DOCUMENT STUDY any written material that contain information about the phenomena we wish to study. primary documents vs. secondary documents primary -- eye-witness accounts, written for personal reasons such as, letters, diaries, suicide notes, autobiographies. secondary -- non-personal documents written for business or formal reasons such as files, agreements, contracts, record of events, biographies. Secondary analysis -- analysis of data gathered or created by another person.

types of documentary analysis basic distinction: unstructured and non-quantitative structured and quantitative 1. personal documents (unstructured-qualitative) 2. content analysis (structured-quantitative) 3. historical analysis (unstructured-both qualitative and quantitative

personal documents: case study approach consists of construction of taxonomies to illustrate some theoretical point analysis of personal letters, photographs, films, diaries etc..

content analysis the goal is to take a verbal non-quantitative document and transform it into quantitative data. objective, systematic, and quantitative description of the content of a text. to describe trends to relate content to message sources audit content against standards to analyze style to describe patterns of communication

how do you do content analysis? To conduct a content analysis, the text is coded, or broken down, into manageable categories on a variety of levels--word, word sense, phrase, sentence, or theme--and then examined The results are then used to make make inferences about the messages within the text(s), the writer(s), the audience, and even the culture and time of which these are a part. 1. construct mutually exclusive categories 2. record the frequency with which each of these categories observed in the document 3. analyze data

examples Newspaper coverage of asylum seekers Türkiye’de Aile Planlaması kanunu ile ilgili meclis tutanakları Portrayal of poverty in TV series Portrayal of class in TV commercials Newspaper coverage on TOKİ…….

steps in content analysis draw samples define categories define recording unit define context unit define system of enumeration

categories: should reflect the purpose of the research should be exhaustive and mutually exclusive should be independent recording unit (unit of analysis): - single word or symbol - the theme - the character - the sentence or paragraph - the item - location, place

context unit: the context of the word within the larger unit systems of enumeration: - appears or not - frequency - amount of space given - strength or intensity

Historical research oral history document analysis four research areas as examples; capitalist expansion the growth of the states collective action sociology of religious movement

Historical research oral history document analysis Oral history can be defined as the recording, preservation and interpretation of historical information, based on the personal experiences and opinions of the speaker. It often takes the form of eye-witness evidence about past events, but can include folklore, myths, songs and stories passed down over the years by word of mouth. While it is an invaluable way of preserving the knowledge and understanding of older people, it can also involve interviewing younger generations.

Oral history Oral historians generally prefer to ask open-ended questions and avoid leading questions that encourage people to say what they think the interviewer wants them to say. Some interviews are “life reviews,” conducted with those at the end of their careers, others are focused on a specific period in their lives, such as war veterans, or specific events, such as those with survivors of 17 Ağustod earthquake.

validity and reliability of document study: face validity elective survival problem authenticity criterion validity no possibility of comparison construct validity reliability: instrument reliability analyst reliability yet, though quantitative still subjective.

authenticity To sum up 4 criteria of reliability and validity : credibility (sincerity and accuracy) representativeness (survival and availability) meaning (literal and interpretive understanding)

Advantages of Content Analysis looks directly at communication via texts or transcripts, and gets at the central aspect of social interaction can allow for both quantitative and qualitative operations can provides valuable historical/cultural insights over time through analysis of texts allows a closeness to text which can alternate between specific categories and relationships and also statistically analyzes the coded form of the text

can be used to interpret texts for purposes such as the development of expert systems (since knowledge and rules can both be coded in terms of explicit statements about the relationships among concepts) is an unobtrusive means of analyzing interactions provides insight into complex models of human thought and language use

Disadvantages of Content Analysis can be extremely time consuming is subject to increased error, particularly when relational analysis is used to attain a higher level of interpretation is often devoid of theoretical base, or attempts too liberally to draw meaningful inferences about the relationships and impacts implied in a study is inherently reductive, particularly when dealing with complex texts tends too often to simply consist of word counts often disregards the context that produced the text, can be difficult to automate or computerize

Example: News Frames of Crisis Coverage content analysis of crisis news frames found in 2006 crisis news coverage. news stories were analyzed to examine which of five news frames human interest, conflict, morality, Economicand level of responsibility (individual and organizational level)

Human interest frame Conflict frame This frame “brings a human face or an emotional angle to the presentation of an event, issue, or problem” In crisis situations, the frame stimulates the psychological pulse of people, which ultimately leads them to amore negative attitude toward the crisis Conflict frame The conflict frameis used to reflect conflict and disagreement among individuals, groups, or organizations.

Morality frame This frame puts the event, problem, or issue in the context of morals, social prescriptions, and religious tenets. It was found that the morality frame was commonly used by journalists indirectly through quotations or inference, rather than directly because of the journalistic norm of objectivity.  Economic frame This frame reports an event, problem, or issue in terms of the consequences it will have economically on an individual, groups, organizations, or countries

Attribution of responsibility frame This frame is defined as “a way of attributing responsibility for [a] cause or solution to either the government or to an individual or group” two distinct news frames dealing with issues: the episodic news frame (focusing on certain individuals or specific events) and the thematic news frame (placing issues and events in general context at the societal or governmental level

SAMPLE: International Crises Management Firm–choose crisis NYT WP, USA Today :one month within the crisis—keywords The unit of analysis was one news article. The coding instrument consisted of the name of the newspaper, name of the company, crisis type, five news frames, and level of responsibility frame.

A CONTENT ANALYSIS EXPLORING LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER TOPICS IN TEXTBOOKS Discrimination and harassment against LGBT people: Descriptions of iscrimination and harassment of LGBT people. LGBT identities and experiences: Descriptions of LGBT people that include references to LGBT culture,LGBT youth behavior, developmental issues, social identities (such as victims or activists), and how LGBT people experience life. LGBT history: Descriptions of the roles LGBT people have played in history, including the history of education.

Strategies, resources, and curricula to increase safety and support: Descriptions of what teachers can do to increase safety and support of LGBT students and their allies, where educators can go for more information, how to include LGBT issues in the curriculum, and examinations of how LGBT issues are currently included or excluded from the curriculum. Legal issues and professional responsibilities: Descriptions of laws, policies, and court cases that establish the legal rights of LGBT people, the professional obligations of teachers regarding LGBT people and topics, and the stance of professional teacher organizations regarding LGBT people and issues.

Personal beliefs and opposition: Beliefs of educators and others regarding LGBT issues in the schools, political and cultural battles, and opposition to the inclusion of LGBT content in schools. Conceptual terms and frameworks: Description of vocabulary and conceptual frameworks such as homophobia, heterosexism, and heteronormativity that equip future educators with the language and concepts to critically interpret and analyze power relations and educational contexts surrounding LGBT people and issues.