Content Analysis

Considering the strengths and weaknesses of content analysis, would any of these make you reluctant to use this method? Why? Given that content analysis is used to systematically study some form of communication, what method(s) other than content analysis could you use? Use a specific example of a form of communication that would lend itself to content analysis and this other method of studying it.

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this is a discussion question so it does not need to be formatted and does not have to be more then 100 words.

Content analysis is both a method of doing research and a form of analysis of available data. (Recall the material from the previous module of this course about sources of available data.) As your text puts it, “Content analysis is a method of data collection in which some form of communication (speeches, television programs, newspaper articles, films, advertisements, even literature anthologies) is studied systematically.” (Adler & Clark, 2011, p. 358) Researchers doing content analysis have studied such topics as whether newspapers were liberal or conservative and whether or to what extent films produced in a certain time period reflected certain themes such as romance, bravery, independence, taking personal responsibility for one’s actions, or patriotism. Other scholars have studied suicide notes, tattoos, popular songs, novels, poems, graffiti, and letters. In short, any form of communication can be analyzed as to its content, meaning, themes, or other characteristics.