Content Analysis in Social Research

Maria Paola Faggiano, Ph.D. in Methodology of Social Sciences, Tenure-track assistant professor of Sociology, Sapienza-University of Rome. She has published monographs and many articles on methodological issues. Among her recent publications, Content Analysis and Digital Data: Methodological Solutions between Tradition and Innovation. The Case of Digital Campaigns as Meeting Ground of Expertises and Research Perspectives (with Gallo R., Italian Sociological Review, 2021).

• List of IllustrationsIntroduction: Interrogating Textual Material in Today’s Day and AgeCharacteristics and Contexts of Use of Content Analysis1 Content Analysis in Social Research: A Methodological Point of View1Guidelines for the Qualitative Analysis of Content1.1Detecting and Analyzing a Text Qualitatively1.2An Example: The Testimony of a Sample of Neet Youngsters2Statistical-Textual Analysis: Foundations and Perspectives of Analysis2.1 Preliminary Checks2.2 Types of Obtainable Outputs2.3 Pros and Cons of Statistical-Textual Analysis3Distinctive Features of Content Analysis as a Survey3.1 Identification of the Unit of Analysis and Temporal Placement of the Investigation3.2 From Designing an Analysis Sheet to Collecting Information3.3 Analysis and Presentation of Findings2 The Analysis of Digital Campaigns The Case Study of the Italian General Elections1Introduction2Twitter, TV and Political Participation in the Electoral Campaign: Zooming in on the 2013 Parliamentary Elections in Italy3Themes, Actors and Contexts in the Italian Digital Campaign 20183.1Focalizing on Themes3.2Political Actors: Allies and Opponents3.3The Use of Numbers to Denounce and Inform: Sources and Statistics in the Digital Campaign3.4Social Actors: Who to Include, Who to Exclude3.4References to Territory Contained in Posts3 Local Digital CampaignsThe role of Facebook in Rome’s Local Elections1A Special Election Campaign: Analysis Objectives2The Candidates’ Social Statistics3The Campaign’s Pars Construens: A Qualitative Examination4The Pars Destruens of the Digital Campaign: In-depth Analysis of Posts5 The Campaign’s Climate, Actors and Scenarios4 Analyzing the Blog of the Five Star Movement1Introduction2The Empirical Basis3Pre-analysis Operations4Key Expressions in the Blog5The Time Variable in the Rome-based Blog6Axes of Discourse and Typology of Posts5 Content Analysis Applied to In-depth Interviews Drawing Ideas from an Empirical Study on Religiosity in Italy1Research Design2A Mixed Analysis Approach: Focusing on CA as a Survey3Some of the Outcomes of Applying CA as a Survey: The Endurance of Religion and the Need for Community4The Participants’ Emotional Experiences4.1 The Dimension of Happiness4.2 Suffering4.3 The Path of Life: Secular and Religious Perspectives Compared4.4 Respondents and Death5Everyday Life and Holidays: Practices, Subjects and ContextsConcluding Remarks Past and Present Research Practices, Looking ForwardIndex