Content analysis is a method for summarizing any form of content by counting various aspects of the content. This enables a more objective evaluation than comparing content based on the impressions of a listener. For example, an impressionistic summary of a TV program, is not content analysis. Nor is a book review: it’s an evaluation.

Content analysis, though it often analyses written words, is a quantitative method. The results of content analysis are numbers and percentages. After doing a content analysis, you might make a statement such as "27% of programs on Radio Lukole in April 2003 mentioned at least one aspect of peacebuilding, compared with only 3% of the programs in 2001."

Though it may seem crude and simplistic to make such statements, the counting serves two purposes:

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