A Comparison of Traditional Book Reviews and Amazon.com Book Reviews of Fiction Using a Content Analysis Approach

Authors

  • Christy Sich The University of Western Ontario

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18438/B8CW4N

Keywords:

book reviews, Amazon, content analysis

Abstract

Abstract

Objective - This study compared the quality and helpfulness of traditional book review sources with the online user rating system in Amazon.com in order to determine if one mode is superior to the other and should be used by library selectors to assist in making purchasing decisions.

Methods - For this study, 228 reviews of 7 different novels were analyzed using a content analysis approach. Of these, 127 reviews came from traditional review sources and 101 reviews were published on Amazon.com.

Results - Using a checklist developed for this study, a significant difference in the quality of reviews was discovered. Reviews from traditional sources scored significantly higher than reviews from Amazon.com. The researcher also looked at review length. On average, Amazon.com reviews are shorter than reviews from traditional sources. Review rating—favourable, unfavourable, or mixed/neutral—also showed a lack of consistency between the two modes of reviews.

Conclusion - Although Amazon.com provides multiple reviews of a book on one convenient site, traditional sources of professionally written reviews would most likely save librarians more time in making purchasing decisions, given the higher quality of the review assessment.

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Author Biography

Christy Sich, The University of Western Ontario

Christy Sich is a Research & Instructional Services Librarian in The D. B. Weldon Library at the University of Western Ontario.

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Published

2017-03-15

How to Cite

Sich, C. (2017). A Comparison of Traditional Book Reviews and Amazon.com Book Reviews of Fiction Using a Content Analysis Approach. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 12(1), 85–96. https://doi.org/10.18438/B8CW4N

Issue

Section

Research Articles

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