Systematic Quantitative Content Analysis Research Articles

Evaluating the Overall Quality of Online Information on Nuclear Power Plant Accidents in Japanese

Information on professionally produced materials is beyond the reading level of the average adult and is difficult to read and understand. Additionally, the readability of nuclear emergency preparedness manuals in Japan is not clear. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the understandability, actionability, readability, and quality of nuclear emergency preparedness manuals. A systematic quantitative content analysis of online resources was conducted from November 27 to December 8, 2023. The selection criteria were websites in Japanese related to nuclear disaster prevention and aimed at the general public. The PEMAT-P, jReadability, Journal of the American Medical Association benchmark criteria, and Global Quality Scale were used to evaluate each web page. The number of respondents who scored 70 or higher on the PEMAT-P was 71 (61.2%) for Understandability and 57 (49.1%) for Actionability. Regarding the difficulty level of the texts by jReadability, "Difficult" was the most frequent response with 82 responses (70.7%). The JAMA Benchmark Criteria was 35.3% in 41 patients for attribution, 80.2% in 93 patients for currency, and a mean GQS of 4.1 (SD=1.0). This study quantitatively evaluated the understandability, actionability, readability, and quality of nuclear disaster prevention materials for the Japanese public. The findings suggest that text pertaining to nuclear disaster prevention materials may not be easily understood because it is beyond the reading comprehension of the average adult.

Emotions of fear and anger as a discursive tool of radical right leaders in Central Eastern Europe

The paper examines how the radical right parties´ leaders work with emotions while addressing their voters and sympathizers on Twitter/X social media. We focus on the “supply side” on the level of leaders´ discourses. The goal is to demonstrate how they work with emotions, especially those of fear and anger. The context represents Russian aggression against Ukraine, because, typically, circumstances of a crisis bolster the ability of radical right leaders to use emotional rhetoric devices. Czechia, Hungary, and Slovakia represent three particularly relevant and distinctive cases among the CEE countries according to the relevance, relative strength, and stability of radical right parties. We examined social media, particularly Twitter, since it is one of the most prominent tools of political communication today, especially for populists. We collected the data of all Tweets between February 24, 2022 and February 24, 2023. We combined a systematic quantitative content analysis with a more in-depth qualitative analysis of the key characteristics of the discursive construction of the two most salient emotions: anger and fear. We did not confirm the assumption that they would utilise the war in Ukraine since most tweets addressed issues related to domestic politics. The research, however, confirmed that despite differences, anger and fear play a substantial role in the emotional repertoire and represent necessary rhetorical devices. Our findings concur with the literature on radical right populism and its employment of emotional discourse. We found that even a crisis in international politics has been reframed primarily as a domestic issue and integrated into classical discursive practices.

Zooming in on Topics: An Investigation of the Prevalence and Motives for Selective News Avoidance

ABSTRACT Intentional news avoidance is a common behavior that can be influenced by individual, content, and contextual factors. However, prior studies have primarily focused on general news avoidance and neglected selective avoidance of specific topics. Therefore, our study aimed to determine which topics people tend to avoid and the reasons behind this behavior. We conducted an online survey (N = 1071) with open-ended questions to gather information on topic-specific news avoidance and motives. Our systematic quantitative content analysis revealed that the most commonly avoided news topics were related to the pandemic, political issues, and soft news. Participants cited negative emotional reactions and lack of interest as their primary reasons for avoiding news on an individual level, while redundancy and lack of trust were cited as reasons related to content. Logistic regression analyses revealed that specific motives were related to topic-specific avoidance. Issue fatigue was the primary motivator for avoiding news about COVID-19, while anger and lack of trust were the main reasons for avoiding political news. Lack of interest and overload were the motivators for avoiding soft news. Our study highlights the importance of understanding selective news avoidance and provides insights into the reasons why people choose to avoid certain news topics.

Referendum Campaigns in Hybrid Media Systems: Insights From the New Zealand Cannabis Legalisation Referendum

During New Zealand’s 2020 cannabis legalisation referendum, advocacy groups on both sides widely debated the issue, utilising “older” and “newer” media channels to strategically influence voters, including through appearances in traditional media and paid advertising campaigns on Facebook. Comparatively little is known about the campaign strategies used by each camp and how they leveraged the hybrid media environment to advocate for their positions. We analyse the cannabis legalisation referendum campaigns using primary data from our digital ethnographic study on Facebook, a systematic quantitative content analysis of legacy media websites, and a review of published reports from other authors. We show how positive sentiment towards cannabis law reform in the traditional media was amplified via referendum campaigners’ activity on Facebook. While campaign expenses on both sides were similar, money was spent in different ways and via different mediums. The pro-legalisation campaign focused more on new digital media channels, while the anti-legalisation campaign diversified across a range of mediums, with greater attention paid to traditional political advertising strategies, such as leaflets and billboards. The New Zealand case study illustrates how greater engagement with the “newer” media logics may not necessarily secure a favourable outcome during a national referendum campaign. We discuss how the broader media and political environment may have influenced campaigners’ choices to engage (or not) with the different media channels.

Reporting of Rural grazing area initiative in selected daily newspapers in Nigeria

This study assessed how the Rural Grazing Area initiatives (RUGA) were reported in selected Nigerian newspapers, by assessing: the prominence given to RUGA news with reference to other subject matters, the frequency of reportage, and news report format. A systematic quantitative content analysis was used in collecting, analysing as well as interpreting the data for the study. A total of 276 daily publications of three newspapers were analysed from a pool of sample drawn through purposive sampling technique from issues of the newspapers published within three months’ period of July to September, 2019. The data from these newspapers were analysed using percentages. Findings showed that RUGA issues were not given adequate prominence in the three newspapers, and the newspapers performed more of an informative role in the reportage rather than giving a journalistic analysis of the policy itself in form of feature or editorial. News writers should be more analytic in their style of reporting developmental initiatives so as to help people understand the purpose and essence of such initiative. Also, the Nigerian newspapers, should scale-up agricultural content in their publications as a way of consolidating agricultural consciousness in Nigerians.
 Keywords: Daily newspapers, reporting, rural grazing, initiative

“Gatekeeper or Crisis Manager? Coverage of "Lahad Datu" Conflict”

Lahad Datu conflict also known as “Sabah standoff” conflict, is unforgettable tragedies until killed about 10 of Malaysian security personnel and impacted economic, social and emotion of citizens especially at Lahad Datu, Sabah. The objective of this research is to examine the portrayal of solution from Malaysian Government for the “Lahad Datu Crisis” through newspaper framing in Malaysian mainstream newspapers namely Utusan Malaysia, The Star, Sin Chew and Nanban daily. The measurement for the crisis response will be measure through few independent variables such as category of “Lahad Datu” news; between problem, solution, people or neutral category. The following independent variable is through the slants of news; whether news is slanted in positive, negative or neutral slant. With the assistance of “Situational Crisis Communication Theory”, this research employed a systematic quantitative content analysis to gather the data. Finding revealed that, category of solution appeared most in Utusan Malaysia, The Star, Sin Chew and Nanban daily and news in positive slants were covered in all the selected dailies. In providing responses for the crisis, Justification and Concern crisis response portrayed most, however, through Kruskal Wallis test, data found that The Star and Utusan Malaysia portrayed most of the Justification and Concern responses compare to Sin Chew daily and Nanban daily.

Understanding Misinformation in the Pro-tanning Communication Environment: A Content Analysis

ABSTRACTBackground: To respond to the Surgeon General’s call to develop, disseminate, and evaluate messages to reduce indoor tanning (IT) in the 2014 Call to Action to Prevent Skin Cancer, an understanding of the IT communication environment is necessary. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the most prevalent false or misleading IT claims. Methods: Pro-tanning websites (N = 78) were identified in a Google search. Using systematic quantitative content analysis, website characteristics were coded, as well as claims regarding health, safety, appearance/social, and mood/relaxation benefits of IT. All text appearing on the websites was reviewed and coded. Results: Two prominent types of claims emerged: health (86%) and IT safety (90%) benefits of IT. Within health, the most common claims were: (1) prevent health conditions (73%) and (2) a base tan provides protection from the sun (41%). Within safety, the most common claims were: (1) safe because it is controlled (81%) and (2) government regulation ensures safety (56%). Discussion: An abundance of misleading claims were identified, prompting concern from a public health perspective, because tanners may use these claims to justify their tanning behavior. Translation to Health Education Practice: By understanding the prevalence of these claims, prevention efforts may be more effective in creating a disruptive association between IT and many advertised “benefits” of engaging in this dangerous behavior.

Linguistic Sexism in the Iranian EFL Junior High School Textbooks

Gender biased textbook can internalize the sexist concept and can affect the students’ mindset and behavior against the other gender. As in Iran, school textbooks are the only resource for majority of both teachers and students, unbiased textbooks are necessary for students to build up their role in addressing the other gender in their lives and society. To examine this issue, this study attempted to explore the status of linguistic sexism in the current Iranian EFL school textbooks (three volumes) published by the IranianMinistry of Education in 2008. A systematic quantitative content analysis was carried out to investigate whether both genders have been addressed equally or not. Results revealed that linguistic sexism is obvious and the textbooks can be considered sexist because the males outnumber females and are mostly the focal characters. The textbooks present students, in their early exposure to the English language, with an unfair, unbalanced and inexcusable representation of women. The roles of females and their realistic contributions to the society are not well represented in the textbooks. Some implications are advised for teachers, textbook writers and policy makers.

Media attention to the Far-right in three Dutch Newspapers 1986-2004. Characteristics and trends

There are many assumptions about the contents of media coverage of the far-right and its possible effects. Yet, these assumptions lack empirical arguments. In this contribution, the authors provide an answer to the important question how media cover the far-right. They do so from a longitudinal perspective, using systematic quantitative content analysis of three Dutch newspapers. The assumption that Dutch newspapers follow a ‘minimal attention policy’ does not hold. Throughout the research period newspaper coverage of the far-right becomes increasingly versatile and although concentrating on negative aspects of the far-right, increasingly open to positive support for the far-right. In the last three years of the research period, the majority of the coverage concerns Fortuyn’s populist right party LPF. Whereas at first the coverage of this party fits in the general picture of coverage on the far-right, towards the end of the research period the coverage of LPF is increasingly diverse and less concentrated on negative aspects.

East is East, and West is West? Currency iconography as nation-branding in the wider Europe

This article considers European banknote iconography as an indicator of national branding choices from the early twentieth century up to the present. Systematic quantitative content analysis demonstrates that the values and ontologies expressed on Central/East European banknotes have historically tracked closely with the trends visible on their West European counterparts. This pattern is evident not just since the end of the Cold War, but indeed right from the founding of the modern Central/East European states about a century ago. Even during the Cold War, it did not take long for the trends on Western banknotes to appear on Central/East European banknotes as well. Thus, contrary to the conventional assumption of a deep-rooted normative gulf separating the national identity discourses of so-called “New” and “Old” Europe, the article underscores the fact of intense, longstanding normative cross-pollination between them.