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Keyton: Communication Research, 5e IM-1
Chapter 12
Quantitative Analysis of Text
Activity: Content Analyzing Magazines (beginner)
Glaser describes a classroom activity that helps students learn about content analysis and distinguish
between manifest and latent content.
Glaser, H. F. (2011). Content analysis of students’ favorite magazines: Class exercise.
Communication Teacher, 25, 189-191. doi:10.1080/17404622.2011.601722
Activity: Content Analyzing News Magazines (more advanced)
Ask students to find a national news story that is covered in two different news magazines in the same
week. Assign students to conduct a content analysis of the two stories for positive and negative themes.
Students should read both stories several times, identify the unit of analysis, and develop a coding
Activity: Coding Television News (more advanced)
Record at least 3 days of your community’s evening newscast. Review these recordings in class with
students and have them develop the coding scheme that should be applied to the newscasts. Assign
students to groups to content code the newscasts. Students, as groups or individuals, can write a short
descriptive report about the development and application of the coding scheme and the coding results.
Keyton: Communication Research, 5e IM-2
Worksheet—Content Analysis
1. Write the instruction you would give to identify the following units of analysis:
a. Complete sentence:
2. Watch two 30-minute local newscasts (ideally on different days but on same station). Identify the topic
of each story. To what extent would the following category coding scheme be sufficient? Are other
categories needed? Attach to this worksheet the list of stories and your attempts to categorize them
according to the following scheme:
Community event
Health education
Local feature
National news
Consumer education
International feature
Local news
Sports
Editorial
International news
National feature
Weather
Below, write the instruction you would give to another coder in identifying story as the unit of analysis.
Also write the instruction you would give to another coder for categorizing a story as local news and local
feature.
a. Unitizing instruction for story:
Keyton: Communication Research, 5e IM-3
Resources for Interaction Analysis
Beck, S. J., & Keyton, J. (2009). Perceiving strategic meeting interaction. Small Group Research, 40, 223-246.
10.1177/1350508404041996
Keyton, J. (1997). Coding communication in decision-making groups: Assessing effective and ineffective
process. In L. R. Frey & J. K. Barge (Eds.), Managing group life: Communication in decision-making
groups (pp. 236-269). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Keyton, J. (2003). Observing group interaction. In R. Y. Hirokawa, R. Cathcart, L. Samovar, & L. Henman
(Eds.), Small group communication: Theory and practice (An anthology) (8th ed.; pp. 256-266).
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Additional Resources
December, J. (1996). Units of analysis for Internet communication. Journal of Communication, 46, 14-38.
Studies of the media, and especially the Internet, rely on content analysis to describe the electronic media,
its usage, and its effects. This article provides a comprehensive review of the many units of analysis often
overlooked by researchers. This is a must-read if you or your students are considering conducting
research on any Internet topic or issue.
Grabe, M. E. (1999). Television news magazine crime stories: A functionalist perspective. Critical Studies
in Mass Communication, 16, 155-171.
These scholars examine studies using content analysis methodology for their use and reporting of
reliability. They make recommendations for what to report about reliability in research reports.
Keyton: Communication Research, 5e IM-4
Stern, S. R. (2004). Expressions of identity online: Prominent features and gender differences in
adolescents’ world wide web home pages. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 48, 218-243.
Web Resources
For a list of Internet resources, visit https://www.joannkeyton.com/research-methods
