CONTENT ANALYSIS IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES: TO THE PROBLEM STATEMENT
M. Yu. Zamarenkov
Saint Tikhon’s Orthodox University of the Humanities, Moscow, Russia
e-mail: skyw@list.ru
Abstract. Progress in the field of technical means of information exchange, increasing the speed and accessibility of information technologies naturally led to the development of methods for analyzing the results of communication. One of the most popular methods of this kind has become content analysis — a quantitative and qualitative approach based on the calculation of key elements in the text. This method is successfully used in many industries and research areas. Religious studies did not stand aside either. On the one hand, content analysis in this area is considered a useful and promising method, but on the other hand, there is a lack of content analysis data in this area.
The purpose of this study is to find out the reason for the insufficiency of content–analytical data in religious studies by identifying general methodological and specific problems of applying content analysis in the field under consideration.
To achieve this goal, the practice of using content analysis in modern religious studies, as well as domestic and foreign theoretical materials devoted to possible problems of using this method, was analyzed.
In the course of the research, the general methodological shortcomings of content analysis were first identified, and then the problems of using this method specific to religious studies were identified. Among the latter, the following problems were considered: the sensitivity of content analysis to the correctness and operationality of definitions; methodological requirements of the a priori approach to the preparation of the study, the unambiguity of the defined categories and the manifestation of the studied content; increased requirements for the qualifications of the researcher and coders. The article separately examines the problems of using automated content analysis tools in religious studies, among which the following are named: the need for a higher qualification of the researcher; the requirement of the suitability of the studied content for machine processing; the question of the ratio of manual and machine coding; the problem of side effects affecting the text (impersonality, reposts, bots, cheating, etc.); unsuitability of the most advanced machine methods for this type of research due to the opacity of the analysis algorithms; the principle question is about the ability of digital content to reliably represent religious phenomena.
As a result of this study, specific problems of the application of content analysis in religious studies were identified, as well as ways to solve them were outlined. In the conclusion of the article, the author expresses the hope that the solutions given in this work, as well as other solutions to the listed problems, will expand the boundaries of the application of content analysis in religious studies.
Key words: religious studies, sociology of religion, quantitative methods, content analysis, quantitative content analysis, qualitative content analysis, ethnographic content analysis, triangulation of methods, problems of content analysis, shortcomings of content analysis.
Cite as: Zamarenkov, M. Yu. (2023) [Content analysis in religious studies: to the problem statement]. Intellekt. Innovacii. Investicii [Intellect. Innovations. Investments]. Vol. 1, pp. 55–63, https://doi.org/10.25198/2077-7175-2023-1-55.
