A few decades ago, we didn’t browse the Internet for information. We didn’t analyze text messages online and read “saved for later” industry articles. We don’t use letters as often these days. We have reduced interpersonal communication to short mentions in online forums, chats, and messengers. However, even in such a limited form of communication, we can find a specific pattern of behavior in certain social groups. Although images and multimedia content support the written word, written information is still the primary communication method. The language of social communication, norms, and patterns of behavior and values that connect a given social group is a perfect place to study the message, thanks to the content analysis method.

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What is content analysis?

Content analysis can be understood as an analytical and systematized approach to analyzing the content of a written message. A researcher using this method works on the material to be analyzed. Content that can be interpreted includes research transcripts, i.e. answers to open questions, obtained using the questionnaire method. Transcription is also a faithfully reproduced record of an in-depth interview or discussion on a given topic.

A researcher who wants to understand the surrounding reality focuses on exploring the message contained in the information. Content analysis is boldly combined with research on ready-made content from the respondents. In this case, the researcher does not interfere with the respondent’s answer but works on recording his statements. Content analysis is derived from sociological research, which focuses on a reliable view of social phenomena.

Content analysis by Bernard Berelson

The creator of the method is the American scientist and sociologist Bernard Berenson, who worked on communication and mass media. His research into content analysis centered around behavioral science — the study of human behavior. He used to say that “content analysis is a research technique for an objective, systematic and quantitative description of the explicit content of a message.”

Essential components in content analysis

In analyzing static content, the researcher maintains methodological clarity during his work. This means that each analysis should follow specific rules that must be strictly adhered to. This is important because it allows for the replication of the study, i.e., repeating it in the future and comparing it with the previously obtained results.

However, it is worth remembering that socio-cultural conditions, beliefs, social influence, values, or the purpose of the study may affect how the researcher will interpret the data. It is critical to conduct content analysis within a specific framework.

What is needed to conduct content analysis?

When starting work on the existing material, it is worth paying attention to a few elements:

• Content analysis is both quantitative and qualitative — we count how many times a given phrase or word appears in the text, and we try to understand the meaning of a specific fragment,
• the objective approach of the researcher — it is necessary to use precise, constant, and unchanging methods of analysis during the study,
• systematic measurements — the repeatability of the methods used to ensure the possibility of replication, i.e., reliable repetition of the research and obtaining similar results.

Content analysis and overinterpretation of the researcher

On the one hand, it is postulated that the existing material should be analyzed literally, understanding the content by the intentions of the sender. This approach allows conclusions to be made only on the basis of material that is fully consistent with the sender’s words. This is in line with the previously mentioned rigor with which we are to analyze content.

On the other hand, the analysis of understatements is equally valuable for the entire study. A researcher who concludes based on unsaid content, reading essential elements of the statement from the context, will obtain extensive material for content analysis. However, this requires a lot of intuition, and such action will always bear the hallmarks of a subjective interpretation of the researcher conducting the analysis.

Reading, understanding, and interpreting what has not been saying is expected in one of the psychotherapeutic modalities (i.e., schools). When analyzing the content of the patient’s statement, the psychotherapist pays attention to pauses in the statement, broken words, and entire sentences. Slips of the tongue, which may be significant in the context of the whole statement, also become important. In the therapeutic process, at every stage of therapy, an invaluable analysis of spoken content is visible, which helps to get to know the patient without disturbing his speech rhythm.

What does content analysis in UX look like?

Unlike many research techniques, the content analysis does not require direct contact with users. It is based on existing and existing text materials. This form of conducting research on ready-made content minimizes the difficulties characteristic of interactive research, in which the contact of the researcher with other people is essential.

Quantitative content analysis in UX

We can analyze the content of various materials in written form. These may be records of previous interviews, user statements, or correspondence with the support department (popular “tickets”).

As we already know, content analysis is simultaneously perceived as a quantitative and qualitative method. Most researchers, however, attribute it to a quantitative character. In this sense, the text should be analyzed by counting the following:

• words,
• phrases,
• emerging topics.

Attention is also drawn to:

• Features of the information provided in the text,
• Intensification of specific idioms,

After analyzing dozens of applications from users, it may turn out that the phrase “I don’t know how to change the password to my profile” appears in the messages. By counting the frequency of this phrase, we can determine the severity of a specific type of problem.

Research procedure in UX

In UX research, when undertaking content analysis, it is worth remembering the basic methodological concepts that ensure obtaining reliable research results.

What to include in the study?

• formulation of the research problem,
• making hypotheses,
• selection of places (Internet, archives, selected website, internet forums, social groups, help desk of your website, online reports),
• analyzing content based on a previously established hierarchy of material values,
• content analysis by the predetermined category key (word, whole sentence, specific phrase, paragraph),
• write down your conclusions and possible interpretations,
• preparation of the research report.

What is a categorization key in content analysis?

Working with existing content is a continuous analysis of the material, which requires a previously prepared research strategy. It is necessary to practice preparing a categorization key. This element serves as a base in content analysis, on the basis of which content is analyzed according to specific guidelines.

The categorization key is a set of categories to which we assign specific elements from the analyzed material. It makes it easier to group the found content of words, phrases, or sentences.

The categorization key may be a list of categories in which the researched content is located, or a questionnaire with specific, selected questions, according to which the researcher searches the analyzed materials.

How to apply content analysis in UX?

The sociological method of researching existing content is applicable when creating new products and optimizing existing ones. If we wanted to know the opinion of users of a website that deals with remote rental of ski equipment, we could construct a study in several ways:

• create a popup with a short questionnaire with open questions that will ask for the opinion of website users,
• including a separate and marked section on the page with questions that customers may ask. Such a section should be divided into thematic categories by subsequent, reliable content analysis,
• automatically start a chat on the website for the user, thanks to which he can ask and report a problem.

After collecting materials in one of the above ways, we can analyze the content users have produced.

Summary

The analysis of existing content has several fixed points in the research process. It is good to stick to these guidelines to make your work easier. When working on content research, it is worth defining the research questions and choosing where we want to draw materials for analysis. Next, we can proceed to the proper content research and write the conclusions in a legible report.