Content analysis
different nations; or by comparing media
content with some explicit set of standards or
abstract categories. On the basis of the existing
body of quantitative and qualitative research,
several broad generalizations may be hazarded
about the content of mass communication:
what is communicated by the mass media is
a highly selected sample of all that is avail-
able for communication; what is received and
consumed by the potential audience is a highly
selected sample of all that is communicated;
more of what is communicated is classifi able as
entertaining rather than informative or educa-
tive, and, because the mass media are aimed at
the largest possible audience, most material is
simple in form and uncomplicated in content.
See audience measurement; ethnographic
(approach to audience measurement);
glasgow university media group. See also
topic guide under research methods.
Control group In comparative research meth-
ods, the group against which the behaviour
of the experimental group is measured. The
experimental group is exposed to the variable to
be tested and the control group is not. So, to take
an example of a possible experiment: in attempt-
ing to ascertain the infl uence of a celebrity on
the audience’s willingness to be persuaded by an
argument, the experimental group might hear
the argument from a well-known celebrity and
the control group might hear the argument from
an unidentifi ed source. Th e groups could then be
tested for their attitude towards the argument
and these could be compared to the results of the
prior testing of their positions on this argument.
Eff orts would be made in forming the composi-
tion of the groups to reduce the infl uence of any
other signifi cant variables – for example, prior
knowledge of the topic under discussion. Th us,
in the case of audience measurement, the
test group is exposed to a TV programme, for
example, and their responses analysed against
identical monitoring of the control group who
have not seen the programme.
Control of the media See media control.
Conventions Established practices within a
particular culture or sub-culture. Conven-
tions are identifi able in every form of communi-
cation and behaviour – some strict, like rules of
grammar; others open to wider application, such
as dress. Conventions are largely culture-specifi c
and context-specifi c. It is an accepted convention
that a candidate dress smartly for a job interview,
yet it would be deemed unconventional if he/she
appeared on the beach clad in the same manner.
Media practices have established manyto justify the structure’, and the court scenes at
which those arrested by the police were tried
were ‘arenas for acting out society’s morality
plays’.
In relation to ‘loose connections’ being given a
‘structure’, claims have been made by commenta-
tors in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist assault
on New York’s twin towers, that the directing of
attention to Al-Qaeda had a similar contagion
eff ect: even though there was very little evidence
that Al-Qaeda was a worldwide organization,
treating it as such has been in danger of becom-
ing a self-fulfilling prophecy. See empow-
erment; moral panics and the media.
Content analysis David Deacon, Michael
Pickering, Peter Golding and Graham Murdock
in Researching Communications: A Practical
Guide to Methods in Media and Cultural Analy-
sis (Hodder Education, 2007) note that, ‘The
purpose of content analysis is to quantify salient
and manifest features of a large number of texts,
and the statistics are used to make broader
inferences about the processes and politics of
representation.’ Content analysis thus seeks
to compare material as presented in diff ering
sources in order to identify any patterns or trends
in coverage or representation. Typical sources
include newspapers, magazines, websites, adver-
tisements, and television programmes.
Th e media content is compared using stan-
dards or categories. For example, a researcher
may seek to discover diff erences in the coverage
given to fi nancial matters between UK tabloid
and broadsheet newspapers during the week in
which the spring Budget is announced. Examples
of categories that might be used are the number
of column inches devoted to coverage, and the
number of negative terms and positive terms
employed in the coverage.
Deacon et al argue that as a quantitative
method, content analysis is best used to capture
the broad ‘big picture’ and manifest levels of
meaning. It is not that suitable for exploring
implicit or latent levels of meaning, so it is often
combined with other research methods such as
interviews or focus groups to provide a more
rounded and in-depth analysis. So, using the
above example of coverage of the budget, whilst
content analysis may tell us the number of posi-
tive and negative terms used by broadsheet and
tabloid newspapers, focus group discussions with
samples of readers might be able to tell us how
the readers interpret and react to such terms.
Content analysis serves an important function
by comparing the same material as presented
in diff erent media within a nation, or between