Case Notes Manual for
Business Research
Methods, 5e Bell,
Bryman, Harley (All
Chapters)
, Bell, Bryman & Harley: Business Research Methods, 5th edition
Case 1. Content analysis
A content analysis of universities’ and further education colleges’
Twitter usage
Introduction
Despite its popularity and growth, recent research suggests that organizations are
not successfully utilizing social media to conduct dialogic communication (Rybalko
and Seltzer, 2010) and therefore there are queries whether social media can be an
effective relationship-building tool (Taylor and Kent, 2010). This study explored how
universities used Twitter deploying Kent and Taylor’s (2002) five principles of dialogic
communication. These principles are as follows: a) the dialogic loop b) the
usefulness of information c) generation of return visits d) ease of interface and e) the
conservation of visitors.
Research questions
The first research question was ‘Which dialogic principles are present in the
individual Tweets of Colleges and Universities in the United States?’ The second
research questions asked ‘Which publics are targeted in the individual tweets of
major universities and colleges in the United States’. The third and last research
question was ‘Do universities employ the principles of dialogic communication to a
different degree than do liberal arts colleges?’
Methods
The researchers chose every third institution listed in the United States News and
World Reports (2012) of the best colleges and universities. The sample size was
initially 133 institutions in total. Researchers then visited Twitter.com to see if each of
these institutions had an active Twitter profile. Profiles were considered active if they
, Bell, Bryman & Harley: Business Research Methods, 5th edition
had tweeted within one week of 13 October 2011. This criterion gave a final sample
of 113 institutions (60 national universities and 53 liberal arts colleges). The ten most
recent tweets for each of these institutions posted on or before 13 October 2011
were then sampled for inclusion in the study producing a total of 1130 tweets. The
date was chosen in an attempt to represent a typical week on Twitter for a college or
university. Two of the authors of this study coded all 1130 individual tweets. Each
tweet was first coded for its target audience: Prospective Student, Student, Faculty,
Alumni, or Parents. Individual tweets could be coded for multiple target audiences. If
a target audience was not identified the audience was coded as General. Each
dialogic principle outlined above was then coded as either present or not present. If
present, a category was noted for what qualified that principle as present. The two
coders began with a sub-sample of 100 common tweets. Reliability testing was
performed for each principle using Cohen’s kappa and ranged between .66
(conservation of visitors) and 1.0 (usefulness of information).
Results
An independent sample t-test was conducted to compare the use of each of the four
dialogic principles by both national universities (n = 60) and liberal arts colleges (n =
53). Three of the four principles were employed by national universities to a greater
extent than they were by liberal arts colleges. The key finding of the study was that
the majority (89.1%, 1007 tweets out of 1130) of universities’ Twitter accounts are
directed towards a more general audience. Just 54 tweets (4.8%) were directed
towards prospective students, 69 (6.1%) were directed towards current students, 18
(1.6%) towards faculty, 19 (1.7%) towards alumni and 54 (4.8%) towards parents. It
was also found that 790 (69.9%) of the 1130 tweets contained links; 587 (51.9%) of
these were links to other parts of the institutions’ internet presence. Just 29.5% of
, Bell, Bryman & Harley: Business Research Methods, 5th edition
tweets met the dialogic loop principle, primarily through retweets, indicating that
universities are not successfully using this tool in the way it is promoted.
Discussion and further research
More work will be needed to explore the reasons for these findings and if social
media tools such as Twitter can function in a dialogical manner. The small significant
difference found between universities’ and liberal arts colleges’ use of the principle of
usefulness of information and the larger difference in their use of the principle of
generation of return visits may be explained by the size and resources available to
these institutions. Larger institutions often have more events on campus, more
successful sports teams, and greater capacity for faculty research and awards. This
may lead to more media coverage and more opportunities to tweet links to outside
sources.
Questions for consideration
1) What do you think the ‘content’ part of this content analysis refers to? What
other content could be included?
2) What other research methods would you use to complement this content
analysis with further study?
3) In addition to this study, how would you conduct a content analysis of
universities’ websites?
Source
Linvill, D., McGee, S., and Hicks, L. (2012), ‘Colleges’ and Universities’ use of
Twitter: A content analysis’, Public Relations Review, 38(4): 636-638.
Business Research
Methods, 5e Bell,
Bryman, Harley (All
Chapters)
, Bell, Bryman & Harley: Business Research Methods, 5th edition
Case 1. Content analysis
A content analysis of universities’ and further education colleges’
Twitter usage
Introduction
Despite its popularity and growth, recent research suggests that organizations are
not successfully utilizing social media to conduct dialogic communication (Rybalko
and Seltzer, 2010) and therefore there are queries whether social media can be an
effective relationship-building tool (Taylor and Kent, 2010). This study explored how
universities used Twitter deploying Kent and Taylor’s (2002) five principles of dialogic
communication. These principles are as follows: a) the dialogic loop b) the
usefulness of information c) generation of return visits d) ease of interface and e) the
conservation of visitors.
Research questions
The first research question was ‘Which dialogic principles are present in the
individual Tweets of Colleges and Universities in the United States?’ The second
research questions asked ‘Which publics are targeted in the individual tweets of
major universities and colleges in the United States’. The third and last research
question was ‘Do universities employ the principles of dialogic communication to a
different degree than do liberal arts colleges?’
Methods
The researchers chose every third institution listed in the United States News and
World Reports (2012) of the best colleges and universities. The sample size was
initially 133 institutions in total. Researchers then visited Twitter.com to see if each of
these institutions had an active Twitter profile. Profiles were considered active if they
, Bell, Bryman & Harley: Business Research Methods, 5th edition
had tweeted within one week of 13 October 2011. This criterion gave a final sample
of 113 institutions (60 national universities and 53 liberal arts colleges). The ten most
recent tweets for each of these institutions posted on or before 13 October 2011
were then sampled for inclusion in the study producing a total of 1130 tweets. The
date was chosen in an attempt to represent a typical week on Twitter for a college or
university. Two of the authors of this study coded all 1130 individual tweets. Each
tweet was first coded for its target audience: Prospective Student, Student, Faculty,
Alumni, or Parents. Individual tweets could be coded for multiple target audiences. If
a target audience was not identified the audience was coded as General. Each
dialogic principle outlined above was then coded as either present or not present. If
present, a category was noted for what qualified that principle as present. The two
coders began with a sub-sample of 100 common tweets. Reliability testing was
performed for each principle using Cohen’s kappa and ranged between .66
(conservation of visitors) and 1.0 (usefulness of information).
Results
An independent sample t-test was conducted to compare the use of each of the four
dialogic principles by both national universities (n = 60) and liberal arts colleges (n =
53). Three of the four principles were employed by national universities to a greater
extent than they were by liberal arts colleges. The key finding of the study was that
the majority (89.1%, 1007 tweets out of 1130) of universities’ Twitter accounts are
directed towards a more general audience. Just 54 tweets (4.8%) were directed
towards prospective students, 69 (6.1%) were directed towards current students, 18
(1.6%) towards faculty, 19 (1.7%) towards alumni and 54 (4.8%) towards parents. It
was also found that 790 (69.9%) of the 1130 tweets contained links; 587 (51.9%) of
these were links to other parts of the institutions’ internet presence. Just 29.5% of
, Bell, Bryman & Harley: Business Research Methods, 5th edition
tweets met the dialogic loop principle, primarily through retweets, indicating that
universities are not successfully using this tool in the way it is promoted.
Discussion and further research
More work will be needed to explore the reasons for these findings and if social
media tools such as Twitter can function in a dialogical manner. The small significant
difference found between universities’ and liberal arts colleges’ use of the principle of
usefulness of information and the larger difference in their use of the principle of
generation of return visits may be explained by the size and resources available to
these institutions. Larger institutions often have more events on campus, more
successful sports teams, and greater capacity for faculty research and awards. This
may lead to more media coverage and more opportunities to tweet links to outside
sources.
Questions for consideration
1) What do you think the ‘content’ part of this content analysis refers to? What
other content could be included?
2) What other research methods would you use to complement this content
analysis with further study?
3) In addition to this study, how would you conduct a content analysis of
universities’ websites?
Source
Linvill, D., McGee, S., and Hicks, L. (2012), ‘Colleges’ and Universities’ use of
Twitter: A content analysis’, Public Relations Review, 38(4): 636-638.
