideration by the researchers. But the advantage of the qualitative method is first of all in the possibility to work with the latent layers of the texts and to reveal the contradictions. In this case not only what is said but also how it is said, where it is said and etc. is studied. Correspondingly every researcher, on the assumption of his purposes, chooses the most appropriate type of the CA.

So, the CA is a reliable, verifiable and objective method of study of the text message by the previously set rules and which is directed to revealing social processes (objects, phenomena, context) expressed in the texts.

The peculiarities of the quantitative CA

The essence of the quantitative CA (QCA), according to Lasswell, is in the systematic calculating and analyzing the marks-incentives in the text, which are presented by a word, judgment, paragraph or fragment. The marks-incentives together with the responses-reactions constitute a chain of communication.

The peculiarity of this method is that definite unites of language, e.g. thematic text extracts, are characterized by the quantitative description. Another peculiarity and restriction is that it can be applied only in the texts with obvious meaning and it cannot consider latent meanings. In case of the quantitative CA, applying mathematical apparatus the researchers try to clear it out with the help of different formalized procedures the regularities and trends of the information flows, to reveal the attempts of the communicator during the replication of those flows and to forecast possible reaction of the audience.

The main demands for the QCA are:

  1. Objectivity: the researched characteristics must be distinct, unequivocally interpreted and must be traced back in all the chosen texts;
  2. Systematization: the analysis of the object of research should be carried out in a systematized way, thus the choice being based on formal, impartial criteria, not ignoring the fragments of text which contradict to the hypothesis.
  3. Presentable appearance: the selection must be carried out in the way which is characteristic of the quantitative method,
  4. Measurability: there should be a possibility to express the studied characteristics quantitatively.

The main problem which is faced while applying quantitative CA is a solid technical work. But today the development of the method brought to the creation of various software packages, which carry out technical calculations in accordance with the standards preset by the researcher. There are software packages for the analysis of the texts in English and Russian but there are no such packages for the Armenian.

The approaches demanded from the media-texts for the CA

Within the framework of the methodic approach to the CA a question about the presentable appearance of the media-text in regard to the social reality constantly arouses. They reflect reality in different ways, thus underlining or, just the opposite, disguising its separate sides.

The attitude towards the media-texts can be different. L.Fedotova3 generally underlines the following approaches to the texts:

  1. Text can be considered as the evidence of the social reality it is based on;
  2. To consider text as an inner self-contained textual reality, thus asserting a system of definite characteristics in it;
  3. To consider a connection of textual characteristics with the structure of their producers and consumers.

The author also mentions that the content of the text depends on all the communicative components, i.e. the communicational condition, communicator, means of communication and characteristics of the audience, but to different extent. It first of all depends on the factors regarding production, i.e. it depends on the characteristics of communicator, communicational condition and means of communication and only secondarily on audience. So with the help of text we will form an idea rather about the producer than about the consumer. That is why, while studying texts the following approach is used. They are considered from the point of view of both the tasks put before the person (group, stratum, institution or society) who reproduces the reality and possible attitude of the potential audience towards those texts.

Thus, the media-text is considered as an objective but a mediated reflection of the interests, intentions and demands of the parties of the communication process4. Text is considered a mirror in which a communicator as well as possible addressees and social and cultural contexts where they communicate with each other are reflected.

Correspondingly, the CA of the text allows the researcher to form an idea about the conduct, policy and other characteristics of the participants of process of communication.

The aim of the content analysis

Lasswell formulates an idea about the process of communication with the help of five questions, the analysis of which forms the study of the communication:

  1. Who says? (analysis of the communicator and managing of the process of communication);
  2. What is said? (analysis of the message);
  3. Whom is it said? (analysis of the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the audience);
  4. What channels are used? (analysis of a means of communication);
  5. With what effect is it said? (analysis of the results, change of the consciousness and conduct of the recipient).

In the sequel he paraphrased the components of the ccommunication and included:

  1. Intentions of the communicator;
  2. Condition of the communication;
  3. Strategy of the communicator.

Despite that fact that the analysis of the message is the study of only one of the aforementioned components, due to the comprehensive characteristics it allows coming to definite conclusions concerning other components of the communication too. Even in spite of the fact to what extent the social reality is manifested in the media-texts, the social transformations taking place in the society are inevitably reflected in them, thus they can be brought out with the help of the content analysis.

So, with the help of the CA the following can be revealed:

  1. The main forms of the functioning of the media;
  2. Social and cultural environment of their activity;
  3. Thinking of their leaders, their social stances, values, psychological condition;
  4. Their claims, intentions to influence different processes;
  5. System of influence (character, strategy, manipulation methods);
  6. Possible objects of influence, focus audience;
  7. Possible ways of influence on the focus-audience;
  8. Forms of reflecting the public opinion.

On the assumption of the content of the message the researcher resumes to what extent the everyday activity of the media corresponds to the declared aims, what exactly the source of information chooses from the reality, to what ideals and values it turns, to what extent it reflects the social reality, how much it modifies, transforms or distorts it, what picture of the world that media models unlike other medias, what intentions make the communicator to inform about one and to suppress the other sides of the life.

The advantage of the CA is in the fact that all the points mentioned can be studied in course of time and their transformations can be considered. Besides, this method allows carrying out comparative analysis in the same country or between the media of different countries.

Media-texts are studied not only to reveal the information the media tend to present and, correspondingly, the intentions they have and the possible influence they can exert on the audience but also to affect efficient methods and ways of the influence on the audience.

Examples of applying content analysis

The applying of the CA in practice is diverse: from the study of the political, propagandistic and social issues and forms of discrimination to marketing and advertisement researches.

Thus, there are several classical researches which are a guideline for the researchers up till now. E.g. Berelson and Salter after analyzing 198 short articles in the issues of 8 well-known magazines for 1937-1943 studied the national identity and the role of the heroes and attitude to them. According to the results American national minorities are heroized much less and are described in more negative way.

In the history of the CA the research of the intentions of the editorial board of the “True American” newspaper carried out by Lasswell and Leites is known; that research had become a main argument in charging the newspaper with pro-fascist sympathies and contributing to closing it judicially. The authors took as a unit of analysis the slogans of Nazi agitation and calculated whether the charged newspaper approved or denied them.

That very authors, together with their colleagues, carried out “World Attention Survey”, the purpose of which was the monitoring of the media in the time plane. For the analysis the authoritative newspapers, which are read by the political elite across the world and which are considered to be rather reliable indicator of the ideological transformations in the country, were chosen. The authors analyzed the editorials of the first and the 15th day of each month – 20 000 articles in total. A political symbol was chosen as a unit of analysis. The content of that symbol was 416 names of political figures, structures, countries, powers, political actions, situations, ideologies – in fact, the authors singled out an entire political language (e.g. congress, parliament, prime-minister, Fuerer, peace, war, revolution of masses, communism, liberalism, democracy and etc.). The methodological hypothesis was based on the fact that those symbols were the main sides of any political information from the point of view of communicator, as well as the junctions, which concentrate the attention of the audience. The analysis was carried out by calculating each symbol and the rate of the attitude (favourable, unfavourable, neutral)5.

Another interesting example is the Chai study devoted to the political conflict in China in 1976 after the death of Mao Zedong. The author carried out that research by analyzing 40 obituary notices received from the central committee of the Communist Party of China, because a direct study of the reaction of the Chinese people to the death of Mao was not available for the Americans6.

As we can see, the methodic apparatus of the content-analysis is one of the most important means, which, studying messages of mass communication, gives an idea not only about that message but also about other components of the process of communication and even gives an opportunity to know the perceptions and transformations in the societies which are not available to the researcher.

1 Senior Expert at the Center of Information Studies, “Noravank” Foundation

2 B Devi Prasad, “Content Analysis: A method in Social Science Research”.

3 Федотова Л.Н., «Анализ содержания – социологический метод изучения средств массовой коммуникации».

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 B Devi Prasad, “Content Analysis: A method in Social Science Research”.

“Globus National Security”, issue 3, 2011

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