Page 272 - DLIS402_INFORMATION_ANALYSIS_AND_REPACKAGING

Unit 12: Content Analysis

Does that seem puzzling? Read on: the examples below will make it clearer. Notes
Another issue is the stage at which the coding is done. In market research organizations, open-
ended questions are usually coded before the data entry stage. The computer file of results has only
the coded data, not the original verbatim answer. This makes life easier for the survey analysts - for
example, to have respondents’ occupations classified in standard groups, rather than many slightly
varying answers.
However, it also means that some subtle data is lost, unless the analyst has some reason to read the
original questionnaires. For occupation data, the difference between, say “clerical assistant” and
“office assistant” may be trivial (unless that is the subject of the survey). But for questions beginning
with “why,” coding usually over-simplifies the reality. In such cases it’s better to copy the verbatim
answers into a computer file, and group them later.
The same applies with content analysis. Coding is necessary to reduce the data to a manageable
mass, but any piece of text can be coded in many different ways. It’s therefore important to be able
to check the coding easily, by seeing the text and codes on the same sheet of paper, or the same
computer screen.

Single coding and multi-coding
It’s usual in survey analysis to give only one code to each open-ended answer. For example, if a
respondent’s occupation is “office assistant” and the coding frame was this...
Professionals and managers = 1
Other white collar = 2
Skilled blue-collar = 3
Unskilled blue-collar = 4
... an office assistant would be coded as group 2. But multiple coding would also be possible. In that
case, occupations would be divided in several different “questions,” such as
Question 1: Skill level
Professional or skilled = 1
Unskilled = 2
Question 2: Work environment
Office / white collar = 1
Manual / blue collar = 2
An office assistant might be classified as 2 on skill level and 1 on work environment.
If you are dealing with transcripts of in-depth interviews or group discussions, the software normally
used for this purpose (such as Nud*ist or Atlas) encourages multiple coding. The software used for
survey analysis doesn’t actually discourage multiple coding, but most people don’t think of using
it. My suggestion is to use multiple coding whenever possible - unless you are very, very certain
about what you are trying to find in a content analysis (as when you’ve done the same study every
month for the least year). As you’ll see in the example below, multiple coding lets you view the
content in more depth, and can be less work than single coding.

Coding frames

A coding frame is just a set of groups into which comments (or answers to a question) can be divided
– e.g., the occupation categories shown above. In principle, this is easy. Simply think of all possible
categories for a certain topic. In practice, of course, this can be very difficult, except when the topic
is limited in its scope - as with a list of occupation types. As that’s not common in content analysis,

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