Content Analysis - Dissertation Example

?Table of Contents Table of Contents 1.Content Analysis 1.2. Data Sampling 3 2 Research Categories 8 2.2. Checks for Reliability and Validity 10 1.2.3. Statistical Procedures 11 1.3. Findings 12 References 13 1. Content Analysis Content analysis is important to assess the research question properly. According to Berelson (1952), it refers to a research approach that is meant for the systematic, objective and quantitative explanation of the evident content of the communication. Thus, the systematic, objective and quantitative description of the core content is the basic requirement of the content analysis of research (Wimmer & Dominick, 1983). The systematic element means the proper procedures should be followed in selecting a data sample that provides an equal opportunity for each item of the wider content to be included in the analysis. Simultaneously, each item under consideration should be treated the same. Meanwhile, the objective description means that future researchers should be able to utilize the outcomes of the research easily in their study. Finally, the quantitative requirement means the researcher should take great care in his/her reporting to facilitate further usage of his/her analysis, interpretation and findings (Wimmer & Dominick, 1983). Content analysis is associated with the core content that, as explained by Patterson (1984), refers to what is written or said, but not to what is stated between the lines. Thus, the conceptual structure for the content analysis should incorporate the following elements: 1. Data as provided to the researcher 2. Data context 3. The knowledge of the researcher constructs his/her perception , 4. The objective of the content analysis 5. Interpretation of the data as the prime intellectual task 6. Validity considered as the significant evaluation factor (Krippendorff, 1980). Keeping this under consideration, the structure of this investigation will serve analytical, methodological and perspective purposes. In order to acquire the perspective to support conceptualisation, it important to present the framework of the practical content analysis for the two selected leading Saudi newspapers, Alriyadh and Alyoum, during the events that occurred in Bahrain between February 14 and March 16, 2011. The framework of this study is analytical in that it aids the critical evaluation of the findings of the content analysis as acquired through the researcher’s interpretation. Furthermore, the framework of this study is also methodological, as it controls the development and the systematic improvement of the content analysis method employed in this study and discussed later. Consideration of the definitions, the requirements of the content analysis and the framework presented above provided an effective method of evaluating the content of Alriyadh and Alyoum, and provided reliability and validity to this study. The evidence, in accordance with the framework, for the application of the interpretation of the content analysis is provided with the help of data sampling, categories of the research and their measurement. This is discussed later in this chapter. For interpreting the inferences and tasks of the Krippendorff model accurately, it is important to consider the context of the data available. Therefore, the objective here is what the researcher wants to investigate (Krippendorff, 1980). For instance, in this study, an uncertain objective might be the political handling of the issue in Bahrain by the Saudi Arabian government, or more specifically, the relationship between the Saudi Arabian government and the Bahrain and Saudi press—particularly Alriyadh and Alyoum—at the time of the Bahrain protests. 1.2. Data Sampling The data sample for the content analysis of the printed press in Saudi Arabia has been extracted from the two leading daily newspapers, Alriyadh and Alyoum. These have been selected because of their large circulation and geographical dissemination. Alriyadh is distributed in the capital city of Riyadh, which is also the political hub of the country, whereas Alyoum is sold in the city of Damman, an important port and also close to the war front. It is also the only daily Saudi newspaper distributed in the eastern part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The timeframe of this study has to be decided prior to extracting the data sample for the content analysis. Thus, it extends to a period of 30 days, from February 14, to March 16, 2011. This time of conflict in Bahrain is also referred to as the ‘pearl square revolt’, which has been discussed in the literature review of the study. There is a general perception that there has been a profound shift in the treatment of the core news topics and the conflict by the Saudi press because Bahrain is a major ally of the US. It is also expected that the Saudi press would address the Bahrain events in a very broad manner, especially, for instance, the factors that led to the conflict. Moreover, it is important to note the dialect used in the Saudi press coverage of the events in Bahrain, as we know that the Arab media lost its credibility after Israel defeated the Arab states in the 1963 war since the Saudi press at that time followed the instructions of the Saudi government in publishing war stories instead of revealing the un-biased truth. This will be indicated in the selection of the material, the themes focused on, the connections made between them and the final inferences to be drawn. It could also be argued that coverage of the events by the Saudi press would illustrate the attitude, policy and agenda of the Saudi government towards Bahrain. All of these assumptions must be considered in relation to the content of Alriyadh and Alyoum. For the purpose of data sampling, the objective was not to devote a lot of time to analysing all the issues that emerged during the study. Rather, the approach of the ‘constructed week’ was used in measuring the parameters of the sample population for both newspapers. This ensures that all days of the week have been included in the data sample (Lacy, Robinson & Rife, 1995). According to Jones and Carter (1959), the constructed week sampling approach will produce news - hole estimates that are very close to a hand - measured 'real' figure for almost all of the content analysis purposes. The constructed week sampling approach is more efficient than the consecutive day sampling approach or the pure random sampling approach. Therefore, for the data drawn from about a month of publications, a single constructed week would allow for a reliable measure of local stories. It is a technique that could even prove effective for studying a complete range of issues published in a newspaper during a six-month period (Rife, Aust & Lacy, 1993). However, all four constructed week samples were drawn from the month of events that occurred in Bahrain. These were selected from the collected published news items in Alriyadh and Alyoum, and analysed to include as many developments in the Bahrain protests as possible. The tables below show the detailed categorisation of the news content picked up from the respective Saudi newspapers for analysis. Alriyadh: Sixty-five news articles divided as follows: Section Number of Articles Localities 12 Policy 49 Economy 3 Art 1 - Three persons from the Bahraini opposition were interviewed. - News resources were as follows: Resource Number of Articles Letters to the Editor 14 Saudi Press Agency 6 News Agencies 33 The tone used: At the beginning, the talk was of small demonstrations. Stay in – strike, crisis, calling for reforming and negotiation. Described as sectarian conflict. Some news about the minority (Sunni) and majority (Shia’ah). Some headlines increase the tone such as the headlines with “red line” and the headline: “Bahrain security is the security of Saudi Arabia”, etc. Described the Peninsula Shield Force’s intervention as “an honoured support”. Alyoum: Twenty-seven news articles divided as follows: Section Number of Articles Localities 10 Policy 16 Economy 1 - There is no interview with Bahraini opposition. - News resources were as follows: Resource Number of Articles Letters to the Editor 11 Saudi Press Agency 8 News Agencies 8 The tone used: Words: opposites, sectarian conflict, strikers. In declarations, Prince Saud Al-Faisal: “We will destroy anyone trying to intervene”. . . A newspaper’s most important page is its front page, since the majority of readers have their first glance over it and it is displayed on the counter of kiosks and shops (Hetherington, 1985). In general, newspapers in Saudi Arabia include a leading article or story on the front page that reflects its editorial opinion. This is the case for Alriyadh and Alyoum. Issues of both for the selected dates were systematically picked up, and the front page and leading story carefully read as part of the analysis. Therefore, 30 issues including 30 front pages and 30 leading articles from each of the two selected Saudi newspapers were to be analysed in the study, meaning 60 issues of the two newspapers were examined in total. All news content and non-advertising material found on the front pages were recorded in the research study, and then classified into one of the seven categories of publication items or content that are described in the next sub-section. The actual space allotted to each article or the size of its headline was considered insignificant. If the cartoons and pictures were clearly linked to a specific article or editorial then they were incorporated into the coding of that story; if not, they were regarded as separate items and thus separately coded under one of the seven categories of newspaper content (see the next section: ‘Research Categories’ ). 1.2.1. Research Categories When creating categories for the content analysis, the newspaper content was classified with respect to the expanded and reformulated version of categories employed by Stevenson, et al. (Stevenson et al., 1990: 197-199). A brief description of these categories is provided below: Category A is classified as the main news topics, that include political, economic, military/defence, social service, education, religion, sport, crime/law/justice, natural disasters/accident, ecology/environment, multiple issues and many others. Category B is classified as the type of news. The selected types of news can be further divided into three categories: local or domestic news, international news that involves KSA and some other country irrespective of its geographical location and foreign news that has no association with KSA. Category C is classified as the tone of the main news topic, which can be further classified as either positive or negative. This judgment was based on whether the news and its tone were favourable to the interests of KSA and the US. Therefore, the news items that emphasised only the causes or issues (such as discrimination, injustice, etc.) behind the situation in Bahrain were classified as having a negative tone. Conversely, items were classified as having a positive tone if they supported and focused on the actions and policies, whether diplomatic or military-based, of KSA as its strategic partner, the US. Category D is classified as the theme of the news items or the leading stories. This can be defined as the core subject or concept in a piece. The themes of the leading stories and the news items can also be categorised as either positive or negative. The tone of each article also determines its theme as either favourable or unfavourable to KSA and the US, with respect to the same criterion explained above. Category E is classified as the personnel, which refers to the governments of KSA and the US, the government and opposition in Bahrain and the governments of other countries, particularly the Arab States. Moreover, various other personnel categories, such as the individual or institutional, multi-regional and unidentifiable personnel from domestic, international and foreign levels were used. Category F is classified as the geographical locations. These were identified to be KSA (separate from the Middle Eastern region as a district entity for the purpose of this study), the Middle East, Europe, America, Africa, Asia, the related multi-regions and the unidentifiable geographical locations. Category G is classified as the source of the news. The sources of the news articles were categorised as: - the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) - newspapers’ own staff - the major international services (Reuters, Agence France Press (AFP)) - the Associated Press (AP) - the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) - the United Press International (UPI) Together with other media—both domestic and foreign—public officials, private citizens, other agencies, multiple sources and unidentified or anonymous sources. It was attempted to maintain the independence of the main categories, but some were further classified into sub-categories. Once the categories had been defined, and the details of the sources of the individual news stories recorded, I began encoding these sources into the above stated categories. Seven distinct data sheets were formulated for each newspaper to support systematic and quantitative encoding, with each sheet representing one of the seven categories of the research. The constructed week approach fulfilled its purpose and the data samples of the two selected Saudi newspapers were taken for four consecutive periods or weeks, and four additional days up to March 16, 2011. Thus, 60 issues were included in the study. The concept was not to acquire data and estimate the percentage of items found in each category for each newspaper, but instead to determine observation techniques, coding approach and the research process. 1.2.2. Checks for Reliability and Validity Reliability The reliability was ensured through the following measures: The boundaries of the research categories were well-defined and detailed. Articles in the data sample obtained within the first week of the study were checked to ensure the research categories were clear and adequate to cover the variety of news items to be classified. Validity A total of 171 individual news items were analysed, and I as a researcher am satisfied and confident that this sample size is adequate for recording the nature of the Saudi media coverage of the recent events in Bahrain. Furthermore, the sample was divided into four consecutive periods that enabled us to capture the changes taking place during the conflict, which might have influenced the content of the Saudi press. The categories of classification were clear and generally allowed for straightforward implementation. 1.2.3. Statistical Procedures Using the data obtained in the content analysis, tables were formulated to illustrate the outcomes for almost all of the previously mentioned categories. Frequencies have been employed for the core news topics, and the tone, theme and type of news item and leading news article. Frequencies, percentages and order of rank were employed for the personnel, the geographical location and the source of the news. This was necessary to analyse the data and rate the performance of each of the two Saudi newspapers with respect to the selected research categories, through which we can determine the similarities and differences between the publications. It is possible to compare their constructed statistical tables and, more importantly, to investigate the research problem and test the research hypothesis. The tables were helpful in answering the research question and were also used to represent the outcomes of the investigation, as they included the statistical summaries of the data obtained through the research. The tables illustrated the distribution of the news articles with respect to the category or type of the news in each newspaper. It is important to note that the estimation of the sub-category of ‘unidentified’ or ‘other’ under the categories of source, personnel and geographical location of the news content has been excluded from the scope of the study, to allow for more precise results with which to test the research hypotheses. 1.3. Findings The findings of Saudi press content analysis as per the coverage of Bahraini conflict by alriyadh and alyoum newspapers were recorded with respect to the main topics of the news and their tone, theme and type. It was generally observed that coverage given to Bahraini conflict was almost similar in the two selected Saudi newspapers although the proportion of news articles found in the two newspapers was different from one another. The findings of this content analysis are summarized below: The political and military developments in the Bahraini conflict were extensively covered in the two selected newspapers in comparison to other news topics. The stories related to Bahrain were positive in tone and tend to be from foreign sources. However, the stories linking Saudi Arabia directly to Bahrain were acquired from the Saudi Press Agency. Both the selected newspapers reported the intervention of Saudi Arabia in to Bahrain, through the Peninsula Shield Forces, as justified and lawful. Alriyadh newspaper decribed the security of Bahrain as the security of Saudi Arabia in its coverage of the conflict. Both the newspapers described the events in Bahrain as a sectarian conflict that involved the minority Sunni and the majority Shiah. References Berelson, B. (1952). Content Analysis in Communication Research. Glencoe, IL, USA: Free Press. Hetherington, A. (1985). News, Newspapers and Television. Basingstoke: Macmillan. Jones, R. L. & Carter, R. E. (1959). Some Procedures for Estimating ‘News Hole’ in Content Analysis. Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 3, p. 399. Krippendorff, K. (1980). Content Analysis: An Introduction to its Methodology. London: Sage Publications. Lacy, S., Robinson, K. & Riffe, D. (1995). Sample Size in Content Analysis of Weekly Newspapers. Journal of Mass Communication, Vol. 72, No. 2, p. 336, 395, 402. Patterson, O. (1984). Television Living Room War in Print: Vietnam in the News Magazine. Journalism Quarterly, Vol. 61, No. 1, p. 36. Rifle, D., Aust, C. F. & Lacy, S. R. (1993). The Effectiveness of Random, Consecutive Day and Constructed Week Sampling in Newspaper Content Analysis. Journalism Quarterly, Vol. 70, No. 1, pp. 133–6, 139. Wimmer, R. D. & Dominick, J. R. (1983). Mass Media Research: An Introduction. Belmont, CA, USA: Wadsworth Publishing Company. Read More