Assignment 1: Content Analysis - Gender and
the NYT, PA Inquirer, or Trenton Times
Assignment 1: Content Analysis - Gender and
the NYT, PA Inquirer, or Trenton Times
Research project: Content Analysis of Gender Images in the New York Times (5 consecutive days of the first section of the NYT, PA Inquirer, or the Trenton Times). As an example of how to do this, use the article in your course pack: Coltrane, Scott and Kenneth Allan. 1994. ""New" Fathers and Olde Stereotypes: Representations of Masculinity in 1980s Television Advertising." Masculinities. vol. 2, No. 4. Pp. 43-66.
To provide students with some insight into content analysis as well as the implicit messages society sends about gender.
Culture can be seen as "those solutions to basic problems accumulated by a society and passed along to the young." These "solutions" can be passed along through the socialization process. In this process, children and adults are initiated into the statuses and roles that characterize society. They are taught the appropriate behavior which corresponds with each of the positions, the norms and values and beliefs of the society. In American society children are socialized by the mass media as well as by parents, schools, and peers. Newspaper articles and advertisements can be viewed as very effective tools of socialization, suggesting the statuses that are available in the society. People are always observing what goes on around them. But sociologists' analysis differs from everyday observation that it is more purposeful and systematic, as well as being recorded.
In this research project you are asked to examine five days of the first section of the New York Times. Observe and record the gender statuses and roles presented by different stories, authors, and articles. Note the extent to which the authors' descriptions, their language, the headlines, the photos accompanying the articles, the relative importance of the article (placement on the page or in the section), imply gender statuses or roles.
There a number of different ways to approach this assignment. The following are two suggestions:
a) You may pick a week where there are one or more stories that specifically feature women and compare how the newspapers treat gender issues. You may look at these stories from the perspective of one newspaper, or you may look at the same week of stories across newspapers. For example you can look at the week of stories preceding Albright's appointment and her eventual appointment and compare how the NYT, Inquirer, and/or Times treated the story. Give me a list of the stories you looked at, the date and place they occurred in which newspaper. What type of stories were there (reporting, editorial, profiles) throughout the week? How many? Were there photos associated with the story? Interpret the gender and age messages associated with the photos. Were they wire service stories (UPI, AP, Reuters) or reporters' (associated with which papers?)? You should make this somewhat quantitative...count up the types and categories. Compare them across the papers. Were there differences? Why? Examine the contents of the articles, what is talked about, how is it talked about, do these contents vary across categories (reporting, editorial, profile), newspapers?
b) Another approach you can take is to look at 5 days worth of any of the newspapers and examine all of the articles in the main section of the paper. How many stories are about men, about women, or neutral? How many initially appear neutral (for example, welfare reform), but use examples that are woman and man based? You should categorize, quantify your articles in terms of the date they appear, and their placement in the paper (front page, second page, lead article in section, second lead, etc.). Then look at the content of the articles that are woman or man-based, neutral but with man or woman-based examples, and describe what is talked about, how is it talked about, what kind of gendered descriptions, if any, are used. If you follow this approach, the teamwork method may be best. Members of the team can divide up the responsibilities for covering national news or international news, or particular days.
YOUR PAPER FOR ASSIGNMENT 1 SHOULD BE ORGANIZED IN THE FOLLOWING WAY: It should be 3-5 pages, not including tables and graphs. AND, make tables and graphs that summarize information, are clearly presented and labeled, and make your point - do not put too much information in a table and make it unreadable - this presentation will be an important part of your grade). OUTLINE OF YOUR PAPER: 1. Introduction (this section tells the reader what to expect) 2. Motivation (why is this an interesting topic?) e.g. a) understanding where you stand relative to others in society may reveal how your opportunities are structurally different than others. b) understanding the sorting of men and women by majors, faculty, and post graduate careers reveals the importance of life course choices, role models, and social structure (group composition influencing individual behavior) c) gender differences in society are often reinforced by the language used, the role models presented, etc. Thus, an analysis of 3 weeks of the Princetonian may reveal how these gender differences continue to be reinforced. 3. Method and Data (describe your data and how it was collected and analyzed) EACH GROUP (A, B, C, D, E) SHOULD PROVIDE THIS WRITTEN SECTION FOR THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE PRECEPT, ALONG WITH THE DATA AND TABLES. 4. Discuss your results a) comparing stratification…. b) comparing academic majors c) gender/race bias in faculty d) job opportunities and stratification e) content analysis 5. Conclusion (summarize your results and decide how gender stratification is or is not reproduced at Princeton and relative to the rest of the U.S.).
(Adapted from Phyllis Moen's Gender and the Life Course Class,
Cornell University)
