Section Two
Nurturing and Reflective Teachers can deal with Differences.
3.2 Introductory Learning Activities for Section 2 of the text:
Use the following procedure to complete a Content Analysis of
Chapters 10 - 15.
The following guidelines are from the Queensland Department of
Education’s Content Analysis: A Mini In-service Kit of Teachers of the Social
Sciences (DOE, 1977):
Introduction:
Content Analysis is a data collection technique. The purpose of the
technique is to identify the characteristics of data contained in written, spoken,
pictorial or graphic from. This process of identification can make explicit the major
message of the data, facilitate a comparison of the data presented in different forms, or
enable inferences to be drawn about values held by the person presenting the data. The
technique can also be used to reduce large amounts of documentary evidence to a manageable
size.
Some specific purposes for which content analysis can be used include:
- a definition of the nature of female roles presented in the popular media;
- a comparison of what is said about mining in a mining company booklet and a conservation
group booklet;
- a comparison of what is contained in pictorial advertisements and what is contained in
spoken advertisements for the same product.
Basic Procedure:
Once the purpose of the analysis has been clearly identified, the
categories for classifying the information have to be selected. These categories should:
- be exhaustive, i.e. all relevant items in the documents under study should be capable of
being placed in a category; and
- be mutually exclusive.
The emphasis given to each of these categories may then be tested by
counting the frequency with which it occurs. Some categories which often arise include:
- single words or symbols (although on some occasions it is not enough merely to register
the frequency of the occurrence of a word, for the writer may be an advocate or an
opponent of whatever the word signifies. A further delineation of this category may be
required in this circumstance);
- themes
- presence or absence of an idea
- characters
- intensity of attitudes or feelings.
The following procedures are suggested for this activity:
Step 1: Read the chapters to obtain an overview of their
content.
Step 2: Identify a comprehensive set of categories of the
ideas contained in the chapters including content ideas, concepts, skills, debates,
topics, issues, …
Step 3: Prepare a table such as the following as a basis for the
content analysis.
|
C
h a p t e r s |
Category
or Key Idea |
Subdivision
of the concept |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
Totals |
1. |
a.
b.
c. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2. |
a.
b. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3. |
a.
b.
c.
d. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4. |
a.
b.
c. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5. |
a.
b. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
6. |
a.
b.
c. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7. |
a.
b.
c. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
8. |
a.
b. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
9. |
a.
b.
c. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Step 4:
Read each of the chapters again and place a tick (Ö ) or a tally mark (/) against each of the categories and/or
subdivisions every time it is referred to in the literature.
Step 5: When the tallying is completed, each row of the table
should be totalled. The table then has an additional column for these totals.
Step 6: Drawing inferences. This should be completed after you
have read Chapters 10 – 15.
When this classifying and totalling is complete, from the results
obtained certain inferences and conclusions can be drawn.