How can media analysis be objective – isn’t it very subjective?
Minimisation of subjectivity and reliability of analysis is maximised through five key quality steps in CARMA Asia Pacific: • Multiple analysts are used on all projects to minimise individual subjectivity in interpretation • Analysis is based on systematic coding and scoring of variables from a set scale of values – not on personal ratings by analysts • Analysis is based to a large extent on objective criteria such as media name, circulation or audience, page number, positioning, article length, sources’ names quoted, etc • Qualitative analysis of Issues and Messages – somewhat more subjective – is undertaken by strict word and phrase matching or presence of acceptable synonyms, with a list of acceptable synonyms provided in written Coding Guidelines to maintain consistency and rigour • A percentage of articles is coded by more than one analyst and intercoder reliability assessment is conducted for ANOVA and ANCOVA (Analysis of Variance and Analysis of Co-variance). Where variance is h
