Content Analysis

Methods Practice (Content Analysis) Assignment Instructions

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

The content analysis option for the Methods Practice Assignment is designed to help students develop their understanding of and skills in content analysis (which includes the ability to carefully read and code text) and ultimately, to develop their skills as a social science researcher.

ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION

This assignment requires students to complete a content analysis and comparison of the federal Conservative, Liberal, and NDP 2021 election platforms. The assignment should answer the following research question: How divided were the Conservatives, Liberals, and NDP over issues relating to climate and Indigenous peoples (OR two other issues/topics of your own choosing) during the 2021 federal election campaign?

To complete the assignment, students will be required to review the platforms of the federal Conservatives, Liberals, and NDP and to code the content of each party’s commitments/ promises on two issues/topics: climate and Indigenous peoples (OR two issues/topics of your own choosing).

After coding all three parties’ platforms, students will be required to submit a 750-word (approximately 3 pages double-spaced) report. The report should:

• Clearly indicate your answer to the research question;

• Briefly describe the data you used to answer the research question and the methods you used to analyze those data. In this section, you’ll want to briefly indicate:
o How decisions were made about which sentences to include in the coding sheet (i.e. how you conceptualized and operationalized each issue/topic);
o How you developed your coding system (see the third and fourth bullet points in the instructions section below);
o How you decided how to assign quotes to each code in your coding system.

• Summarize and analyze your findings on the differences between the three parties’ platforms. This should include an indication of:
o How frequently (if ever) each issue/topic was mentioned in each party’s platform;
o The positions adopted by the parties on each issue/topic; and
o How the parties framed each issue/topic.

• Draw some conclusions about how divided the parties are on the two issues/topics – do they all adopt very different positions on each issue/topic or are there similarities on some issues/topics among some parties?

• Include a brief reflection about the content analysis research method and inductive coding, its strengths, challenges, and potential applications for other research.

• Include a copy of the completed coding sheets for each party’s platform at the end of the submission.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONDUCTING CONTENT ANALYSIS

As noted in the textbook, content analysis “involves the systematic analysis of textual information” (Halperin and Heath 2017, 345). The key here is that the analysis is systematic, and thus replicable. This assignment asks students to code and analyze the manifest content of party election platforms.

To analyze the manifest content of the three parties’ platforms (available as PDFs on D2L) students will follow the process outlined below:

• Read the platforms looking for promises to act should the party be elected to govern. (These promises are typically introduced by “New Democrats will…” or “A re-elected Liberal government will…” etc. – look for the “will”!).

• Once you’ve identified the promises to act in each platform, identify all the sentences (or parts of sentences) that address the two issues/topics (climate and Indigenous peoples OR two issues/topics of your own choosing). Copy and paste these sentences into the “Platform Quotes” columns in the excel template (available on D2L). There is one tab/sheet for each party’s platform in the excel file – make sure you copy the right promises into the right tab/sheet! You will likely need to add rows to accommodate all the quotes. This step requires attention to detail and careful reading.

• You’ll then need to categorize and evaluate the position implied by each of the quotes. What policy is the party putting forward? (e.g. Are they promising to spend money or cut funding? Is it a promise to act or a promise to eliminate government action on the issue? Etc.) How are they framing the issue? (e.g. Do they identify a problem that needs to be solved? What’s the cause of that problem? Do they offer a positive or a negative assessment of the issue?) Add notes to the “Position/Evaluation” columns in the excel. Note that the same promise can be framed very differently (for example, two or more parties may commit to taking the same action, but the rationale for that action or their understanding of why that action is needed may be very different).

• With these initial notes in place (and hopefully some initial patterns detected), you’ll then want to create a consistent coding system and assign each sentence to one of your codes. You can add these more systematic codes to the “Code” column. This is an inductive approach to coding – you’ll develop your own coding system based on your initial review of the content. Keep notes on how you’ve decided on these codes as you’ll need to describe how you undertook this coding step in your report.

ASSIGNMENT FORMAT
• Typewritten in 11-12 point standard font, double-spaced, with 2.5 cm margins;
• A title page, incl. name and student number, assignment title, and course information;
• Page numbers;
• Approximately 3 pages double spaced (excluding the title page, reference list, and coding sheets)

ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION
• The assignment must be saved as two files: (1) one PDF or word doc containing the three-page report, and (2) one excel file with the completed coding sheets for all three parties;
• Save both files for your assignment using your surname and the assignment title as the filename (e.g. “Rayment Methods Practice Content Analysis.pdf” and “Rayment Methods Practice Coding Sheet.xlsx”);