A third, more modest path, exemplified by several of the papers in this issue, is to pay more attention to qualitative dimensions in analysis. To move beyond the constraints and conventions of the content analysis studies, however, invites an explicit attention to what the analysis is aiming to accomplish. Studies of alcohol in the media can approach the topic from several directions. More generally, representations of drinking in the works can be viewed as evidence on the drinking habits and problems of the special occupational subcultures of the arts. The interest may be in viewing the materials as cultural products which illuminate the place of alcohol in a particular culture at a particular time.
Some analyses consider materials extending over a period of substantial changes in a culture.
The analysis may be more interested in the function and significance of drinking references in the construction of the artistic work. In the context of such materials as U.S. TV sitcoms, such analyses properly assume a sober, external perspective on the portrayals of drinking and drunkenness. It is often assumed that only this last perspective is relevant to those interested in public health policies on alcohol. In this perspective, content analyses are useful primarily to describe and to monitor what is being put before the audience. In fact, the other perspectives are also highly relevant to a public health interest.