Content Analysis offers a comprehensive overview of the variation within content analysis, along with detailed descriptions of three approaches found in the contemporary literature: basic content analysis, interpretive content analysis and qualitative content analysis. This book provides an inclusive, and carefully differentiated, examination of contemporary content analysis research purposes and methods. Such a book is not currently available. Chapter One examines the conceptual base and history of content analysis, then the next three chapters examine each approach to content analysis in depth, using brief illustrative exemplar studies. Each of the methodology chapters employs a consistent outline to help readers compare and contrast the three different approaches. Chapter 5 examines rigor in content analysis and highlights steps to ensure the internal coherence of studies. This book concludes with exploration of two full-length studies: Chapter 6 examines the use of content analysis for advocacy and building public awareness to promote human rights and social justice. Chapter 7 reviews a full-length study of older adults in prison to detail how content analysis is completed and how different approaches may be usefully combined.