40 Dealing with ambiguity in the newspaper, the researcher applied content
analysis method in the study. Content analysis is also known as document analysis. Ary, Jacobs, and Sorensen 2010 describes content analysis as a method
which is aimed to identify specified characteristics in a written or visual materials p.457. Fraenkel and Walen 2008 describe content analysis as a technique that
allows researchers to study human behavior indirectly p.472. It means that the researcher would likely to study human behavior through their communications.
Gall, Gall, and Borg 2007 mention the difference between documents and records p. 291. Documents are personal written communication such as personal
letters, diary, etc. On the other hand, records are official written communication such as articles in the newspaper, legal contracts, etc. In this research, the
researcher analyzed newspaper articles which are considered as records. Newspaper is also a means to communicate within society. It transfers
information and message to a lot people. Therefore, by conducting this study using the content analysis method, the researcher wants to study human behavior,
in this case the way people communicate via mass media.
B. Research Setting
In this study, the researcher analyses ambiguity, particularly lexical and structural ambiguity, found in Reader’s Forum section in The Jakarta Post
newspaper. The data used in the research were obtained from the official The Jakarta Post website, www.thejakartapost.com. The data were gathered on July 1-
July 15, 2013. In the website, the printed edition of the newspaper can also be
41 found. Therefore, it helps the researcher a lot since the researcher could obtain the
data easily from the internet. Moreover, the researcher could also look up the older printed edition of The Jakarta Post newspaper by using the features
provided in the website.
C. Research Subject
Since the study focuses on ambiguity in the newspaper, the researcher is using newspapers as the subject of the study. In Indonesia, there are some
newspapers that use English. They are The Jakarta Post, The Jakarta Globe, and Business News. In addition, some local and national newspapers also use English
in special rubric or edition. Solopos, a local newspaper coming from Solo, uses English in their special rubric in Sunday edition.
However, in this study the researcher used The Jakarta Post newspaper as the subject. The Jakarta Post is a daily English newspaper in Indonesia. The first
edition of the newspaper was published in 25 April 1983. It has received many awards and recognitions. Moreover, it is the most famous English newspaper in
Indonesia nowadays. One week edition from July 1 until July 6, 2013 became the data source of
this study. The data can be easily retrieved from The Jakarta Post website, www.thejakartapost.com. At the beginning of the study, the researcher planned on
having two weeks edition of the newspaper as the data source. However, after the researcher analyzed one week edition, the researcher has found enough data.
42 Therefore, the researcher decided to focus on the one-week-data and gain rich
description from it.
D. Research Instrument and Data Gathering Technique
