Doing Media Research: An Introduction

Abstract

PART I. ROOTS: SOCIAL SCIENCE FOUNDATIONS 1. A Philosophy of Social Qualitative Versus Quantitative Methods Deductive Versus Inductive Logic Applied Versus Basic Research The Limits of Social Science Research 2. Foundational Disciplines Anthropology and the Range of Human Experience Psychology and the Experimental Method Sociology and the Study of Human Social Groups 3. Mass Communication as a Research Field Origins of Mass Communication Research Qualitative Versus Quantitative Research Revisited Content Analysis as a Key Research Tool Mass Communication and New Media PART II. ASKING QUESTIONS AND COLLECTING DATA: CREATING A RESEARCH PLAN 4. Developing a Research Question, Reviewing the Literature, Exploring Data Sources, and Defining Variables Reviewing the Academic Literature The Nature of Academic Publishing Defining and Refining Your Research Questions More About the Role of Theory Finding Resources and Data for Your Project Defining and Measuring Variables 5. Designing Quantitative Research: Surveys, Experiments, and Quantitative Content Analysis Survey Design Basics Designing Basic Experiments Content Analysis 6. Designing Qualitative Studies: Participant Observation, Interviews, Focus Groups, and Qualitative Content Analysis Participant Observation Interviews Focus Groups Qualitative Content Studies PART III. APPROACHES TO DATA ANALYSIS: BASIC TOOLS 7. Describing a Numerical Data Set and Making Inferences Levels of Measurement Identifying and Summarizing Patterns Reasoning From Sample to Population 8. Testing Hypotheses and Exploring Other Relationships Testing Simple Hypotheses Understanding Chi-Square Comparing Two Means Working With Complex Variables Multivariate Techniques for Statistical Analysis 9. Qualitative Analysis: Identifying Themes and Writing Meaningful Summaries Working With Theory and Identifying Themes Analyzing Qualitative Data Other Forms of Analysis Writing Descriptive Summaries Relating Data to Conclusions PART IV. RESEARCH IN BROADER CONTEXT: CONTEMPORARY TRENDS IN THE DISSEMINATION OF RESEARCH RESULTS 10. Research Horizons: Opportunities and Challenges New Media Technology Research in a Global Village Ethics in Research: A Further Note 11. Writing and Presenting the Research Report Constructing the Research Paper About Conference Presentations A Concluding Note

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