Basic Content Analysis
For the first step in my data collection process, I started with basic content analysis on the 25-episode sample. This way I was able to note key themes of communication and how certain language and characterization of female leads are portrayed. By beginning with basic content analysis, I was also able to get a better idea of what exactly my coding scheme would be. The major themes I was able to create from basic content analysis were dialogue, mannerisms, body display, relationships, activities, and characterization. Each of these themes was divided into both qualitative and quantitative analyses depending on subcategories.
Quantitative Coding
In my quantitative analysis, I looked into the categories of dialogue, mannerisms, and body display. For dialogue, I measured the number of times the female leads, mention boys, mention their appearance or self-conception, social status/ popularity, as well as mentioning school/work. I was also able to gather data by counting the mannerisms of the women. I did this by counting the number of times she bent her knee or popped her hip, places her hands on her hips, or displayed submissive behavior. Some examples of submissive behavior were a man holding a door open for her, helping her with a simple task, interrupting her of any other male action that overpowers the female character. Lastly, I counted aspects of her body display which included the number of times she wore a skirt/ dress and pants, tight or loose clothing, obvious make-up, jewelry, and whether or not she was wearing nail polish.
Qualitative Coding
The qualitative approach to my sampling is where I was able to gain insight into certain mannerisms the girls portray, what their interests are, and how these elements lead to how they are characterized. This required qualitative content analysis because I aimed to describe certain patterns and regularities found in the data. By qualitatively analyzing the shows I was able to create more of a narrative of major themes and categories and how they line up with American female stereotypes during the timeframe. The categories on quantitative analysis looked at physical characteristics, overall personality, relationships with friends and family, mannerisms, activities and interests, and overall characterization. Throughout the qualitative analysis I was able to find overarching core ideas and themes found in the episodes and create a timeline of how female leads have been characterized over time.
