Content Analysis

Content analysis is a research technique for making replicable and valid inferences from texts (or other meaningful matter) to the context of their use. This entry further explores the definition and conceptions of content analysis. It then provides information on its conceptual framework and the steps involved in performing content analysis.

Definition and Conception

The phrase content analysis, first mentioned in a 1941 paper by Douglas Waples and Bernard Berelson, became defined in 1948 by Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Berelson. Webster’s Dictionary has listed content analysis since its 1961 edition. However, the practice of analyzing media matter is almost as old as writing. It became of interest to the church, worried about the effects of the written word other than God’s; to governments, trying to settle political, ...

  • Loading...
locked icon

Sign in to access this content

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL

  • Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
  • Read modern, diverse business cases
  • Explore hundreds of books and reference titles