Musings of a LitCrit

Content analysis is one research tool under the descriptive research used to determine the significance and prominence of certain words or concepts within a written text or sets of texts.

Researchers analyze the prominence, meanings, symbolism and relationships of such words and concepts when used alone in one context or when its meaning is compared to other text. Through this, researcher could then make inferences out of this prominent words or phrases by considering the text alone, its writer, audience to whom the text is purposely written and the universal culture and time.

Texts that could be analyzed using literary criticism are so varied. Some of them could be books, essays, newspaper headlines and articles, historical documents, speeches, theater, informal conversation, or really any occurrence of communication whether published or unpublished. I have even met one content analysis on the school’s mission and vision. Its aim is to measure if the school has indeed attained its set objectives. However, the credibility of the author and the quality of the literature is highly needed.

Content analysis examines words or phrases within a wide range of texts. According to Writer’s Center (1999), by examining the presence or reputation of certain words and phrases in the texts, a researcher is able to make inferences about the philosophical assumptions of a writer, a written piece, the audience for which the piece is written and even the culture and time in which the text is embedded. And due to its wide array of applications, content analysis is used by researcher in literature and rhetoric, as well as in many other fields. Qualitatively, content analysis can involve any kind of analysis where communication content (speech, written text, interviews, images …) is categorized and classified.

Uses of Content Analysis

Content analysis is also useful for examining trends and patterns in documents. For example, Stemler and Bebell (1998) conducted a content analysis of school mission statements to make some inferences about what schools hold as their primary reasons for existence. One of the major research questions was whether the criteria being used to measure program effectiveness (e.g., academic test scores) were aligned with the overall program objectives or reason for existence.