CONTENT ANALYSIS An analysis of the content of a communication A technique that enables researchers to study human behavior in an indirect way by analyzing

An analysis of the content of a

communication

A technique that enables researchers to study

human behavior in an indirect way by analyzing

communications

APPLICATION OF CONTENT ANALYSIS

• wide applicability in educational research• give researchers insights into problems • Reasons to do a content analysis :

1) to obtain descriptive information of one kind or another2) to analyze observational and interview data3) to test hypothesis and to check other research findings4) to obtain useful information in dealing with educational problems

STEPS IN CONTENT ANALYSIS1) Determine objectives

- to obtain descriptive information about a topic

2) Define terms- clearly defined the important terms, eg. Violence, minority individuals and back-to-basic

3) Specify the unit of analysis

4) Locate relevant data- locate the data that will be analyzed and that are relevant to the objectives (textbooks, magazines, lesson plan)

STEPS IN CONTENT ANALYSIS

5) Develop a rationale- need a conceptual link to explain how the data are related to the objectives and the contents should be clear

6) Develop a sampling plan (stratified sampling and cluster sampling)7) Formulate coding categories

- formulate categories that are relevant to investigation- manifest content: a communication refers to the specific, clear, surface content (words, pictures, images-easily categorized)- latent content: refers to the meaning underlying what is contained in a communication

FORMULATE CODING CATEGORIES

CODING AN INTERVIEW

RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY AS APPLIED TO CONTENT ANALYSYS

DATA ANALYSIS

• Using frequencies (the number of specific incidents found in the data) and proportion of particular occurrences to total occurrences.

• Use coding to develop themes to facilitate synthesis

• Computer analysis is extremely use in coding data once categories have been determined.

ETHNOGRAPHIC

ETHNOGRAPHIC : TRIANGULATION

ETHNOGRAPHIC : TRIANGULATION

ETHNOGRAPHIC : PATTERNS

ETHNOGRAPHIC : KEY EVENTS

ETHNOGRAPHIC : VISUAL REPRESENTATION

ADVANTAGES

ADVANTAGES

ETHNOGRAPHIC : STATISTICS

e.g. •Chi Square Test•Mean & Median – summarize frequency of action

•ONLY WHEN HAVE LARGE SAMPLES

e.g. •Chi Square Test•Mean & Median – summarize frequency of action

•ONLY WHEN HAVE LARGE SAMPLES

ETHNOGRAPHIC : CRYSTALLIZATION

HISTORICAL RESEARCH

Focus primarily on the past

Systematic collection and evaluation of data to

describe, explain and thereby understand actions @ events

that occurred sometime in the past

THE PURPOSES OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH

1. To make people aware of what has happened in the past so they may learn from past failures and successes

2. To learn how things were done in the past to see if they might be applicable to present-day problems and concerns

3. To assist in prediction

4. To test hypotheses concerning relationships or trends

5. To understand present educational practices and policies more fully

1. Defining the Problem

2. Locating relevant Sources of historical

information

4. Presenting and interpreting the

information

3. Summarizing and evaluating

the information

STEPS INVOLVED IN HISTORICAL RESEARCH

Step 1: Defining the Problem


• historical aim to do more than just describe, they want to go beyond description to clarify and explain and sometimes to correct

•Same like any other research problem, they should be clearly and concisely stated, be manageable , have a defensible rationale an investigate a hypothesized relationship among variables

•Better to study in depth a well-defined problem that is perhaps more narrow than one would like than to pursue more broadly stated problem that cannot be sharply defined or fully resolved

Step 2: Locating Relevant Sources

Categories of Sources• historical source material can be group into 4 basic categories.

1.DocumentsAre written or printed materials that have been produced in some form or anotherEg; bills, books, cartoons, court records, diaries

2. Numerical RecordsConsidered either as a separate type of source in and of themselves or as a subcategory of documentsEg; test score, attendance figures, school budgets


Categories of Sources (cont.)

3. Oral statementsConduct oral interviews with people who were a part of past events

4. RelicsAny object whose physical or visual characteristics can provide some information about the pastEg; furniture, artwork, clothing



Primary Versus Secondary Sources

1.A Primary SourcesIs one prepared by an individual who was a participant in or a direct witness to the event being described Eg; an eyewitness account of the opening of a new school would an example

2. A Secondary ResourcesIs a document prepared by an individual who was not a direct witness to an event but who obtained his description of the event from someone elseEg; newspaper editorial commenting on a recent researchers’ strike would be an example.



Step 3: Summarizing Information Obtained from Historical Research

Determining the relevancy of the particular material to the question or problem being investigated

Recording the full bibliographic data of the source, organizing data one collects under categories related to the problem being studied and summarizing pertinent information ( facts, quotation and questions)


Step 4: Evaluating Historical Sources

~~~Was this document really written by the supposed author (i.e., is it genuine)?~~~

External criticism:-refers to the genuineness of any and all documents the researcher uses

-several questions come to mind in evaluating the genuineness of a historical resources

1. Who wrote this document?2. For what purposes was the document written?3. When was the document written?4. Where was the document written?5. Under what conditions was the document written?6. Do different forms or versions of the document exist?


~~~Is the information contained in this document true (i.e., is sit accurate?~~~

Internal criticism:-determine if the contents of the document are accurate

-several questions to evaluate the accuracy1. With regard to the author of the document• Was the author present at the event he or she is describing?• Was the author competent to describe the event?

2. With regard to the contents of the document• Could the event described have occurred at that time?• Would people have behaved as described?

Step 4: Evaluating Historical Sources


1. Some researcher prefer to operate from the theoretical model that helps them organize information they have collected

2. Some researcher use content analysis

3. A coding system may be useful when researcher immerse themselves in their information until patterns or themes suggest themselves

4. Recently, some historians have used quantitative data such as unemployment rates, to validate interpretations derived from documents

DATA ANALYSIS IN HISTORICAL RESEARCH