Demystifying content analysis
Open accessAbstract
Objective. In the course of daily teaching responsibilities, pharmacy educators collect rich data that can provide valuable insight into student learning. This article describes the qualitative data analysis method of content analysis, which can be useful to pharmacy educators because of its application in the investigation of a wide variety of data sources, including textual, visual, and audio files. Findings. Both manifest and latent content analysis approaches are described, with several examples used to illustrate the processes. This article also offers insights into the variety of relevant terms and visualizations found in the content analysis literature. Finally, common threats to the reliability and validity of content analysis are discussed, along with suitable strategies to mitigate these risks during analysis. Summary. This review of content analysis as a qualitative data analysis method will provide clarity and actionable instruction for both novice and experienced pharmacy education researchers.
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Coder fatigue is a recognized threat to the trustworthiness of content analysis, particularly in cases involving repetitive and clerical coding.
“Coder fatigue is a recognized threat to the trustworthiness of content analysis, particularly in cases involving repetitive and clerical coding (36).”
From Understanding older people's voice interactions with smart voice assistants: a new modified rule-based natural language processing model with human input (2024) · cites this paper as [36]
Some telehealth-delivered CBT or ACT-based treatments tailored to older adults often target specific mental health concerns such as anxiety or depression in isolation, and for some programs research has mostly explored feasibility and acceptability rather than effectiveness.
“some provide telehealth-delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or ACT-based treatments tailored to older adults [e.g., (66–68)], however, these often target specific mental health concerns, such as anxiety or depression, in isolation, and for some programs research has mostly explored their feasibility and acceptability rather than their effectiveness.”
From Telephone-based group mental health support for older adults in central Canada: pilot acceptability and effectiveness findings of The CONNECT Program (2025) · cites this paper as [66]
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“For example, some provide telehealth-delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or ACT-based treatments tailored to older adults [e.g., (66–68)], however, these often target specific mental health concerns, such as anxiety or depression, in isolation, and for some programs research has mostly…”
- Authors
- Kleinheksel, A. J., Rockich-Winston, N., Tawfik, H., & Wyatt, T. R.
- Affiliations
- Augusta University (US)
- Central Michigan University (US)
- Venue
- American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-01
- Volume
- 84
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 7113
- ISSN
- 0002-9459 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7055418
- OpenAlex
- W2938892948
- Cited by
- 1,054
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 213 · 2025: 298 · 2024: 251 · 2023: 177 · 2022: 75 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 4 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 110.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Qualitative Research Methods and Applications
- Social Sciences › General Social Sciences › Computational and Text Analysis Methods
- Social Sciences › Education › Educational Research and Methods
- Keywords
- content analysis, qualitative data analysis, pharmacy education, reliability and validity, student learning assessment, data visualization
- MeSH terms
- Curriculum, Education, Pharmacy, Evaluation Studies as Topic, Humans, Learning, Teaching
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