Lecture Communication research: Asking questions, finding answers (4e) Chapter 12: Quantitative analysis of text

Lecture Communication research: Asking questions, finding answers (4e) Chapter 8: Surveys and questionnaires. After reading this chapter, you should be able to: Design a survey or questionnaire to answer a research question or test a hypothesis; select the survey format (selfreport, facetoface, phone, or online) that will best serve the purpose of the survey; select existing or develop appropriate questionnaire items and response sets;... Đề tài Hoàn thiện công tác quản trị nhân sự tại Công ty TNHH Mộc Khải Tuyên được nghiên cứu nhằm giúp công ty TNHH Mộc Khải Tuyên làm rõ được thực trạng công tác quản trị nhân sự trong công ty như thế nào từ đó đề ra các giải pháp giúp công ty hoàn thiện công tác quản trị nhân sự tốt hơn trong thời gian tới.

QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF TEXT

Chapter 12

 Study of texts or messages is central to the

communication discipline

 Two data collection and analytical methods

 Content analysis

 Interaction analysis

CONTENT ANALYSIS

 A data collection and

analytical technique

 Can make inferences by

identifying specific

characteristics of

messages

 Manifest content

 Latent content

 Objective

 Carried out according to rules and procedures

 Systematic

 Identifying content to be coded

 Coding and interpreting content

 Generality

 Findings should have

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF CONTENT ANALYSIS

 Messages can be classified into a set of categories

 Elements classified together have similar meanings

 Categories produce frequency counts to allow for

comparisons

 Evaluate the relevance of frequencies to the theoretical

propositions supporting the study

WHAT CAN BE ANALYZED?

 Sources, senders, or

receivers of messages

 Functions or types of

messages

 Message channels

 Content of messages

 Message effects

 Nonverbals cues or behaviors

 Sounds

 Visual images

 Webages

 Text messages, tweets

 Topics

CONTENT ANALYSIS PROCESS

1 Develop hypothesis or research question that calls for

content analysis

3 Select categories and units for coding

4 Develop procedures for resolving coding differences

5 If all messages cannot be coded, select sample

7 Interpret the results of the coding

SELECTING WHAT TO CODE

 Are the messages available or must they be created?

 Narrow the data set for the elements of interest

 May still need to sample elements

 Messages may have structural characteristics that

need to be considering in sampling

DEVELOPING CONTENT CATEGORIES

 Theoretical or emergent

 What was said

 How message was said

 Categories must be

 Exhaustive

 Equivalent

 Mutually exclusive

 Be careful of using “other” as a catchall category

UNITS OF ANALYSIS

 Discrete element that is

coded and counted

 Rules for identifying the

unit should be explicit

 Complete thoughts or sentences

 Characters or speakers

behaviors, or processes

 Television programs or scenes

Typical units of analysis in communication

TRAINING CODERS

 All coders must be trained

 Increases coding agreement

 Commit coding system and rules to paper

 Practice on similar texts or messages

 Once sufficient degree of reliability is established,

coders then work independently

CODING RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY

 Intercoder or interrater reliability

 Unitizing reliability

 Do we identify the same thing to code?

 Coding reliability

 Do we code it in the same way?

 Validity – appropriateness and adequacy of

coding scheme for this set of messages

INTERPRETING CODING RESULTS

 Analysis must be relevant to hypothesis or

research question

 Frequencies

 Differences

 Trends

 Patterns

 Standards

STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS

 Data close to the

communicator

 Unobtrusive

 Applicable to a variety of text

or message structures

 If message cannot be captured, it cannot be coded

 Coding scheme may not reveal nuances of messages

 Selection process may not be representative

INTERACTION ANALYSIS

 Researcher codes content of ongoing communication between two or more individuals

 Identifies verbal or nonverbal features or functions from the

stream of conversation

 Allows complex analyses

 Intent and function of messages

 Effect of messages

 Examines messages relative to one another over time

PREPARING AND CODING INTERACTION

 Interaction is recorded and then transcribed

 Coders trained

 Interaction must be unitized

 Unitizing reliability calculated

 Interaction coded according to coding scheme

 Coding reliability calculated

 All coding differences resolved

ANALYZING AND INTERPRETING CODED DATA

 Return to the research question or hypothesis

 Compare to theoretical position

 Frequency analysis is common

 Look for patterns that simple frequency

analyses cannot illuminate

EXAMPLE OF INTERACTION ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS LIMITATIONS

 Elements before and after

a coded element are

considered

 Places emphasis on

relative position

 Several coding schemes

have been developed and

validated over time

 Limited by validity and representativeness of coding scheme

 Ongoing streams of conversation are not neat and tidy – can be difficult to code

 Time consuming