Content analysis is a research method used to determine the presence of specific words, themes, or concepts in qualitative data (i.e., text). Researchers can use content analysis to quantify and analyze the company, meanings, and relationships of specific words, themes, or concepts. For example, researchers can examine the language used in a news article to look for bias or partiality. Researchers can then conclude the messages in the texts, the writer(s), the audience, and even the culture and period in which the text was written. The text must be coded or broken down into manageable code categories for analysis before it can be analyzed using content analysis.
