Content Analysis

Content analysis (CA) is an approach that can be used to capture and analyze themes, patterns and interpretive meanings in a variety of sources, such as written documents, video and audio recordings, and still images. It offers a flexible approach in that it can be performed on a wide variety of media and is thus often regarded as a research method ‘because of its distinctive approach to analysis’ (Bryman, 2004, p.181). It has a wide range of uses, examples of which include political bias in news articles, representations of social issues in the wider media, the presentation of gender or ethnicity in policies, or power relationships in an online debate.