Abstract
Counting codes makes qualitative content analysis a controversial approach to analyzing textual data. Several decades ago, mainstream content analysis rejected qualitative content analysis on the grounds that it was not sufficiently quantitative; today, it is often charged with not being sufficiently qualitative. This article argues that qualitative content analysis is distinctively qualitative in both its approach to coding and its interpretations of counts from codes. Rather than argue over whether to do qualitative content analysis, researchers must make informed decisions about when to use it in analyzing qualitative data.
Keywords
Content analysisQualitative researchQualitative analysisContent (measure theory)Coding (social sciences)MainstreamQualitative propertyComputer sciencePsychologySociologySocial scienceMathematicsPolitical scienceLaw
Affiliated Institutions
Related Publications
Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis
Content analysis is a widely used qualitative research technique. Rather than being a single method, current applications of content analysis show three distinct approaches: con...
Intercoder Reliability in Qualitative Research: Debates and Practical Guidelines
Evaluating the intercoder reliability (ICR) of a coding frame is frequently recommended as good practice in qualitative analysis. ICR is a somewhat controversial topic in the qu...
Flexible Coding of In-depth Interviews: A Twenty-first-century Approach
Qualitative coding procedures emanating from grounded theory were limited by technologies of the 1960s: colored pens, scissors, and index cards. Today, electronic documents can ...
A General Inductive Approach for Analyzing Qualitative Evaluation Data
A general inductive approach for analysis of qualitative evaluation data is described. The purposes for using an inductive approach are to (a) condense raw textual data into a b...
The Utility of Template Analysis in Qualitative Psychology Research
Thematic analysis is widely used in qualitative psychology research, and in this article, we present a particular style of thematic analysis known as Template Analysis. We outli...
Publication Info
- Year
- 1993
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 112-121
- Citations
- 1239
- Access
- Closed
External Links
Social Impact
Altmetric
PlumX Metrics
Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions
Citation Metrics
1239
OpenAlex
Cite This
David L. Morgan
(1993).
Qualitative Content Analysis: A Guide to Paths not Taken.
Qualitative Health Research
, 3
(1)
, 112-121.
https://doi.org/10.1177/104973239300300107
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1177/104973239300300107