Page 119 - Encyclopedia of Nursing Research

86 n ConTEnT AnALYSIS

other mode of data collection. The investiga- that are available to assist organization of
tor reads the completed text and determines qualitative data.
C the main ideas or topics of the transcription Most qualitative research suggests using
or observation. The investigator then rereads between 10 and 15 main topics per study
the text and numbers and assigns a code to (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000; Patton, 2002). They
each segment or group of lines from the tran- caution against making topics too special-
scription. Sometimes this may also be called ized as only very small amounts of data will
labeling. Segments may consist of a single be able to fit into each. on the other hand,
word or line, multiple words or lines, one or too many topics can cause confusion, and
more paragraphs, or a pictorial schema and the researcher may have difficulty in remem-
may vary according to the chosen topic or bering what categories go into each topic as
topics. The codes developed by the investi- the study progresses and more data are col-
gator reflect some commonality, such as an lected. With each subsequent interview or
action or behavior, an event, a thought, a con- observation, the topics may be combined or
cept, and so forth. Line segments or groups subdivided into multiple categories as the
of lines are separated and are grouped into need arises. As repetitive patterns arise,
categories, and the categories are grouped relationships between the categories and
according to the topics that were identified then between topics may be seen. often, the
by the investigator. relationships may occur at the same time or
Topics or domains of interest may be cho- be concurrent with each other. For example,
sen before a study, as with a focused study, in a study of adolescent face care, the topics
or generated after the first interview and “blemish care” and “facial scrubbing” are
based on the inquiry or subjective findings. related and occur at the same time. In the
A focused qualitative study centers on one same study, the topic “facial preparation”
particular area of interest or intent, such as occurs or is antecedent to the topics of “blem-
metaphorical analysis or feminist research, ish care” and “facial scrubbing,” whereas the
or it may focus on a particular phenomenon topical area “making up the face” may occur
like leadership style, body piercings among as a consequence of one of the earlier cate-
adolescent girls, or a demonstration of how gories that were formed. Some researchers
caring activities are performed. choose to quantify part of the analysis by
The researcher may also choose to counting frequency and sequencing of par-
develop topics after a first interview or obser- ticular words, phrases, or topics.
vation. Sometimes the topics seem to arise The major reliability and validity issues
naturally from the data, whereas at other of content analysis involve the subjective
times the researcher must decide on and nature of the researcher-determined topics
develop the topics from the information or category labels. What should be included
given. Developing a topic may be similar within each topic should be clearly defined
to making an index for a book or file labels and should be clearly different from the oth-
(Patton, 2002). The researcher reads through ers so that the results are mutually exclu-
the transcript of the interview or observation sive. The easiest way to determine reliability
and begins to sort and organize the inter- in a study that uses content analysis is to
view data according to likenesses and simi- have two or more readers, other than the
larities. The researcher usually gets a sense researcher, agree that the topics are appropri-
of the main topics that pervade the text soon ate for a particular study and that data can
after the transcribing process is complete easily be organized under each. This is typ-
and after the first reading. This organization ically carried out by having the researcher
of the data may be done by hand or by using randomly choosing a part of the study and
one of the many computer software packages having the readers look over the text and the