ABSTRACT
The logical starting point for analyzing texts is to consider the meaning of the text. All texts are about something (i.e., they have content); and the most direct way of taking account of this is through content analysis. Developed by communication scholars in the early 20th century, content analysis was first used to measure the objective features (article length, size of headline, etc.) of newspaper stories. During World War II its scope was broadened to include various forms of propaganda including nonprint discourse. By the 1950s, content analysis had established itself in communication research as virtually synonymous with discourse analysis. Berelson’s classic 1952 work defined it thusly: “Content analysis is a research technique that objectively, systematically, and quantitatively describes the manifest content of communication” (Berelson, 1952). In recent decades, however, as discourse analysis itself has evolved into a broad variety of approaches ranging from ethnomethodology to artificial intelligence, content analysis has lost its status as the prime means of analyzing texts. Although in specific cases it can still serve that purpose, today it is more often used in a supporting role for more sophisticated forms of discourse analysis.
