Sociology as a science studies society, its structure and patterns of development. To do this, sociologists use special research methods, one of which is content analysis.
What is content analysis?
Content analysis is a scientific method by which data is collected in the social sciences: sociology, psychology, political science and others. It allows you to clothe text and graphic information (any content) in a mathematical form, express quality quantitatively. Thanks to this method, the humanities can conduct research in accordance with the criteria of science. The data obtained in the form of numerical indicators are subjected to statistical processing depending on the goals and objectives of the study.
Content Analysis in Sociology
In sociological science, any sources can be subjected to content analysis, the content of which meets the interests of the scientist and his research: print, radio and television media, any documents, advertising, website content, respondent's words and much more.
How is content analysis carried out?
The researcher identifies the semantic units of content analysis (words, phrases, text, events, names of people, and so on). Highlighted semantic units express the topic under study. They are necessary in order to indicate exactly what the object of research is manifested in, and after to calculate what are the features of this manifestation.
Further, when the semantic units are highlighted, the researcher proceeds to their calculation. He estimates in percentage terms how strongly the phenomenon of interest is reflected in a particular storage medium. Thus, the data obtained as a result of processing allow the scientist to draw certain conclusions in accordance with the previously set tasks. The results of content analysis in sociology are most often presented in the form of a table containing the value for the study of the selected semantic units. Today, there are many computer programs that facilitate the calculation of data in content analysis.
