10 Theories and Methods for Media Analysis

1. AL AKHAWAYN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES COMMUNICATIONS STUDIES 10 Theories and Methods for Media Analysis Dr. Mohammed Ibahrine

2. The Research Process • The research process begins by asking research questions • Research questions are drawn from the systematic study of an area of communication interest • A systematic study of the literature is necessary • Literature review

3. The Research Process • Research should be undergo the process of management style • Research is important at a number of levels • One is to try to understand complex events, behavior and issues, especially those which involve the interaction of mass media

4. The Research Process • We rely on media for • knowledge of current events • Preparation for education • Entertainment • And so on • We rely on the media to help us resolve political issues through public debate so that we do not have to resolve them by fighting

5. The Research Process • The question-asking process in research is more complex, than simply generating the research question or questions guiding a particular study • Communication scholars ask questions in each step of the research process

6. The Research Process • An early stage in the research process is concerned with defining the variable being studied • This stages concerned with asking questions of definition that establish the phenomenon under study

7. The Research Process • Then focus on the relationships that communication variables have with the phenomenon under study • These are questions of variables relations, in answering them we seek to establish two or more variables are related to each other in observable way, and, if so, how

8. Theories of Media Analysis • 1. Gate keeping theory/History and Orientation • Kurt Lewin was apparently the first one to use the term "gatekeeping," which he used to describe a wife or mother as the person who decides which foods end up on the family's dinner table (Lewin, 1947) • The gatekeeper is the person who decides what shall pass through each gate section, of which, in any process, there are several

9. Theories of Media Analysis • Although he applied it originally to the food chain • He then added that the gating process can include a news item winding through communication channels in a group • This is the point from which most gatekeeper studies in communication are launched

10. Theories of Media Analysis • 1. Gate keeping theory • White (1961) was the person who seized upon Lewin's comments and turned it solidly toward journalism in 1950 • In the 1970s McCombs and Shaw took a different direction when they looked at the effects of gatekeepers' decisions • They found the audience learns how much importance to attach to a news item from the emphasis the media place on it • McCombs and Shaw pointed out that the gatekeeping concept is related to the newer concept, agenda-setting. (McCombs et al, 1976)

11. Priming • History and Orientation • Much attention in agenda-setting research, in the 80’s, was focused on the concept of priming • This concept was derived from the cognitive psychological concept of priming

12. Priming • Core Assumptions and Statements • Priming refers to enhancing the effects of the media by offering the audience a prior context – a context that will be used to interpret subsequent communication • The media serve to provide the audience with standards and frames of reference

13. Priming • Core Assumptions and Statements • Agenda-setting refers mainly to the importance of an issue • Priming tells us whether something is good or bad • Whether it is communicated effectively, etc • The media have primed the audience about what a news program looks like, what a credible person looks like, etc.

14. Framing • Frames are cognitive shortcuts that people use to help make sense of complex information • Frames help us to interpret the world around us and represent that world to others • They help us organize complex phenomena into coherent, understandable categories

15. Framing • When we label a phenomenon, we give meaning to some aspects of what is observed, while discounting other aspects because they appear irrelevant or counter-intuitive • Thus, frames provide meaning through selective simplification, by filtering people's perceptions and providing them with a field of vision for a problem

16. Framing • In the English language, the word "frame" can be used both as • a verb (to frame) or • as a noun (a frame) • As a noun, frame denotes the boundary within which the whole picture is displayed (similar to a frame placed around a picture or painting) • and is used as a tool for interpreting and understanding the perceptions and underlying objectives of the various actors in the conflict

17. Framing • As a verb, framing refers to the creation of frames, either from a simple reading of the situation or through a deliberative, analytic, or strategic process.

18. Framing • The concept of frames has been developed as a tool for analysis in various fields • Psychology • Sociology • Business management • Artificial intelligence • Decision-making • Negotiation • Environmental conflict management

19. Content Analysis • Content analysis is a systematic method used to turn items (mainly texts) into content categories • This method (more usually intended to inform quantitative research) follows explicit rules of coding, and enables large quantities of data to be categorized with relative ease • Content analysis offers a quick, broad overview of data sets • Can be used to support (and be corroborated by) other more detailed methods of textual analysis

20. Content Analysis • Bernad Berelson wrote the most widely cited definition of content analysis • “content analysis is a research technique for the objective, systematic and quantitative description of the manifest content of communication “ (1952: 18)

21. Content Analysis • Objectivity is an essential requirement of science, and therefore of content analysis • Content analysis should be systematic • Failure to be systematic would amount to bias • Quantitative: Content analysis is a Quantitative method • It converts text to numbers

22. Content Analysis • Bernard Berelson wrote the most widely cited definition of content analysis • Descriptive: Berelson’s definition says that content analysis describes the content of communication • The description of course is quantitative (e.g., “there are 20 of these and 25 of those,” and all of them characterize s the communication • Berelson’s definition also suggest that what is counted in text should be manifest (i.e., not a matter of faith) • The word manifest means apparent

23. Content Analysis • The procedures of content analysis • 1. Select a topic • 2. Decide sample or census • 3. Define concepts or units to be counted • 4. Construct categories • 5. Create coding form • 6. Train coders • 7. Collect data • 8. Measure intercoder reliability • 9. Analyze data • 10 Repot result

24. Content Analysis • Content analysis is a systematic method used to turn items (mainly texts) into content categories • This method (more usually intended to inform quantitative research) follows explicit rules of coding • Enables large quantities of data to be categorized with relative ease • Content analysis offers a quick, broad overview of data sets, and as such can be used to support (and be corroborated by) other more detailed methods of textual analysis

25. 1. Content Analysis • Qualitative content analysis merely meant all analytical approaches to • Textual • Audial • Video • Contents, which did not rely on statistical techniques: • Contemporary Discourse Analysis, and other more qualitative methods would qualify as "qualitative content analysis" from this point of view • Qualitative Content Analysis mainly means the interpretive coding of data • The resulting codes can then, of course, be analyzed in quantitative fashion

26. References: Content Analysis • Krippendorff, Klaus. 2004. Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. • The currently most frequently used textbook for Content Analysis • Weber, Robert Philip. 1990. Basic Content Analysis. 2nd ed., Newbury Park, CA: Sage 1990 • Short overview of methodologies from the Sage green methods series. Should be read in conjunction with a more comprehensive textbook such as Krippendorff's. • Berelson, Bernard. 1952. Content Analysis in Communication Research. Glencoe, IL: Free Press • The classical formulation of Content Analysis, which paved the road for the quantitative interpretation of content analysis

27. Discourse Analysis • What is Discourse Analysis (DA)? • It can be defined as a • “set of methods and theories for investigating language in use and language in social contexts” (Wetherell et al. 2001)

28. Discourse Analysis • It is a term for a broad area of language study, containing a diversity of approaches with different epistemological roots, and very different methodologies • Approaches include discursive psychology; conversation analysis; critical discourse analysis and critical linguistics; and sociolinguistics

29. Discourse Analysis • DA focuses on • The categorizing • Performative • Rhetorical features • of texts and talk (audio + Video)

30. Discourse Analysis • Media text (discourse) is not merely about actions, events and situations • It is also a potent and constitutive part of those actions, events and situations (power) • Textual context is important for all methods of DA in collecting and analyzing data

31. Discourse Analysis • Roger Fowler describes Critical Linguistics as an “enquiry into the relations between • Signs • Meanings • Social and historical conditions • which govern the semiotic structure of discourse”

32. Discourse Analysis • DA is concerned with 'understanding the nature of power and dominance' and how 'discourse contributes to their production‘ • With the text 'not the sentence (or the word, or the sound)' important as 'the basic unit' of analysis • Suitable data for analysis, examining how language legitimates social control, include documents, textbooks, media texts and media broadcasts

33. Conversation Analysis • Conversation Analysis (CA) with its roots in ethnomethodology, broadly, examines the methods people use to make sense of their everyday social world • Unlike ethnomethodology, CA examines 'the minutiae of naturally occurring conversations represented in verbatim transcript' • Looking at accounts in context, and in terms of sequential organization, in order to identify systematic properties in talk.

34. Conversation Analysis • All conversations, from formal and informal settings, provide data for studies in CA, including • Institutional talk • The media • Identity construction

35. Sociolinguistics • Traditional approaches, for example, treat language as a set of precise rules which must be adhered to in order to facilitate efficient communication • This perspective, which builds on existing assumptions about language

36. Sociolinguistics • It focuses on the structure of language units • It conventionally involves using invented sentences to illustrate how these rules work • A method which tends to be disconnected from ordinary talk and social context

37. Frame Analysis • Frame analysis looks for key themes within a text • Shows how themes shape our understanding of events • In studies of the media, frame analysis shows how aspects of the language and structure of news items emphasize certain aspects (and omit others)