Quantitative Content Analysis Methods in Instructional Technology Research: Defining, Coding, Analyzing and Modeling (DCAM)

Authors

Leping Liu, University of Nevada, Reno, USAFollow

Author ORCID Identifier

Leping Liu https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5859-8189

Abstract

Content analysis has been applied in the research of instructional design and technology to analyze (a) text-based contents, such as online discussions, social media communications, or published articles, and (b) other formats of contents such as videos, audios, or pictures. The purpose of this article is to introduce a method of DCAM (Defining, Coding, Analyzing and Modeling) for content analysis with practice examples. DCAM is a quantitative method generated from a series of studies in instructional design conducted by the author, and supported by the literature in the field. The variables defined from the text-content or other formats of contents can be design related variables, learning related variables, micro-activities in learning, or behavior-performance related learning outcome. In this article, first, nominal, ordinal and scaled coding methods on those variables are demonstrated. Second, reliability measures in content-variable coding are reviewed and explored. Third, parametric and nonparametric statistics methods to examine those variables for content analysis are presented. Finally, some cautions and suggestions to conduct content analysis is discussed.

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.18785/jetde.1501.03

First Page

19

Last Page

46

Ethics Approval

Yes

Declaration Statement

none

Recommended Citation

Liu, L. (2022). Quantitative content analysis methods in instructional technology research: Defining, coding, analyzing and modeling (DCAM). Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE), 15(1), 19-46. https://doi.org/10.18785/jetde.1501.03

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.