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DOCUMENTS - Content
Analysis/Semiology
- For a researcher to take
meaning from a document, they
first need to decide how to do so.
- Semiology is the study of
signs and symbols, and
their use in interpretation.
- Semiology is a more
qualitative way of interpreting
data found in a document.
- Favoured by
Interpretivists.
- The meanings behind
pictures, features, and
other qualitative
information is studied.
- Positivists (and other critics)
argue that his is an unreliable
and not very valid way of
studying a document as the
researcher's own ideas may be
transferred to the interpretation.
- Positivists (and other critics)
argue that his is an unreliable
and not very valid way of
studying a document as the
researcher's own ideas may be
transferred to the interpretation.
- Favoured by
Interpretivists.
- Semiology is a more
qualitative way of interpreting
data found in a document.
- Content analysis is a systematic way
of dealing with the content of a
document. A researcher can take some
qualitative information, and turn it into
some quantitative data.
- Favoured by Positivists.
- Favoured by Positivists.
- Positivists and Interpretivists all
have their own unique view of what
is the best way to research, so they
both favour different ways of
interpreting documents.
- Semiology is the study of
signs and symbols, and
their use in interpretation.
- Gill's Description of how content
analysis works, with the example
of how female characters in the
media are portrayed in the media.
- 1. Decide what categories the
researchers are going to focus on,
use and record: e.g. employee,
full-time housewife, etc.
- 2. Study the source (this could be a tv
show or a magazine article, for example)
and put the characters that are in it into the
categories which have been decided.
- This could be followed up with research using official
statistics to see if what was found in that piece of media is
representative, biased etc., and what that may mean.
- This could be followed up with research using official
statistics to see if what was found in that piece of media is
representative, biased etc., and what that may mean.
- 2. Study the source (this could be a tv
show or a magazine article, for example)
and put the characters that are in it into the
categories which have been decided.
- 1. Decide what categories the
researchers are going to focus on,
use and record: e.g. employee,
full-time housewife, etc.
- Content analysis/semiology is
most used when interpreting the
media - for example, content
analysis could be used to record
how much importance is given to
different issues by recording
how much space different
articles are given in a
newspaper or television news
reports.
- Examples
- Lobban: used content analysis to
analyse the presence of gender roles
in children's reading schemes.
- Tuchman: Television's
portrayal of women
- (Both of these studies
revealed that women's roles
were stereotyped and limited.)
- (Both of these studies
revealed that women's roles
were stereotyped and limited.)
- Lobban: used content analysis to
analyse the presence of gender roles
in children's reading schemes.
- Advantages/
Disadvantages
- Content analysis is cheap.
- Some documents can be very easy and
not very time consuming to access,
compared to doing an involved study.
- Positivists favour the quantitative
nature of content analysis.
- BUT interpretivists argue that simply
counting up the number of times something
happens is not very valid and doesn't tell us
anything about what it MEANS.
- BUT interpretivists argue that simply
counting up the number of times something
happens is not very valid and doesn't tell us
anything about what it MEANS.
- Content analysis is cheap.
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