research methodology: not as straightforward as you'd like

Well, I finally thought to wander through some web-based descriptions of content analysis. Very fascinating especially in application to a specific project, as opposed to just reading and understanding the theory - two very different "animals" theory and application...

Here I am trying to figure out how to do textual analysis and I discover that what I am doing, on reflection, is trying to describe and make inferences about characteristics of a communication (how we describe competency and what that communicates about the concept, and us) [Wikipedia quoting Ole Holsti, 1969]. The Colorado State University guide further helped refine my understanding of what I was attempting by providing an even more exhaustive description of the process, including steps. With their help, I was able to recognize I was attempting conceptual analysis not relational analysis. There is only one concept I'm investigating, the presence of competency and what form(s) the definitions take.

My first selection was for the presence of the concept of competency or competencies in conjunction with a discussion of academic or college librarians. I then coded for specific words or patterns, or the absence thereof, which was based on my assumptions of what form this definition would take. I'm not interested in how many times the words that make up any definition of competency/ies occur within each article.

What I discovered through actual coding is that I need to record the concept and its appearance in different forms, and in the authors' uses of different words. I need to recognize the equivalency (synonyms, at least in this literature) in the use of some terms. For example, knowledge, education, and experience seem to be used interchangeably. All this resulted in an alteration of the coding scheme, a reassessment of the content and a more mature version of the concept. It took alot to get here though, quite surprisingly.

After I've recoded, the next step is to actually understand the implications of the data, some of which is beginning to be revealed and is unexpected. I'm looking forward to this part.