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The social scientists analyzing cancer news coverage used a technique called content analysis to gather data. Through content analysis, researchers code and count the content of various types of media. For instance, they total up the number of news stories that contain specific types of information regarding the topic in question (such as how to prevent cancer), count song lyrics containing references to a topic (e.g., sex), or total up the number of occurrences of certain behaviors (e.g., violent acts) shown in a set of movies.
But content analysis is only one way to gather data using the social science approach. Researchers also conduct experiments using randomly assigned subjects (college students are a popular test subject) to test people’s self-reported recall of or reactions to media content. To illustrate, experimenters might use devices such as eye-trackers to record what part of a page or screen each viewer is watching.8 Researchers can also gather data through surveys they’ve designed or use data from the many surveys the federal government funds and makes available.