Category development based on semantic principles

Journal/Book: Soc Sci Comput Rev. 1997; 15: 2455 Teller Rd, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Sage Publications Inc. 394-409.

Abstract: Category systems extracted from textual material are an important part of the scientific process and qualitative analysis but are frequently developed on an ad-hoc basis. Their development can be improved by a stronger reliance on linguistic and semantic principles. Tracing and recapitulating the development of semantic principles from the 1950s to the 1990s in linguistics and text analysis show how the principled use of information from lexical resources can facilitate the development and analysis of category systems. These principles are demonstrated in examining the category systems of Minnesota Contextual Content Analysis, a technique for analyzing textual material from sentences, answers to open-ended questions on questionnaires, expository texts, and verbatim transcripts. These principles are then extended to show how to abstract category assignments for this type of textual material. The discussion identifies computerized systems and data resources used in the application of these principles.

Note: Article Litkowski KC, 20239 Lea Pond Pl, Gaithersburg,MD 20879 USA

Keyword(s): category development; semantic analysis; linguistic analysis; text analysis; content analysis; qualitative analysis

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