Rose, "Content Analysis" and "Audience Studies"

I can use content analysis in a future MAPC project. Comedies fascinate me, and I have recently become interested in women’s roles in comedies. Oftentimes, I think of men being funnier than women, but I feel that this idea is not true. However, I also think that more men star in Hollywood comedies than women. Perhaps I can use content analysis to study comedies in a formal, academic way. I can research the top 50 comedies produced by Hollywood in the past 50 years or so. Then, I can find those film’s posters or DVD covers. That could be step one of the process: finding my images. I like the random way of choosing images. I could number them all and pick a random few numbers to analyze. In order to devise my categories for coding, I need to follow the procedures assessed by Rose: the categories must be exhaustive, exclusive and enlightening (Rose 91). For example, a few of my categories can include the number of women featured on the covers, the number of men, how revealing the clothing is, and which gender is featured in the foreground rather than the background. However, following the rules of content analysis is difficult. Since my categories cannot overlap, I might not be able to code the number of women and which gender is in the front of the image. In regard to coding the images, I can use Excel to mark off which images address which categories. Then, to analyze them, I can put the results into a bar or line graph. I can use qualitative analysis to determine what the results mean. Perhaps they will help provide evidence for my theory that more men are featured in comedies and that women are not seen as funny as men based solely on what is featured in posters or DVD covers.

I may be able to use information I learned in the “Audience Studies” chapter in a future project. In regard to my interest in comedies featuring strong female leads, I could perform audience studies. Rose suggests that researchers should use public institutions to find participants. Since I go to Clemson, a public academic institution, I am in a great environment for locating participants. If I want a diverse group, I can set out an ad in different buildings and choose participants based on age, ethnicity, where they are from, etc. After this assessment, I can ask those chosen to watch two different comedies: one that has mostly females in the leading cast (perhaps Bridesmaids) and one that has mostly males in the cast (possibly Horrible Bosses). To maintain the integrity of the research, I would not tell the participants what I am studying while I watch them react to the movies. Then, I can perform one-on-one interviews with them. I think that these interviews are better than group interviews because I fear that participants’ answers in group interviews may influence what other participants say. After asking questions regarding which parts were funnier and focusing on any differences or similarities between the male and female film characters the audience found, I can enter the data into a spreadsheet and graph. Perhaps this quantitative information will allow me to find patterns that can help further my research.