 Using Computer-Aided Content Analysis to Map a Research DomainKylie Fisk, Adrian Cherney, Matthew Hornsey and Andrew Smith SAGE Open, 2012, vol. 2, issue 4, 2158244012467788 Abstract: Content analysis is a powerful tool for investigating attitudes expressed in naturally occurring language data. It is a useful tool to help researchers develop an understanding of a specific research field through identifying how particular issues or topics have been conceptualized or where fieldwork can be limited or prohibitive. This is especially true for research on postconflict reconstruction, where large-scale quantitative surveying or metareviews of the literature can be prohibitive. The present study provides a case study of how a particular content analysis software program—Leximancer—was used to map factors associated with institutional legitimacy in postconflict societies. The case of Timor-Leste is used as an example. We examine texts at three levels of discourse: at the academic, official, and primary levels. Results indicate differing perspectives on legitimacy at each level of discourse. This article offers a snapshot of a potential method for understanding how particular topics are conceptualized within a specific research field and can thus help in the development of evaluation methods or data collection instruments. Keywords: legitimacy; content analysis; research methods; postconflict societies; social identity (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:sagope:v:2:y:2012:i:4:p:2158244012467788 Access Statistics for this article More articles in SAGE Open |
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