L7 Document Analysis and Interpretation

The Study of Documents

• Documents are a valuable source of information
• Different types of documents are used for analysis
• Personal documents, include diaries, letters, emails, autobiographies, life histories, visual objects, video recordings, and social media. Access to these is critical, considering physical or virtual (APIs). Representativeness, and who wrote/produced the documents, are key concerns.
• Official documents from the state and from private sources, as well as mass media (newspapers, magazines, periodicals, film, radio, podcasts, blogs, vlogs), are also significant.
• Content analysis, which identifies themes and underlying meanings through short quotations, can be qualitative or quantitative. It examines communication forms, communicator intent, text style, and values. Frequency, intensity, and salience are crucial factors.
• Text analysis involves methods like semiotics, discourse analysis, and hermeneutics. It focuses on the perceived meaning of content. Semiotics examines symbols deeper. Hermeneutics explores meaning within historical and social contexts, while discourse analysis applies content analysis in a qualitative framework.
• Audiovisual materials, such as photographs, videotapes, art objects, computer software, film, and music, also play a crucial role in analysis.
• Types of content analysis - descriptive (identifying and describing main content), contextual (studying in context), comparative (comparing texts from different authors) and processual/particularistic (elements of entire process).

Documentary Analysis

• Document study focuses on detailed description, identifying trends, frequencies, interrelationships, factual summaries, and biographical/statistical analysis.
• Content analysis delves into manifest or latent content. It goes beyond the literal words to uncover deeper meanings.
• Text analysis incorporates methods like semiotics, discourse analysis and hermeneutics to interpret meaning.

Document Study

• Descriptive analysis summarizes information and identifies trends
• Categorical analysis utilizes pre-defined categories for systematic document examination
• Exploratory analysis seeks characteristics and meaning in the documents. It addresses how information is conveyed and weighted, while examining overall presentations
• Comparative analysis compares documents across time and countries, investigating issues and attitudes (e.g., gay marriage, abortion).

Secondary Analysis of Documents

• Data is already available in accessible formats (reports, etc.)
• Existing information is analyzed to create new interpretations.
• Addresses different aspects from the original author
• Employs qualitative or quantitative techniques
• Re-analysis of previously studied material

Content Analysis

• Content analysis uncovers themes through short quotations.
• Can be either qualitative or quantitative, analyzing communication styles, communicator intentions, text style, attitudes, or values.
• Non-reactive; analyzed documents weren't made knowing they'd be analyzed.
• Transparent and replicable analyses are essential.

Questions that Content Analysis can Answer

• When did news items on a topic start appearing?
• Which news sources were the fastest to generate interest in the topic?
• Which sources demonstrated the greatest interest?
• When did interest in the topic decline? (news and social media)
• Did approaches to the topic change over time?
• What was the tone of coverage and how did it evolve?

Types of Content Analysis

• Focuses on words, phrases, subjects, and themes
• Descriptive - identifying main content (thematically or chronologically)
• Contextual - studies the object in context
• Comparative - comparing texts from different authors looking at ideology and attitudes
• Processual/Particularistic - examining specific elements in the whole process

Quantitative Content Analysis

• Establishes clear parameters (what and when) for the sample.
• Determines categories (criteria based around themes or values). Categories must be clearly defined, relate to the research, focus on the specific aspect.
• Units of analysis are decided (words, phrases, symbols).
• Coding documents to determine presence, frequency, and intensity of analysis units.
• Statistical testing is a key part of this approach.
• Increased use due to accessible sources, statistical packages, and large language models (LLMs).

Quantitative Analysis

• Descriptive analysis - counts frequency, compares with other elements
• Categorical analysis - uses predefined categories to analyze documents
• Valence and intensity analysis - involves scores or multiple-step scales
• Contingency analysis - from the text, draws conclusions about the author's personality
• Contextual analysis - studying the conceptual sequence for thinking patterns.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Content Analysis

• Advantages:*

• Unobtrusive, non-reactive; no impact on respondents

• Useful for topics where access is challenging

• No respondent or researcher bias

• Cost-effective

• Obtain the participant's words directly

• Disadvantages:*

• Access to documents can be challenging

• Documents may not be representative (may relate to a small number of people)

• Cannot study unrecorded events

• Documents may be incomplete

• Coding errors can occur

Text Analysis

• Focuses on the perceived meaning of the text.
• Semiotics analyzes symbols to uncover deeper meanings. (look beyond the surface)
• Hermeneutics interprets texts within specific social and historical contexts.
• Discourse analysis precisely applies content analysis in a qualitative framework

Audiovisual Materials

• Include photographs, videotapes, art objects, computer software, film, and music.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Audiovisual Materials

• Advantages:*

• Unobtrusive method of data collection

• Participants can directly share "reality"

• Creative method that captures attention visually

• Disadvantages:*

• Difficulty with interpretation

• Potential inaccessibility (public or private)

• Presence of an observer (like a film crew) can be disruptive and influence responses.

Discussion Question

• Develop three research questions applicable to content analysis.

Qualitative Analysis

• Summative Content Analysis: Reduces data to retain important elements for clarity.
• Inductive Category Construction: Used to derive categories from data summaries.
• Explicating Content Analysis: Explains unclear aspects using context as a key tool.
• Structuring Context Analysis: Organizes material logically
• Objective Hermeneutics: Aims to understand underlying themes and objective/subjective interpretations from the data.