Comparative Quantitative Content Analysis

Comparative quantitative content analysis is a systematic, replicable method for counting and categorizing features of communication content — such as news coverage, social media posts, or policy documents — across two or more groups, time periods, outlets, or countries. By applying a standardized codebook to each comparison context, it reveals patterns of similarity and difference in how topics, frames, actors, or sentiments are represented, and allows statistical testing of those differences.