Content Analysis (Pocket Guides to Social Work Research Methods)

Content Analysis offers a comprehensive overview of the variation within content analysis, along with detailed descriptions of three approaches found in the contemporary literature: basic content analysis, interpretive content analysis and qualitative content analysis. This book provides an inclusive, and carefully differentiated, examination of contemporary content analysis research purposes and methods. Such a book is not currently available. Chapter One examines the conceptual base and history of content analysis, then the next three chapters examine each approach to content analysis in depth, using brief illustrative exemplar studies. Each of the methodology chapters employs a consistent outline to help readers compare and contrast the three different approaches. Chapter 5 examines rigor in content analysis and highlights steps to ensure the internal coherence of studies. This book concludes with exploration of two full-length studies: Chapter 6 examines the use of content analysis for advocacy and building public awareness to promote human rights and social justice. Chapter 7 reviews a full-length study of older adults in prison to detail how content analysis is completed and how different approaches may be usefully combined.

James W. Drisko, PhD, LICSW is Professor at the Smith College School for Social Work. He is the co-author of Evidence-based Practice in Clinical Social Work and of several articles on social work research methods, practice and practice evaluation. Dr. Drisko was elected to the National Academies of Practice in Social Work in 2008 and was named a Fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research in 2014.

Tina Maschi, PhD, LCSW, ACSW is an associate professor of Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service and founder and president of Be the Evidence International, a research, practice, and advocacy organization. Dr. Maschi has over 25 years of clinical social work and research experience in correctional healthcare and community reentry and program development and evaluation, especially related to aging, health, and the criminal justice system. She is the associate editor of Traumatology: An International Journal and has over 75 publications and local, national and international presentations and workshops, especially related to aging people in prison. Dr. Maschi is also the immediate past president of the National Organization of Forensic Social Work, a United Nations Consultant for International CURE and the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA). To learn more about her work, visit www.betheevidence.org http://www.betheevidence.org