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How to deal with a whole lot of words

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Aims for today

Content Analysis

TypesDefinition

ApplicationStrengths and Weaknesses

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Brits vrs Texans…

Are the Texans less capable of understanding sarcasm….?

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The Definition - Content Analysis

The method by which you take qualitative data and analyse it in order to draw conclusions.

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Types of Content Analysis Qualitative to Quantitative 1 Frequency Analysis - the number of times

certain words come up (e.g. number of times that sexual references come up in day-time television)

•pick categories (e.g. roundness)

•count frequency of occurrence for each category

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Types of Content Analysis Qualitative to Quantitative 2 Concordance Analysis - the number of

times certain phrases come up.

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And finally, the difficult one...

Qualitative data

Qualitative results

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How can we analyse this data?

•Are there any ways you can ‘chunk’ this evidence? Any themes in how Dib’s feels or thinks?

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uk• Read transcript several times

• Identify emergent themes

• Order and organise themes into clusters

• Table of themes

• Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPS)

Types of Content Analysis Qualitative to Qualitative

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Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPS)

Papa doesn’t like me to talk to the airPapa says people just talk to peoplePapa says I ought to talk to him

What is the matter with you

Category - Father’s disapproval

“Well! You are welcome, too,’ Dibs exclaimed. “And now I will open the window so fresh air can come in.” (Opens Window) “Come in, air! Come on in and be with us.” (He grinned at me) “Papa doesn’t like me to talk to the air, but in here I will if I feel like it.”

In here if you feel like it okay” I remarked.

“Papa says people just talk to people. Papa says I ought to talk to him, but I don’t. I listen to him, but I don’t talk to him. No, often I do not answer him. It upsets him very much.”

“Good morning” he says to me. I don’t look at him. I don’t answer him. “What is the matter with you” he says “I know you can talk” But I don’t say anything. I don’t look at him. He gets so upset!’ (Dibs laughs)

D.Ha

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Aims for today

Content Analysis

TypesDefinition

ApplicationStrengths and Weaknesses

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EvaluationWhat is good about using content analysis vrs just doing a questionnaire or psychometric test?

• Individual Differences

•Great to study emotions and motivation

• Can establish what caused the behaviour

• Can study rare behaviours in detail (for example, Dibs)

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Evaluation

Why should we not use content analysis?

• Not Scientific (I.e. its hard to statistically prove anything)

•Can’t really generalise

• Reliability - how one person views the report/data may be different from someone else

•Validity - the language is ambiguous and may be misinterpreted.

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Application

•What areas of environmental psychology might use content analysis in its research? Why?

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For Example

•Took subjects from Western Australia

•Did an in-depth qualitative study

•Used content analysis to identify themes

•Results showed a wide range of feelings about changes in the environment, but overall there was a demonstrable relationship between environment and feelings of family and emotional regulation.

The study by Rogan et al on the effect of changing environment on human experience. (2005)

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Homework … yeah!

Review evaluation and try and apply to current studies (use worksheet)

The first advantage of using content analysis is Individual Differences

This is an advantage because using content analysis allows us to show that each individual feels differently about an issue

For example, in the study by Rogan on the influence of environmental change on human experience, she found that different groups of people in the community felt differently about the impact of environmental degradation.

•Idea

•Explanation

•Example

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Summary

Content Analysis

TypesDefinition

ApplicationStrengths and Weaknesses

• Frequency Concordance

• IPS

•Individual Differences•Helps determine Cause •In depth data on rare cases

•Not scientific•Open to bias •language misinterpreted

Studies on human perception of environment (e.g. about architectureor environmental change).

- on handout