There are at least two approaches to content analysis. The first one is more quantitative and it involves counting things that you code. The second one is often referred to as "qualitative content analysis" and it is very similar to thematic analysis -- which involves a more subjective interpretation of the "themes" in your codes.

A good reference on qualitative content analysis is Mayring's online book: 

http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-395173 

On thematic analysis, the most cited work is:

Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychol- ogy. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3 (2).

Since qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis are so similar, the clearest comparison would be between the more quantitative form of content analysis and thematic analysis. With regard to whether one is either quicker or better than the other, this depends entirely on your situation and your goals.

In particular, one thing that matters a great deal is whether you have a predetermined codebook, i.e., whether you start your project with a set of clear-cut, pre-existing set of codes. In that case, quantitative content analysis will be relatively straightforward. The other alternative is to develop the codebook inductively from working with the data, and in that case, both content analysis and thematic analysis will be equally demanding and time consuming.

Thank You for answering this question.

I have used Conceptual as well as Relational Content Analysis techniques to analyze large qualitative data which was transcribed from audio recordings. I followed Krippendorff, K. (2004) book to understand the techniques of content analysis.

Krippendorff, K. (2004) ‘Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology’, 2nd edition, Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA, USA

I will now refer to Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006) work to understand thematic analysis techniques to analyze another set of large qualitative data that is transcribed.

Krippendorff's book is a good example of what I would call the more quantitatively oriented approach to content analysis.

Very interesting question! Just want to share some literature, that helped me with this issue. I agree with David, and think that Krippendorff will give you an insight in a more quantitative content analysis. I really enjoy this method as it is so flexible towards bot a qualitative and quantitative approach.To use a mix of a qualitative and quantitate approach, would be interesting. I understand that it is something that you are in to.

I´ve used Elo & Kyngäs in my latest study. This i s more thematic orientated QCA. Another article defining this difference a bit is your colleagues in Umeå, Graneheim & Lundman. 

Elo, S., Kyngäs, H., 2008. The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of advanced nursing 62, 107–15.

Graneheim, U.H., Lundman, B., 2004. Qualitative content analysis in nursing research: concepts, procedures and measures to achieve trustworthiness. Nurse education today 24, 105–12.

Hello,

I agree with what David is saying and that Braun and Clarke is an excellent resource for thematic analysis.

Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychol- ogy. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3 (2).

Good luck with your research.

Louca-Mai Brady and Susan M Heyes my question was about the difference between Content Analysis and Thematic Analysis. I have got answers only w.r.t. Thematic Analysis. Have you used both these data analysis techniques? I look forward to answers that mention the difference between these two methods.

I have not used content analysis myself but my understanding of it is what David has stated above.

Interesting discussion! The article I have my students read, and the one I cite most often for thematic analysis is:

Ryan, G., & Bernard, H. R. (2000). Techniques to identify themes. Field Methods, 15(1), 85-109.

Sadhana Deshpande:

I recommend you to see "Demonstrating Rigor Using Thematic Analysis: A Hybrid Approach of Inductive and Deductive Coding and Theme Development" by Jennifer Fereday and Eimear Muir-Cochrane. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 5 (1) March 2006  

Hello Sadhana, Have you found the answer? I am also struggling to find the best approach to use in my research... Some say the difference is that QCA is more for manifest opinion, while thematic is for latent... others say QCA is a pre-state to reach Themes as it is more descriptive than interpretative... Which one you think would have a better acceptance in the Software Engineering field? 

Please follow the below link to get the clarity

Article Content analysis and thematic analysis: Implications for con...

It is a very good question! There are some articles differentiating content analysis and thematic analysis:

1. Article Content analysis and thematic analysis: Implications for con...

2. Article Theme development in qualitative content analysis and themat...

Hope these can help you.

Victor C. Eze

> Content analysis draws implications from both occurrence of the themes and the frequency of occurrence.

Are you talking about Qualitative content analysis? Could you please share any reference? I'm doing a research now, where I analyse documents, and I wonder I can not only extract categories but also their frequency. I looked at Bowen (2009) Document Analysis, and Maryng (2000b) Content Analysis, and neither one mentions counting frequency. I would appreciate any advice.

Content analysis operates on a range from more qualitative to more quantitative. Authors for the more quantitative version include Krippendorff.

Thank you David

Content analysis and thematic analysis are used interchangeably, although there's a difference. Both types of analysis are having thin difference, as no clear boundaries are drawn (Sandelowski &Leeman). There's confusion between their similarities, as well as how researchers should choose between them. Both are used to get interpretive narrative. I agree with David L. Morgan, regarding two approaches of content analysis`