Content analysis offers a useful means of identifying trends that either support or oppose existing theory, as well as acting as a vehicle to establish trends on which new theory can be formulated (Kolbe & Burnett 1991). Content analysis is used to achieve the research objectives of examining trends in the use of framing strategies across different service types, and investigating whether any disparity exists between the use of framing strategies in practice and those strategies which were identified as theoretically most effective. This methodology facilitates objectivity via the provision of clear guidelines and procedures to ensure the generation of reliable findings (Mortimer 2000). The guidelines laid down by Kassarjian (1977) are incorporated in this study.
3.4.1. Sample
Print ads were selected as the medium for this research, because they facilitate standardized content analysis across ads, and because print represents an important media in terms of global ad spend, representing almost 30% of the $498 billion spend in 2011 (Neilson Global AdView Pulse 2012). In line with McQuarrie and Mick’s (1992) research on the use of rhetorics in advertising, one issue from twenty of the top fifty US magazines (ranked based
92
on advertising revenue and circulation figures) was selected. To achieve this study’s goal of having a breadth of service industries, different categories of magazines were included, for example: financial/business (e.g. Fortune, The New Yorker, and Time), and men’s/women’s/general lifestyle (e.g. Men’s Health, Golf Digest, InStyle, Martha Stewart Living, and National geographic). Only full and half page advertisements were considered and advertisements that appeared more than once were removed from the sample, so as not to distort the results by mitigating for the influence of a single brand (Spears et al. 2006). This brought the sample of service advertisements to 200. The lifestyle magazines had a paltry amount of service advertisements, whereas approximately 80% of the advertisements in the business and financial category were for services. For this reason, additional issues were sourced from the most popular business/financial magazines in the UK (Forbes, The Economist, and Money Week), selected based on availability. In order to increase the sample size and the breadth of service industries, a further 140 advertisements were sourced from an online advertisement archive, which facilitated selection of advertisements based on country and date of publication and product type. The archive was selected based on the vast number of up to date advertisements and broad variety of service sectors advertised. This allowed a sample of advertisements from a broad range of service industries published in the same geographic regions and time frame as the offline sample to be collected (see Table 3.3). All the advertisements in the sample were published between 2007 and 2011. This brings the total advertisement sample in the analysis to 475 (see Table 3.2).
93
Table 3.2 Service Advertisement Sources
Genre Magazine Number of
Service Ads Financial/Business The Economist
Fortune Forbes MoneyWeek The New Yorker Time
181
Lifestyle (women, men, general)
Good Housekeeping O The Oprah Magazine Martha Stewart Living Good Homes
Cosmopolitan InStyle Men’s Health Gold Digest
National Geographic Architectural Digest Gig
Time Out People US Weekly OK! Weekly Star Magazine
154
Online Archive ‘Coloribus’ archive 140
Total 475
94
Table 3.3 Service Industries (North American Industry Classification System) Service Industry Frequency %
Utilities 14 2.9
Retail trade 19 4
Transport 49 10.3
Information 46 9.7
Finance 159 33.5
Professional, scientific,
technical 12 2.5
Education 23 4.8
Healthcare 13 2.7
Social assistance 2 .4
Arts, entertainment,
recreation 95 20
Accommodation & food 18 3.8
Personal Care 2 .4
Social Advocacy 2 .4
Building Construction 9 1.9
Admin & Support 12 2.5
Total 475 100
95
3.4.2. Procedure
This study follows recommended content analysis procedure and guidelines (Kassarjian 1977). Each ad was coded independently by two researchers (Stafford, Spears, Hsu 2003 and Laroche et al. 2011). The first author coded the entire sample (as in van Kuilenburg et al.
2011). In doing so the coding scheme was amended as it became clear what framing strategies are available to and employed by service advertisers. The same coding scheme was used by the research assistants. Two postgraduate students in marketing were employed as research assistants to code half of the sample each; therefore each advertisement was coded by both the first author and a trained postgraduate student. The coders were trained extensively to identify the absence or presence of each framing strategy. Every ad was numbered and analyzed for the presence or absence of each framing strategy used as the primary method of persuasion, i.e. in the headline, sub-heading or primary visual advertisement elements. In instances where an advertisement appeared to be using several framing strategies, only the strategies deemed to be a primary method of structuring the verbal or visual elements were retained in the analysis (Décaudin and Lacoste 2011). The presence of each framing strategy was coded ‘1’ and absence was coded ‘0’. Variables coded include the service type (mental intangibility and customization) and the framing strategy (argument, narrative, mental simulation, schemes and tropes (including metaphor, resonance, pun, paradox, and irony)). Given the wide range of rhetorical tropes, and the low frequency of individual tropes (e.g. metaphor, irony, resonance, parody, pun), the variety of individual tropes are collapsed under the category of rhetorical tropes. This allows for meaningful analysis with greater frequencies. Analyzing the frequency of different tropes in one category is appropriate, because research suggests that it is not the specific trope, but the level of deviation from expectation which impacts audience persuasion (Phillips &McQuarrie 2010).
The reliability of both categories and interrater judgment are crucial issues in maintaining the reliability of content analysis research. In order to achieve category reliability all coders used the definitions of each framing strategy to guide their coding (Kassarjian 1977, Laroche et al.
2011). The definitions for all variables are grounded in the literature. For a detailed coding scheme see the coding schedule in the appendix (Appendix III). Trends in the use of framing strategies across mentally tangible versus mentally intangible services and customized versus standardized services were investigated using chi-square analysis (as in Décaudin and Lacoste 2011 and Laroche et al. 2011).
96