Also called textual analysis and first used in 1910 by Max Weber (1864-1920), one of the founders of sociology, it is the systematic coding of the contents of a text or narrative using a variety of techniques based on emergent or a priori rules of coding. In emergent coding, categories are established after some preliminary examination of the data by two or more individuals, with differences in initial checklists being reconciled before arriving at a consolidated checklist. With apriori coding, categories are established before the analysis based on some theoretical perspective. Individuals agree on the categories and coding, which are then applied to the data, with revisions being made to ensure maximal exclusivity and exhaustiveness. Content analysis emphasises the search for contexts, underlying meanings, patterns and processes, rather than the quantity or numerical relationships between two or more variables. It has wide application, covering topics in fields ranging from marketing and media studies, to literature and rhetoric, ethnography and cultural studies, gender and age issues, sociology and political science, psychology and cognitive science. It has proved useful in, for example, determining authorship, examining patterns in documents, and for monitoring changes in public opinion. More specific examples include the examination of children’s essays for emergent themes, and the reactions of children to television programmes and advertising directed at them. Sophisticated software packages exist for carrying out many of the routines required by content analysis.
See Coding scheme, Conversation analysis, Critical literacy, Discourse analysis, Narrative, Qualitative research