This is the first complete text on quantitative content analysis since Krippendorf's Content Analysis (1981). Analyzing Media Messages incorporates content analysis research since 1981, including a series of sampling studies conducted by the authors. As it has evolved, the field of communication research has seen a variety of theoretical perspectives that influence how scholars define research questions and the methods they use to answer those questions. The focus of their research has often been communication content. Scholars have examined content because it is often assumed to be the cause of particular effects, and because it reflects the antecedent context or process of its production. Content analysis has been used in mass communication and in other fields to describe content and to test theory-derived hypotheses. The variety of applications may be limited only by the analyst's imagination, theory, and resources, as is shown in examples throughout this book.

Rich with examples of recent and classic applications, this volume is designed to serve as a primer in the technique of systematic, quantitative analysis of communication content. It explains solutions to practical problems confronted by the content analysts, and also examines the role of computers in content analysis. The text is written so that students can readily understand and apply this method.