ANALYZING MEDIA MESSAGES Using Quantitative Content Analysis in Research LEA COMMUNICATION SERIES Jennings Bryant/Dolf Zillmann, General Editors Selected titles in Communication Theory and Methodology Subseries (Jennings Bryant, series advisor) include: Berger • Planning Strategic Interaction: Attaining Goals Through Communicative Action Dennis/Wartella • American Communication Research: The Remembered History Greene • Message Production: Advances in Communication Theory Hayes • Statistical Methods for Communication Science Heath/Bryant • Human Communication Theory and Research: Concepts, Contexts, and Challenges, Second Edition Reese/Gandy/Grant • Framing Public Life; Perspectives on Media and Our Understanding of the Social World Salwen/Stacks • An Integrated Approach to Communication Theory and Research Potter • An Analysis of Thinking and Research About Qualitative Methods For a complete list of titles in LEA’s Communication Series, please contact Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers at http://www.erlbaum.com/ ANALYZING MEDIA MESSAGES Using Quantitative Content Analysis in Research Second Edition Daniel Riffe Ohio University Stephen Lacy Michigan State University Frederick G.Fico Michigan State University LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS Mahwah, New Jersey London This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/.” Copyright © 2005 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microform, retrieval system, or any other means, without prior written permission of the publisher. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers 10 Industrial Avenue Mahwah, New Jersey 07430 http://www.erlbaum.com/ Cover design by Kathryn Houghtaling Lacey Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Riffe, Daniel Analyzing media messages: using quantitative content analysis in research/ Daniel Riffe, Stephen Lacy, Frederick G. Fico.—2nd ed. p. cm.—(LEA communication series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8058-5297-2 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN 0-8058-5298-0 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Content analysis (Communication). 2. Mass media—Research— Methodology. 3. Mass media—Statistical methods. I. Lacy, Stephen, 1948– II. Fico, Frederick. III. Title. IV. LEA’s communication series. P93.R54 2005 302.23′01′4–dc22 2004060652 CIP ISBN 1-4106-1342-9 Master e-book ISBN Daniel Riffe: For Florence, Ted, and Eliza Stephen Lacy: For I.P.Byrom, N.P.Davis, and A.G.Smith Fred Fico: For Beverly, Benjamin, and Faith Contents Preface ix 1 Introduction 1 2 Defining Content Analysis as a Social Science Tool 23 3 Designing a Content Analysis 40 4 Measurement 64 5 Sampling 96 6 Reliability 123 7 Validity 160 8 Data Analysis 177 9 Computers 208 References 225 Author Index 241 Subject Index 247 Preface We have conducted or supervised hundreds of quantitative content analyses in our combined 60+ years as researchers, examining content ranging from White House coverage, to portrayal of women and minorities in advertising aimed at children, to environmental reporting and controversial issues in local news. The content analyses have included theses and dissertations, class projects, and funded studies and have involved content from sources as varied as newspapers, magazines, broadcast media, and World Wide Web sites. Some of the projects have been descriptive, whereas others have tested directional hypotheses or sought answers to specific research questions. Our inquiries have been framed in theory about processes that affect content and about the effects of content. If conducting or supervising those content analyses has taught us anything, it is that some problems or issues are common to virtually all quantitative content analyses. Designing a study raises questions about sample size and technique, about measurement and reliability, and about data analysis that need resolving. These are fundamental questions that must be addressed whether the researcher is a student conducting her or his first content analysis or a veteran planning her or his 20th, whether the content being studied is words or images, whether it comes from an online source or a traditional source such as a newspaper, and whether the focus is news or entertainment or advertising. In preparing this book and updating it for the second edition, we have tried to address these recurring questions that content analysis must address. Our goal was to make content analysis accessible, not arcane, and to produce a comprehensive guide that is also comprehensible. We hoped to accomplish the latter through clear, concrete language and by providing numerous examples—of recent and “classic” studies—to illustrate problems and solutions. We see the book as a primary text for courses in content analysis, a supplemental text for research methods courses, and a useful reference for fellow researchers in mass communication fields, political science, and other social and behavioral sciences.