I think, that the best book on content analysis is Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology by Klaus Krippendorff. Talking about discourse analysis of discussion boards - here is a course description, and syllabus, of Prof. Susan Herring: http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/~herring/web.syll.06.html Funny coincidence - yesterday I sent the same link to my tutor =) I hope it will be helpful. -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Laura B Nielsen Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 5:13 PM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-L] Content Analysis for Web Discussion Boards Dear Colleagues, I am looking for reference material for use in my work at EPA. We are planning to launch a discussion board with a limited number of comment fields. But we also want to analyze discussion content in order to better understand the needs and interests of our customers--in particular those who come to EPA seeking environmental information. 1) Have any of you been teaching about content analysis methods lately? If so, what's your favorite reference? 2) Has anyone been working on content analysis of discussion boards as a research method? Laura B. Nielsen, Ph.D. Adjunct Professor of Public Policy Georgetown Public Policy Institute 3520 Prospect Street, Suite 308F Washington, DC 20007 WEB http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/lbn4/ Program Analyst Environmental Analysis Division, MC 2842T Office of Information Analysis and Access Office of Environmental Information U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (202) 566-0621 _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/

Folks have already recommended some useful references. I, too, am quite fond of the Krippendorff book. I also rely fairly heavy on a book by Neuendorf titled The Content Analysis Guidebook. It's a bit more elemental than Krippendorff and tackles many of the same issues. I've developed a code scheme to measure several aspects of deliberation in chat that I'll be applying to message boards very soon. You can see a paper of the coding scheme at the Journal of Public Deliberation (a great site, BTW): http://services.bepress.com/jpd/vol3/iss1/art12/. That paper also cites a number of other attempts at coding online talk and discussion that might be useful. Much of the research, though, focuses on the processes of deliberation. So, you may need to invent your own categories -- but that's the fun of content analysis! Good luck, ~Jenny Assistant Professor Department of Communication, SS 340 University at Albany, SUNY Albany, NY 12222 518-442-4873 jstromer@albany.edu http://www.albany.edu/~jstromer -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org on behalf of Laura B Nielsen Sent: Wed 2008.02.13 09:12 To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-L] Content Analysis for Web Discussion Boards Dear Colleagues, I am looking for reference material for use in my work at EPA. We are planning to launch a discussion board with a limited number of comment fields. But we also want to analyze discussion content in order to better understand the needs and interests of our customers--in particular those who come to EPA seeking environmental information. 1) Have any of you been teaching about content analysis methods lately? If so, what's your favorite reference? 2) Has anyone been working on content analysis of discussion boards as a research method? Laura B. Nielsen, Ph.D. Adjunct Professor of Public Policy Georgetown Public Policy Institute 3520 Prospect Street, Suite 308F Washington, DC 20007 WEB http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/lbn4/ Program Analyst Environmental Analysis Division, MC 2842T Office of Information Analysis and Access Office of Environmental Information U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (202) 566-0621 _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/