Content analysis is a highly flexible research method that has been
widely used in library and information science (LIS) studies with
varying research goals and objectives. The research method is applied
in qualitative, quantitative, and sometimes mixed modes of
research frameworks and employs a wide range of analytical techniques
to generate findings and put them into context. This article
characterizes content analysis as a systematic, rigorous approach
to analyzing documents obtained or generated in the course of
research. It briefly describes the steps involved in content analysis,
differentiates between quantitative and qualitative content analysis,
and shows that content analysis serves the purposes of both quantitative
research and qualitative research. The authors draw on selected
LIS studies that have used content analysis to illustrate the concepts
addressed in the article. The article also serves as a gateway to methodological
books and articles that provide more detail about aspects
of content analysis discussed only briefly in the article.
Publisher
Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
ISSN
0024-2594
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/3670
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