Analyzing Content: Week 2

READING SUMMARY

For Monday’s reading, the text aims to dissect the methods of media effects and the process included in the research leading up to the matter. The reading divides the methods into 3 groups: content analysis, the survey, and the experiment itself. Content analysis is simply the collecting of data revolving around a type of media, for example, how many times guns are shown on a certain channel in a day. The data collected from this part of the process is just data. You cannot make inferences based off of it, but you can look at it quantitatively. When looking at content analysis, the sample from which the data is collected is quite important as well. The sample can dictate what the findings later show, and can indicate that the inferences made might only pertain to a certain group. After collecting all of the data, it can be turned into statistics which can then be used to make interpretations about what the information is saying/affecting.

OUTSIDE EXAMPLE

When I was a senior in high school, my statistics class focused a lot on causation. Our teacher would regularly remind us that just because a set of data seems to apply to a certain finding does not necessarily mean they’re related. For example, growing up, I have always greatly enjoyed horror and violent films. One of my favorites that came out in the past few years was “Hereditary”, a psychological horror movie with a lot of hidden messages. I find them extremely interesting and would spend hours fixated on underlying themes, intentionally going through article after article of different plot analyses. I spent a majority of my time after watching a film dissecting each character and action taken in the movie to try to greater understand the deeper meaning in psychological thrillers, meaning I spent a lot of time not only watching, but reading about murder, gore, possession, and anger. Yet, I am not a violent person. In fact, I have never seen violence as an answer to anything and greatly despise when I meet someone who thinks otherwise.

READING CONNECTION

Just like we learned from the reading, conclusions cannot be made just based on statistical data. Just because I have watched a multitude of horror movies does not mean that I am a scary/violent person. Much like the reading says, the data could have multiple different effects. Until they are looked at in a larger perspective after other parts of the scientific method are applied, they cannot be used to indicate any type of conclusions.