Conducting Your Own Content Analysis3pages& a completed coding sheet (4 pages total). Each student is to complete a content analysis of a mass medium of their choice (newspaper, television, radio, Internet, etc.). The sample for content analyzed must be comparable to at least two hours of programming (5 television ½ hour episodes, 40 songs, 20 web pages, etc.). The student should focus on manifest content and select at least 2 variables that will allow them to code a minimum of 5categories. In the write up of this paper each student should begin by stating are search question. This should reflect their interest in the content and be specific enough to their sample.Next, the student should describe the population they selected. Remember, your population will be much smaller than traditional content analyses.Special attention should be given to the reasoning for their population selection and any randomization used. Then, the student should identify the variables they will be coding in their analysis. A clear operational definition of the variables must be presented in this section. Only after the variables have been operationalized can the student describe the coding sheet.The most important section for this assignment will be creating categories for the analysis. With each category, the student should provide a rich description so that his or her study could be replicated by the instructor. Give enough detail in your description so that it is obvious what will count in each category and what will not. Remember to follow the guidelines for creating categories.
