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Content Analysis for Management Research

This document discusses content analysis and sources of data that can be used. It notes that content analysis involves quantifying underlying themes from text by analyzing language use. Content analysis relies on a variety of data sources that have been used in past research, such as annual reports, interviews, websites, and magazines. The best data source depends on the research questions, constructs, and level of analysis (individual or organizational). Both individual-level sources like interviews and organizational-level sources like annual reports are discussed as options. Careful consideration of the data source and its limitations is important.

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Terry College of Business
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22 views7 pages

Content Analysis for Management Research

This document discusses content analysis and sources of data that can be used. It notes that content analysis involves quantifying underlying themes from text by analyzing language use. Content analysis relies on a variety of data sources that have been used in past research, such as annual reports, interviews, websites, and magazines. The best data source depends on the research questions, constructs, and level of analysis (individual or organizational). Both individual-level sources like interviews and organizational-level sources like annual reports are discussed as options. Careful consideration of the data source and its limitations is important.

Uploaded by

Terry College of Business
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IDENTIFYING THE WORDS TO PAINT A PICTURE:

CONTENT ANALYSIS DATA FOR MANAGEMENT RESEARCH


Miles A. Zachary
West Virginia University

CONTENT ANALYSIS

Content analysis (CA) refers to any methodological measurement applied to


text (or other symbolic materials) for social science purposes (Shapiro & Markoff, 1997: p. 14)

The CA methodology is predicated on the belief in the importance of language


in human cognition (Sapir, 1944; Whorf, 1956) and social processes (Phillips, Lawrence, & Hardy,
2004)

The words we use reflect our thoughts, either candid or calculated (depending on nature of
the discourse)

This assumption allows researchers to understand and quantify underlying


themes (Weber, 1990)

Includes cognitions/schemas (Huff, 1990), dominant logics/strategic frames


institutions (Phillips et al., 2004; Dunn & Jones, 2010).

(Brigham et al., 2014),

or

CONTENT ANALYSIS SOURCES OF DATA


Duriau and colleagues (2007)
conducted a content analysis
of content analysis research
98 studies included
Most rely on either data from
annual reports or trade
magazines
34 longitudinal articles

Indeed, considerable variety in


data sources to date

Field data; 2
Other;
14
Transcribed videos;
3
Business cases; 3
Annual reports; 30
Computer databases; 5
Mission statements; 5
Open-ended surveys; 7
Trade magazines; 18
Internal documents; 9

Interview data; 11 Scholarl

CONTENT ANALYSIS SOURCES OF DATA


Sowhich data is right for you?
The source and voice the text determines what information can be
abstracted
Source: Where did the text come from?
E.g., shareholder letter, press release, newspaper, advertisement, trade magazine, etc.

Voice Who is speaking and at what level of analysis?


E.g., an individual, a team, an organization, a collection of organizations, etc.

Data selection should therefore be a function of your (1) constructs/ RQs,


(2) their level of analysis, and (3) theory

CONTENT ANALYSIS SOURCES OF DATA


Individual-Level Data
Open-ended responses (e.g., Chatman & Flynn, 2001)
Interview transcriptions (e.g., Butler, 1991; Sackmann, 1992)
Online reviews or social media (e.g., Shriver, Nair, & Hofstetter,
2013)
Speeches (e.g., Bligh, Kohles, & Meindl, 2004a, 2004b; Davis &
Gardner, 2013)
Managerial communications (e.g., letters, emails, memos, etc.
Rogers, Dillard, & Yuthas, 2005)

CONTENT ANALYSIS SOURCES OF DATA


Organizational-level data
Annual reports (e.g., Yuthas, Rogers, & Dillard, 2002; Ober et al., 1999)
Letters to shareholders (e.g., Short et al., 2009; Zachary et al., 2011a, 2014)
Mission statements (e.g., Pearce & David, 1987; Short & Palmer, 2003
Website content (e.g., McKenny et al., 2012; Zachary et al., 2011b)
Media coverage (e.g., Deephouse, 2000; Pollock & Rindova, 2003; Zavyalova et
al., 2012)
Press releases (e.g., Rogers et al., 2005)
IPO prospectuses (e.g., Payne, Moore, Bell, & Zachary, 2013)
Trade magazines (e.g., Dunn & Jones, 2010; Grimm & Smith, 1997; Miller & Chen,
1994))

CONTENT ANALYSIS SOURCES OF DATA


A few concluding remarks
Know your data sources
Take you time, read!

Be aware of the limitations of data and data sources


Garbage in garbage out

Be creative!
Seek novel ways of examining phenomena

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