Summary methods of communication
research
What is communication research?
Is everyone a researcher?
Research (ENG) /chercher (Fr) to search, to seek
Research means looking for information about something.
You research everyday:
What phone do I buy?
What is healthy to eat?
Is this Netflix series for me?
Scientific research is different from everyday research
More systematic, procedures
Based more on facts than feelings
More cautious , very careful with claiming a certainty
More focus on accuracy and veracity
Data, numbers and statistics as part of scientific research?
Not necessarily (cf. historical research within literary studies vs. econometrics)
Communication research
Young discipline - °50 years ago
An interdisciplinary field
Responded to the increasing important role of print and broadcast mass communication
media in everyday life, drawing on concepts and methods from both the social sciences, the
, humanities, and even the natural sciences (cf. use of psychophysiological metrics in the social
lab)
With the development of digital media, the field is more central than ever to the political,
economic and cultural developments in societies and the world
Communication research as an interdisciplinary research
Two major currents within communication science research :
Humanities-oriented study of media and communication (part 2)
Link with disciplines that analyze and understand products of human culture such as
language, art history literature, history, philosophy, culture, etc.
Social science oriented study of media and communication (part 1)
Link with discplines that analyze, understand and predict human behavior such as
sociology, psychology, political science ...
No strict separation, lots of interdisciplinary research
Humanities-oriented study of media and communication.
E.g. Media studies, cultural studies and the study of popular culture
Examines everything from art house cinema and fiction to comics, television, movies, music,
digital media and everyday life
Usually base their analyses on the concepts, ideas, and theories of philosophers,
psychologists, social scientists, linguists, and others
Often qualitative research
Social science-oriented study of media and communication.
E.g. Media impact research, media effects driven research, strategic communication
Examines influence and effects of media and communication on behavior of people and
society (positive and/or negative)
Usually base their analyses on the concepts, ideas and theories of social scientists and
(experimental) psychology
Often quantitative research
Quantitative vs qualitative?
When we think of quantitative research in media and communications, we think of numbers,
effect, and measurement.
quantitative researchers are sometimes accused of being too limited, basing their
research on what they can count, measure and observe, and neglecting other things.
When we think of qualitative research, we think of media texts, interpretations and
ethnographic research
, qualitative researchers are often accused of "reading" things into texts or making
interpretations of how people consume media that are not there. Interpretations
often seem very personal and too much evaluative/value-driven.
Research needs strategic choices
Different research methods, qualitative or quantitative, or combinations are not inherently
"better" or "truer," but lend themselves to different research questions and observations.
Determining which research method is part of a strategic negotiation.
What method do you use when you are interested in mass media representations, and how
the mass media shape social ideas about sexual identity based on these representations?
Which method do you use when you are interested in the effectiveness of communication
campaigns to promote healthy behavior?
Questions of interest in evaluating these strategic choices made by researchers
1. What methodology was used in the research, what are the strategic choices and reasoning?
2. How important is the topic and does it constitute a challenging scientific investigation?
3. What conclusions were drawn?
4. Are the conclusions supported by the data? Are the conclusions credible?
5. Can one generalize from the research?
6. Can these findings lead to practical recommendations?
, Literature review in communication research
Quantitative methods
• Deals with methods with which you can quantify
• Quantify: putting things into numbers
• Assumption is that you can put all things in numbers
• How often something occurs (e.g. misinformation on Facebook)
• How things are related
• Correlation
• more misinformation leads to less public trust
• Percentage
• 80% chance that a fear appeal will make public smoke less
• What is more effective?
• Means and standard deviations: Do social robots at home lead to less
loneliness?
• Four distinct methods in Part 1
• Literature review
• Experiments
• Survey
• Quantitative content analysis
Why do we need it?
• Generate overview of current knowledge regarding a communication science topic for
• Knowledge: what is known about a topic at this moment?
• Discussion: how to proceed with future research on the topic?
• Policy: e.g. how to deal with misinformation? Guidelines for patients? Etc
Types of reviews.
Narrative reviews
• A non-systematic approach to literature reviews regarding
• Search strategies, and/or
• The selection process (which criteria were used to include | exclude a study)
research
What is communication research?
Is everyone a researcher?
Research (ENG) /chercher (Fr) to search, to seek
Research means looking for information about something.
You research everyday:
What phone do I buy?
What is healthy to eat?
Is this Netflix series for me?
Scientific research is different from everyday research
More systematic, procedures
Based more on facts than feelings
More cautious , very careful with claiming a certainty
More focus on accuracy and veracity
Data, numbers and statistics as part of scientific research?
Not necessarily (cf. historical research within literary studies vs. econometrics)
Communication research
Young discipline - °50 years ago
An interdisciplinary field
Responded to the increasing important role of print and broadcast mass communication
media in everyday life, drawing on concepts and methods from both the social sciences, the
, humanities, and even the natural sciences (cf. use of psychophysiological metrics in the social
lab)
With the development of digital media, the field is more central than ever to the political,
economic and cultural developments in societies and the world
Communication research as an interdisciplinary research
Two major currents within communication science research :
Humanities-oriented study of media and communication (part 2)
Link with disciplines that analyze and understand products of human culture such as
language, art history literature, history, philosophy, culture, etc.
Social science oriented study of media and communication (part 1)
Link with discplines that analyze, understand and predict human behavior such as
sociology, psychology, political science ...
No strict separation, lots of interdisciplinary research
Humanities-oriented study of media and communication.
E.g. Media studies, cultural studies and the study of popular culture
Examines everything from art house cinema and fiction to comics, television, movies, music,
digital media and everyday life
Usually base their analyses on the concepts, ideas, and theories of philosophers,
psychologists, social scientists, linguists, and others
Often qualitative research
Social science-oriented study of media and communication.
E.g. Media impact research, media effects driven research, strategic communication
Examines influence and effects of media and communication on behavior of people and
society (positive and/or negative)
Usually base their analyses on the concepts, ideas and theories of social scientists and
(experimental) psychology
Often quantitative research
Quantitative vs qualitative?
When we think of quantitative research in media and communications, we think of numbers,
effect, and measurement.
quantitative researchers are sometimes accused of being too limited, basing their
research on what they can count, measure and observe, and neglecting other things.
When we think of qualitative research, we think of media texts, interpretations and
ethnographic research
, qualitative researchers are often accused of "reading" things into texts or making
interpretations of how people consume media that are not there. Interpretations
often seem very personal and too much evaluative/value-driven.
Research needs strategic choices
Different research methods, qualitative or quantitative, or combinations are not inherently
"better" or "truer," but lend themselves to different research questions and observations.
Determining which research method is part of a strategic negotiation.
What method do you use when you are interested in mass media representations, and how
the mass media shape social ideas about sexual identity based on these representations?
Which method do you use when you are interested in the effectiveness of communication
campaigns to promote healthy behavior?
Questions of interest in evaluating these strategic choices made by researchers
1. What methodology was used in the research, what are the strategic choices and reasoning?
2. How important is the topic and does it constitute a challenging scientific investigation?
3. What conclusions were drawn?
4. Are the conclusions supported by the data? Are the conclusions credible?
5. Can one generalize from the research?
6. Can these findings lead to practical recommendations?
, Literature review in communication research
Quantitative methods
• Deals with methods with which you can quantify
• Quantify: putting things into numbers
• Assumption is that you can put all things in numbers
• How often something occurs (e.g. misinformation on Facebook)
• How things are related
• Correlation
• more misinformation leads to less public trust
• Percentage
• 80% chance that a fear appeal will make public smoke less
• What is more effective?
• Means and standard deviations: Do social robots at home lead to less
loneliness?
• Four distinct methods in Part 1
• Literature review
• Experiments
• Survey
• Quantitative content analysis
Why do we need it?
• Generate overview of current knowledge regarding a communication science topic for
• Knowledge: what is known about a topic at this moment?
• Discussion: how to proceed with future research on the topic?
• Policy: e.g. how to deal with misinformation? Guidelines for patients? Etc
Types of reviews.
Narrative reviews
• A non-systematic approach to literature reviews regarding
• Search strategies, and/or
• The selection process (which criteria were used to include | exclude a study)
