Content analysis is a highly fl exible research method that has been widely used in library and information science (LIS) studies with varying research goals and objectives. The research method is applied in qualitative, quantitative, and sometimes mixed modes of research frameworks and employs a wide range of analytical techniques to generate fi ndings and put them into context. This article characterizes content analysis as a systematic, rigorous approach to analyzing documents obtained or generated in the course of research. It briefl y describes the steps involved in content analysis, differentiates between quantitative and qualitative content analysis, and shows that content analysis serves the purposes of both quantitative research and qualitative research. The authors draw on selected LIS studies that have used content analysis to illustrate the concepts addressed in the article. The article also serves as a gateway to methodological books and articles that provide more detail about aspects of content analysis discussed only briefl y in the article.

The primary aim for this research was to explore the overlap and differences between the concepts related to secondary traumatization: posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), secondary traumatic stress (STS), compassion fatigue (CF), and burnout (BRN). A secondary aim for this research was to examine the impact of secondary traumatization and some of the personal and professional elements that affect how pediatric healthcare providers experience PTSD, STS, CF, and BRN. An online survey was sent via e-mail to numerous list serves for healthcare providers who had worked on PICU, NICU, or PEDS units within the last year. The analyses revealed that a significant overlap existed between the terms of STS, PTSD, BRN, CS, and CF for PICU, NICU, and PEDS providers. However, a hierarchical linear regression revealed a significant amount of unique contributions to the variance in CF based on each of the measured concepts. Despite previous literature that indicates that the terms STS and CF can be used interchangeably, the two most prominent measures utilized in the assessment of CF and STS are actually capturing at least some unique elements. Given these results, future researchers should examine and conceptualize the difference in etiology, prevalence, symptoms, and treatment efficacy for CF and STS as separate but related entities and then return their focus to understanding secondary traumatization in healthcare providers.

The paper establishes a taxonomy of image-text relationships that reflects the ways that images and text interact. It is applicable to all subject areas and document types. The taxonomy was developed to answer the research question: how does an illustration relate to the text with which it is associated, or, what are the functions of illustration? Developed in a two-stage processfirst, analysis of relevant research in children's literature, dictionary development, education, journalism, and library and information design and, second, subsequent application of the first version of the taxonomy to 954 image-text pairs in 45 Web pages (pages with educational content for children, online newspapers, and retail business pages)-the taxonomy identifies 49 relationships and groups them in three categories according to the closeness of the conceptual relationship between image and text. The paper uses qualitative content analysis to illustrate use of the taxonomy to analyze four image-text pairs in government publications and discusses the implications of the research for information retrieval and document design.

This article reports on the follow‐up study of a two‐part project designed to study the decision‐making process underlying how academic researchers select documents retrieved from online databases, consult or read, and cite documents during a research project. The participants are 15 of the 25 agricultural economics users who participated in the original study of document‐selection conducted in 1992. They were interviewed about subsequent decisions on documents considered relevant and selected in 1992, as well as documents cited in their written products but not in the original searches. Of particular interest in this article are the decision criteria and rules they apply to documents as they progress through the project. The first study in 1992 emphasized the selection processes and resulted in a document selection model; the 1995 study concentrates on the reading and citing decisions. The model derived from this project shows document use as a decision‐making process with decisions occurring at three points or stages during a research project: selecting, reading, and citing. It is an expansion of the document selection model developed in the 1992 study, identifies more criteria, and clarifies the criteria and rules that are in use at each stage. The follow‐up study not only found that all but one of the criteria identified in selection re‐occur in connection with reading and citing decisions, but also identified 14 new criteria. It also found that decision rules applied in selection decisions are applied throughout the project.

Historically, veterinary medical students' mental health has rarely been investigated, but recently there has been renewed interest in this topic. The present study evaluated depression and anxiety levels in a cross-sectional investigation of 93 first-year veterinary medical students enrolled at Kansas State University (KSU). During their first semester, students completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Mental Health Inventory's Anxiety Scale (MHI-A). Results indicate that 32% of these first-year KSU veterinary students were experiencing clinical levels of depressive symptoms. Additionally, students reported elevated anxiety scores. Predictors of depression and anxiety levels include homesickness, physical health, and unclear instructor expectations. Areas of intervention with a focus on improving veterinary medical student well-being are discussed.