Abstract
Content analysis is a very tedious method of data collection. This paper addresses once more the question of whether and how computers may be used to facilitate content analysis in the coding stage. To interpret natural language automatically a computer program must be able to unravel the syntactical structure of sentences (‘parsing’) and to trace their semantical meaning by dealing with textual context (= ‘co-text’), prior knowledge (context outside the text) and semantic variability (different or ambiguous meanings of words and phrases). Several approaches to enable computer programs to perform these tasks are discussed, including approaches from the fields of cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence. The conclusion should be that it is still impossible to enable computer programs to perform all these tasks. But there are possibilities for using computer programs to support human coders both in the coding stage and the data-analysis stage of content analysis. As an example the program CETA to perform Computer-aided Evaluative Textual Analysis is discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Boden, M.A. (1977). Artificial Intelligence and Natural Man. New York: Basic Books.
Bonczek, R.H., C.W.Holsapple & A.B.Whinston (1981). Foundations of Decision Support Systems. New York: Academic Press.
Boot, M. (1984). Taal, Tekst, Computer (Language, Text, Computer). Katwijk: Sevire.
Collins, A.M. & M.R.Quillian (1969). “Retrieval time from semantic memory”, Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 8: 240–247.
Deetjen, G. (1977). Industriellenprofile in Massenmedien: ein neuer Ansatz zur ussagenanalyse. Hamburg: Verlag hans-Bredow-Institut.
Gallhofer, I.N., W.E.Saris & M.Melman (eds) (1986). Different Text Analysis Procedures for the Study of Decision Making. Amsterdam: Sociometric Research Foundation.
Graesser, A.C. & L.F.Clark (1985). Structures and Procedures of Implicit Knowledge. Norwood: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
Cuilenburg, J.J.van, J.Kleinnijenhuis & J.A.deRidder (1986a). “A theory of evaluative discourse: towards a graph theory of journalistics texts”, European Journal of Communication 1: 65–96.
Cuilenburg, J.J.van, J.Kleinnijenhuis & J.A.deRidder (1986b). “Meaning objects and predicates in political news”, in: Brouwer, M., J.vanGinneken, L.Hagendoorn & J.Meloen (eds) (1986) Political Psychology in the Netherlands: The Nymegen papers. Amsterdam: Molu Russa.
Holsti, O.R. (1969). Content Analysis for the Social Sciences and Humanities. London: Addison-Wesley.
Humphreys & Wisudha (1979). “MAUD, an interactive computer program for the structuring, decomposition and recomposition of preferences between multiatributed alternatives.” Decision Analysis Unit, Technical Report 79-2. Uxbridge, Middlesex: Brunel Institute of Organization and Social Studies, Brunel University.
Klingemann, H.D. (ed.) (1983). Computerunterstützte Inhaltsanalyse in der empirischen Sozialforschung. Frankfurt: Campus Verlag.
Kops, M. (1983). “Eine Inhaltsanalytische Bestimmung von Persönlichkeits-bildern in Heiratsanzeigen”, pp. 54–97 in Klingemann (1983).
Lasswell, H.D., D.Lerner & I.deSola Pool (1952) The Comparative Study of Symbols. Standford: Standford University Press.
Marcus, M.P. (1980). A Theory of Syntactic Recognition for Natural Language. Cambridge: the MIT Press.
Miller, G.A. & Ph.N.Johnson-Laird (1976). Language and Perception. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Namenwirth, J.Z., I.N.Gallhofer, W.E.Saris & J.Kleinnijenhuis (1978). “In search of semantic characteristics for machine coding”, Methoden & Data nieuwsbrief 3: 75–88.
Osgood, C.E., S.Saporta & J.C.Nunnally (1956) “Evaluative assertion analysis”, Litera 3: 47–102.
Popper, K.R. (1976) (1963). Conjectures and Refutations, The Growth of Scientific Knowledge. London: Routledge And Kegan Paul.
Schank, R.C. (1973). “Identification of conceptualizations underlying natural language”, pp. 187–245 in: Schank & Colby (eds) (1973).
Schank, R.C. & K.M.Colby (eds) (1973). Computer Models of Thought and Language. San Fransisco: W.H. Freeman.
Shoben, E.J. (1984). “Semantic and episodic memory”, pp. 213–232 in: Wyer & Srull (eds) (1984-II).
Scholten, O. (1985). “Selectivity in political communication”, Gazette, 35: 157–172.
Schönbach, K. (1983). “The Issues of the Seventies: Computerunterstützte Inhaltsanalyze und die langfristige Beobachtung von Agenda-Setting-Wirkungen der Massenmedien, pp. 131–154 in: Klingemann (1983).
Sowa, J.F. (1984) Conceptual Structures: Information Processing in Mind and Machine. London: Addison-Wesley.
Stone, P.J., D.C.Dunphy, M.S.Smith & D.M.Ogilvie et al. (1966). The General Inquirer, a Computer Approach to Content Analysis. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Tetlock, P.E. (1981). “Personality and isolationism: content analysis of senatorial speeches”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 41: 737–743.
Tetlock, P.E. (1985). “Integrative complexity of American and Soviet Foreign policy rhetoric: a time-series analysis,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 49: 1565–1585.
Tolman, E.C. (1967 (1932)). Purposive Behavior in Animals and Men. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Walker, S.G. (1986). Operational codes and content analysis: the case of Henry Kissinger”, pp. 13–27 in: Gallhofer et al. (ed) (1986).
Winograd, T. (1973). “A procedural model of language understanding”, pp. 152–185 in: Schank & Colby (eds) (1973).
Winograd, T. (1983). Language as a Cognitive Process. Volume I: Syntax. London: Addison-Wesley.
Wyer, R.S. Jr. & S.E. Gordon (1984). “The cognitive representation of social information”, pp. 73–150 in: Wyer & Srull (eds) (1984-II).
Wyer, R.S.Jr. & T.K.Srull (1984). Handbook of Social Cognition, Vol. I, II, III, IV. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
van Cuilenburg, J.J., Kleinnijenhuis, J. & de Ridder, J.A. Artificial intelligence and content analysis. Qual Quant 22, 65–97 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00430638
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00430638