The content analysis methodology. Uses and applications in communication research on Spanish-speaking countries
Article Sidebar
441)
Main Article Content
Authors
Abstract
1895
Based on a conceptual review of the content analysis research method, this article identifies meta-research studies that confirm the relevance of this technique in the atomised field of communication sciences. In light of the empirical evidence, this study is based on an analysis of 262 papers that use this tool and were published in major Spanish-language journals between 2013 and 2017. At instrumental level, bibliometric exploration is combined with content analysis itself, considering 18 categories, such as authorship, funding, sampling method and reporting of intercoder reliability. The results indicate that there is a steady annual growth in the number of papers produced by researchers affiliated to Spanish universities. These papers have more than two authors on average and often lack additional financial resources. As for the implementation of the content analysis method, it is generally applied to non-probabilistic samples and does not involve any intercoder reliability assessment and reporting. A series of recommendations are offered for researchers in Spain and in Latin America to meet international standards.
Keywords
References
Bardin, L. (1986). Análisis de contenido. Madrid: Akal.
Berelson, B. (1952). Content analysis in communication research. Glencoe: Free Press.
Berger, A. A. (2016). Media and communication research methods. An introduction to qualitative and quantitative approaches (4th Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Bermejo-Berros, J. (2014). Evolución de los paradigmas, metodologías y campos de la comunicación en Revista Latina de Comunicación Social durante la década 2004-2013. Revista Latina de Comunicación Social, 69, 330-353. https://www.doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2014-1014
Borah, P. (2017). Emerging communication technology research: Theoretical and methodological variables in the last 16 years and future directions. New Media & Society, 19(4), 616-636. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1461444815621512
Bos, W. & Tarnai, C. (1999). Content analysis in empirical social research. International Journal of Educational Research, 31(8), 659-671. https://www.doi.org/10.1016/S0883-0355(99)00032-4
Boumans, J. W. & Trilling, D. (2016). Taking stock of the toolkit: An overview of relevant automated content analysis approaches and techniques for digital journalism scholars. Digital Journalism, 4(1), 8-23. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2015.1096598
Bryant, J. & Miron, D. (2004). Theory and research in mass communication. Journal of Communication, 54(4), 662-704. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2004.tb02650.x
Caffarel-Serra, C. (2018). La metainvestigación en comunicación, una necesidad y una oportunidad. adComunica, 15, 293-295. https://www.doi.org/10.6035/2174-0992.2018.15.16
Caffarel-Serra, C., Ortega-Mohedano, F. & Gaitán-Moya, J. A. (2017). Investigación en Comunicación en la universidad española en el periodo 2007-2014. El Profesional de la Información, 26(2), 218-227. https://www.doi.org/10.3145/epi.2017.mar.08
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd Ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum.
Deacon, D., Pickering, M., Golding, P. & Murdock, G. (1999). Researching communications. A practical guide to methods in media and cultural analysis. London: Arnold Publishers.
Denzin, N. K. (2012). Triangulation 2.0. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 6(2), 80-88. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1558689812437186
Denzin, N. K. (2015). Triangulation. In G. Ritzer (Ed.), The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (pp. 1-6). NJ: Wiley & Sons. https://www.doi.org/10.1002/9781405165518.wbeost050.pub2
Downe‐Wamboldt, B. (1992). Content analysis: Method, applications, and issues. Health Care for Women International, 13(3), 313-321. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/07399339209516006
Escribà, E. & Cortiñas, S. (2013). La internacionalización y las coautorías en las principales revistas científicas de Comunicación en España. Comunicar, 21(41), 35-44. https://www.doi.org/10.3916/C41-2013-03.
Espín, J. V. (2009). El análisis de contenido: una técnica para explorar y sistematizar información. Revista de Educación, 4, 95-105.
Fernández-Quijada, D. & Masip, P. (2013). Tres décadas de investigación española en comunicación: hacia la mayoría de edad. Comunicar, 21(41), 15-24. https://www.doi.org/10.3916/C41-2013-01
Goyanes, M., Rodríguez-Gómez, E. F. & Rosique-Cedillo, G. (2018). Investigación en comunicación en revistas científicas en España (2005-2015): de disquisiciones teóricas a investigación basada en evidencias. El Profesional de la Información, 27(6), 1281-1291. https://www.doi.org/10.3145/epi.2018.nov.11
Johnson, B. T., Scott-Sheldon, L. A. J., Snyder, L. B., Noar, S. M. & Huedo-Medina, T. B. (2008). Contemporary approaches to meta-analysis in communication research. In A. F. Hayes, M. D. Slater & L. B. Snyder (Eds.), The SAGE Sourcebook of Advanced Data Analysis Methods for Communication Research (pp. 311-347). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Hayes, A. F. & Krippendorff, K. (2007). Answering the call for a standard reliability measure for coding data. Communication Methods and Measures, 1(1), 77-89. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/19312450709336664
Henry, G. T. (1990). Practical sampling. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. https://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781412985451
Holsti, O. R. (1968). Content Analysis. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds.), The Handbook of Social Psychology (pp. 596-692). Oxford: Addison-Wesley.
Igartua, J. J. (2006). Métodos cuantitativos de investigación en comunicación. Barcelona: Bosch.
Ioannidis, J. P. A. (2018). Meta-research: Why research on research matters. PLOS Biology, 16(3), e2005468. https://www.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2005468
Kim, Y., Kim, B., Kim, Y. & Wang, Y. (2017). Mobile communication research in communication journals from 1999 to 2014. New Media & Society, 19(10), 1668-1691. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1461444817718162
Krippendorff, K. (1990). Metodología de análisis de contenido. Teoría y práctica. Barcelona: Paidós Comunicación.
Krippendorff, K. (2004). Reliability in content analysis. Some common misconceptions and recommendations. Human Communication Research, 30(3), 411-433. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2004.tb00738.x
Krippendorff, K. (2011). Agreement and information in the reliability of coding. Communication Methods and Measures, 5(2), 93-112. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/19312458.2011.568376
Krippendorff, K. (2013). Commentary: A Dissenting View on So-Called Paradoxes of Reliability Coefficients. Annals of the International Communication Association, 36(1), 481-499. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/23808985.2013.11679143
Krippendorff, K. (2017). Reliability. In J. Matthes, C. S. Davis & R. F. Potter (Eds.), The International Encyclopaedia of Communication Research Methods (pp. 1-28). NJ: Wiley & Sons. https://www.doi.org/10.1002/9781118901731.iecrm0210
Lacy, S., Watson, B. R., Riffe, D. & Lovejoy, J. (2015). Issues and best practices in content analysis. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 92(4), 791-811. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1077699015607338
Lombard, M., Snyder-Duch, J. & Campanella, C. (2002). Content analysis in mass communication. Assessment and reporting of intercoder reliability. Human Communication Research, 28(4), 587-604. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2002.tb00826.x
Lovejoy, J., Watson, B. R., Lacy, S. & Riffe, D. (2016). Three decades of reliability in communication content analyses: Reporting of reliability statistics and coefficient levels in three top journals. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 93(4), 1135-1159. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1077699016644558
Lozano, J. C. (1994). Hacia la reconsideración del análisis de contenido en la investigación de los mensajes comunicacionales. In C. Cervantes & E. Sánchez (Eds.), Investigar la comunicación: propuestas iberoamericanas (pp. 135-157). México: Universidad de Guadalajara, CEIC, ALAIC.
Martín-López, E. (1963). El análisis de contenido. Revista de estudios políticos, 132, 45-64.
Martínez-Nicolás, M., Saperas, E. & Carrasco-Campos, Á. (2019). La investigación sobre comunicación en España en los últimos 25 años (1990-2014). Objetos de estudio y métodos aplicados en los trabajos publicados en revistas españolas especializadas. Empiria. Revista de metodología de ciencias sociales, 42, 37-69. https://www.doi.org/10.5944/empiria.42.2019.23250
Naccarato, J. L. & Neuendorf, K. A. (1998). Content Analysis as a Predictive Methodology: Recall, Readership, and Evaluations of Business-to-Business Print Advertising. Journal of Advertising Research, 38, 19-29.
Neuendorf, K. A. (2009). Reliability for content analysis. In A. B. Jordan, D. Kunkel, J. Manganello & M. Fishbein (Eds.), Media messages and public health: A decisions approach to content analysis (pp. 67-87). New York: Routledge.
Neuendorf, K. A. (2017). The content analysis guidebook (2nd Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Piñeiro-Naval, V., Igartua, J. J., Marañón-Lazcano, F. J. & Sánchez-Nuevo, L. A. (2018). El análisis de contenido y su aplicación a entornos web: un caso empírico. In C. Caffarel, J. A. Gaitán, C. Lozano & J. L. Piñuel (Eds.), Tendencias metodológicas en la investigación académica sobre Comunicación (pp. 253-272). Salamanca: Comunicación Social.
Piñeiro-Naval, V. & Mangana, R. (2018). Teoría del encuadre: Panorámica conceptual y estado del arte en el contexto hispano. Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico, 24(2), 1541-1557. https://www.doi.org/10.5209/ESMP.62233
Piñeiro-Naval, V. & Mangana, R. (2019). La presencia del framing en los artículos publicados en revistas hispanoamericanas de comunicación indexadas en Scopus. Palabra Clave, 22(1), e2216. https://www.doi.org/10.5294/pacla.2019.22.1.6
Piñeiro-Naval, V. & Morais, R. (2019). Study of the academic production on communication in Spain and Latin America. Comunicar, 27(61), 108-117. https://www.doi.org/10.3916/C61-2019-10
Piñuel, J. L. (2002). Epistemología, metodología y técnicas del análisis de contenido. Estudios de Sociolingüística, 3(1), 1-42.
Riffe, D. & Freitag, A. (1997). A content analysis of content analyses: Twenty-five years of Journalism Quarterly. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 74(3), 515-524. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/107769909707400306
Riffe, D., Lacy, S. & Fico, F. (2014). Analyzing Media Messages. Using Quantitative Content Analysis in Research (3rd Ed.). New York: Routledge.
Rodríguez-Gómez, E. F., Goyanes, M. & Rosique-Cedillo, G. (2018). Communication Research in Spain: Labor Temporality, Intensive Production and Competitiveness. Communication & Society, 31(4), 229-242. https://www.doi.org/10.15581/003.31.4.229-242
Saperas, E. & Carrasco-Campos, Á. (2015). The operationalization of the concept of “framing” in the “Journal of Communication” (2009-2013): objects of study, research techniques and theoretical construction. Communication & Society, 28(4), 49-66. https://www.doi.org/10.15581/003.28.4.sp.49-66
Saperas, E. & Carrasco-Campos, Á. (2018). Journalism research: a dominant field of communication research in Spain. A meta-research on Spanish peer-reviewed journals (2000-2014). Estudos em Comunicação, 26(1), 281-300. https://www.doi.org/10.20287/ec.n26.v1.a16
Saperas, E. & Carrasco-Campos, Á. (2019). ¿Cómo investigamos la comunicación? La meta-investigación como método para el estudio de las prácticas de investigación en los artículos publicados en revistas científicas. In F. Sierra Caballero & J. Alberich Pascual (Eds.), Epistemología de la comunicación y cultura digital: retos emergentes (pp. 217-230). Granada: Universidad de Granada.
Trilling, D. & Jonkman, J. G. (2018). Scaling up content analysis. Communication Methods and Measures, 12(2-3), 158-174. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/19312458.2018.1447655
Vicente-Mariño, M. & López-Rabadán, P. (2009). Resultados actuales de la investigación sobre framing: sólido avance internacional y arranque de la especialidad en España. Zer. Revista de Estudios de Comunicación, 14(26), 13-34.
Walter, N., Cody, M. J. & Ball-Rokeach, S. J. (2018). The Ebb and Flow of Communication Research: Seven Decades of Publication Trends and Research Priorities. Journal of Communication, 68(2), 424-440. https://www.doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqx015
White, M. D. & Marsh, E. E. (2006). Content analysis: a flexible methodology. Library Trends, 55(1), 22-45.
Wimmer, R. D. & Dominick, J. R. (2011). Mass Media Research: An Introduction (9th Ed.). Boston: Wadsworth.
Zamith, R. & Lewis, S. C. (2015). Content analysis and the algorithmic coder: What computational social science means for traditional modes of media analysis. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 659(1), 307-318. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0002716215570576
Zhao, X., Liu, J. S. & Deng, K. (2013). Assumptions behind Intercoder Reliability Indices. Annals of the International Communication Association, 36(1), 419-480. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/23808985.2013.11679142
Metrics
|
|
Details
Article Details
RIGHTS TRANSFER
By submitting the article for evaluation and subsequent publication in Communication & Society, the AUTHOR exclusively assigns the rights of public communication, reproduction, distribution and sale for commercial exploitation to the University of Navarra through its Publications Service, for the maximum legal term in force -the entire life of the author and seventy years after his death or declaration of death-, in any country, and in any of the current and future edition modalities, both in print and electronic versions.
In the event that the article is not accepted for publication , this transfer of rights lapses with the communication of the refusal to the AUTHOR.
The AUTHOR affirms that the article is unpublished, that it has not been sent simultaneously to another publication medium and that the rights have not been transferred exclusively previously. He is responsible to the University of Navarra through its Publications Service for the authorship and originality of his work, as well as for all pecuniary charges that may arise for the University of Navarra through its Publications Service, in favor of third parties due to actions, claims or conflicts arising from the breach of obligations by the AUTHOR.
