Online content analysis

Online content analysis or online textual analysis refers to a collection of research techniques used to describe and make inferences about online material through systematic coding and interpretation. Online content analysis is a form of content analysis for analysis of Internet-based communication. Online content analysis or online textual analysis refers to a collection of research techniques used to describe and make inferences about online material through systematic coding and interpretation. Online content analysis is a form of content analysis for analysis of Internet-based communication. Content analysis as a systematic examination and interpretation of communication dates back to at least the 17th century. However, it was not until the rise of the newspaper in the early 20th century that the mass production of printed material created a demand for quantitative analysis of printed words. Berelson’s (1952) definition provides an underlying basis for textual analysis as a 'research technique for the objective, systematic and quantitative description of the manifest content of communication.' Content analysis consists of categorizing units of texts (i.e. sentences, quasi-sentences, paragraphs, documents, web pages, etc.) according to their substantive characteristics in order to construct a dataset that allows the analyst to interpret texts and draw inferences. While content analysis is often quantitative, researchers conceptualize the technique as inherently mixed methods because textual coding requires a high degree of qualitative interpretation. Social scientists have used this technique to investigate research questions concerning mass media, media effects and agenda setting. With the rise of online communication, content analysis techniques have been adapted and applied to internet research. As with the rise of newspapers, the proliferation of online content provides an expanded opportunity for researchers interested in content analysis. While the use of online sources presents new research problems and opportunities, the basic research procedure of online content analysis outlined by McMillan (2000) is virtually indistinguishable from content analysis using offline sources: