Hello Yimin

I associate ‘confirmatory’ with ‘confirmatory factor analysis’, which I would see as a further or additional  procedure, but have been looking for links between content analysis and the term ‘confirmatory’.   

See bottom paragraph on p.41 (available electronically) in:

Weber, R. P. (1990).  Basic Content analysis, 49, 2nd edition, in series of Qualitative Applications sin Social Sciences

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nLhZm7Lw2FwC&pg=PA41&lpg=PA41&dq=content+analysis+using+confirmatory+techniques&source=bl&ots=oeRojSK3sS&sig=0YC3qbDjSgDd1HOu_qA8P19a614&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDsQ6AEwA2oVChMIjef8qevaxgIVQRgeCh1fMgkK#v=onepage&q=content%20analysis%20using%20confirmatory%20techniques&f=false

In it, the author introduces exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to identify themes in text as more advanced approaches to content analysis.

In the link below: Chapter 1, Introduction to applied thematic analysis IN: Greg S. Guest, G.S.,  Applied Thematic Analysis, particularly see  p.7, ‘Analytic Purpose:

http://www.uk.sagepub.com/upm-data/44134_1.pdf

Table 1.1 contrasts exploratory and confirmatory approaches

This paper below links the content analysis and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis but I have not been able to access the full text:

Worthington, R. L., & Whittaker, T. A. (2006). Scale development research a content analysis and recommendations for best practices. The Counseling Psychologist, 34(6), 806-838.

http://tcp.sagepub.com/content/34/6/806.short 

These papers available from ResearchGate may be helpful, but again, I have not accessed the full texts:

Content analysis: An Introduction to its Methodology

Krippendorff K. (March 1984) Chapter in Journal of the American Statistical Association 79(385); this author was referenced by Greg & Guest, link given above: 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220017639_Content_analysis_An_Introduction_to_its_Methodology

Worthington, R. L., & Whittaker, T. A. (2006). Scale development research a content analysis and recommendations for best practices. The Counseling Psychologist, 34(6), 806-838.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247737040_Scale_Development_Research_A_Content_Analysis_and_Recommendations_for_Best_Practices

I expect other members of RG will be able to respond to your question with greater clarity

Very best wishes

Mary

Chapter Content Analysis: An Introduction To Its Methodology

Article Scale Development Research

I tend to agree with Wilson. The golden rule that there is no tool of technique (computerized/statistical) for content analysis. What content analysis is all about to judge if we have all dimensions of the construct within its dimensions and this is done by experts. This is done through the pilot testing and examining surveys.... as an example...

On the other hand, when we say confirmatory, we are trying to statistically confirm that the dimension (items) belong and load on the dimension which means we are confirming what we established in content analysis step...

Still, we need to build the dimensions at point zero by hand..then we might confirm... 

I also have not heard of "confirmatory content analysis." Can you provide us with a citation that refers to this concept?

thank for your answers. there is a paper in  chinese which titled The Confirmatory Content Analysis of ＂Psychological Kidnap＂ Effect in Corruption. however, i can not find much differences between it and "conventional" content analysis. this is why i propose this question on researchgae. i think  the paper of  Hsieh & Shannon(2005) has given a good typology of content analysis.

http://weipu.sjzkz.com/qk/96987X/201501/663748813.html

http://qhr.sagepub.com/content/15/9/1277

I haven't heard about "confirmatory content analysis," but I would speculate it has to do with the relation of your prospective data analysis to theory. For a quantitive content analytic study, you would need to develop a coding guide or coding rules if you are going to employ automated, machine coding. If your coding guide is informed by theory and you are looking to evaluate its application to a specific situation, it would be deductive or confirmatory. If you are looking to develop or extend theory with your content analysis, your analysis would be inductive or formative.

http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/dedind.php

Depends on what you mean as confirmatory.

You can do confirmatory descriptive content analysis if you draw from a random sample of text. You can then do the conventional testing (confidence intervals/t-tests for means, chi-square for normality, ect.) you'd do with anything else. 

In most cases, however, you would call an analysis confirmatory if you had a hypothesis or two to test, as Streklova points out above. A confirmatory factor analysis would do for this, I suppose, but I've never seen that down. Descriptive factor analysis (principle components, ect.) would also work provided you were careful. You might also try correspondence analysis; it's exploratory, but it does a good job of graphically plotting content against explanatory variables.

Try the Yoshikoder too. It's very sophisticated, runs on all OSs, and it's free.

thank you all. and could you recommand me a  research work which can be seen as a sample of  conent analysis?

I have attached a copy of a well-known article about content analyses by Elo & Kyngas. If you look up citations to this, you should find examples of content analysis.

Hi Yimin

this book provides you with comprehensive information and analysis:

https://books.google.co.th/books?hl=en&lr=&id=PPbgH8fzwAUC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=confirmatory+factor+analysis&ots=qrOCMe619D&sig=oAFF70aV_y0LXAco8GQf1arqH1Y&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=confirmatory%20factor%20analysis&f=false

I guess a good practice is to balance qualitative methods with quantitative methods... When validating instruments we need a minimum level of rigor in both directions. Still we need to guarantee content validity and then confirm it... it is not logical to confirm an invalid instrument.