QUALITATIVE METHODS
OF COMMUNICATION RESEARCH
INHOUD
What is communication research?........................................................................................................3
Communication research .................................................................................................................4
Communication research as interdisciplinary research ...................................................................4
Quantitative vs. Qualitative? .............................................................................................................5
Introduction to qualitative communication research into the nexus media, culture, and society. ..............7
Communication research as interdisciplinary research ......................................................................7
Doing research into the nexus media, culture, and society ..................................................................7
Society .........................................................................................................................................8
Media ...........................................................................................................................................8
Culture .........................................................................................................................................9
Qualitative communication research as a response to media effects studies/model ...................... 12
The Foundations of Doing Qualitative Communication Research ...................................................... 12
The ontology of qualitative communication research .................................................................... 13
The epistemology of qualitative communication research ............................................................. 13
What, why, how .......................................................................................................................... 15
Unit of analysis and sampling ...................................................................................................... 15
Researching Mediated Content and Fictions........................................................................................ 15
Quantitative content analysis .......................................................................................................... 16
Qualitative content analysis ............................................................................................................ 17
Constructivist forms of content analysis in media and cultural studies - Textual analysis of mediated
fiction ............................................................................................................................................ 19
Fact and fiction ........................................................................................................................... 19
Representation ........................................................................................................................... 20
Why constructivist analysis of mediated fictions? ......................................................................... 21
Genre ......................................................................................................................................... 21
Textual analysis in media and cultural studies .............................................................................. 22
(Critical) Discourse Analysis ............................................................................................................... 26
What is (critical) discourse analysis? ............................................................................................... 26
What is discourse analysis?......................................................................................................... 26
Critical discourse analysis (CDA) ................................................................................................. 28
Key concepts in CDA ...................................................................................................................... 30
Key concepts in CDA: POWER ..................................................................................................... 30
1
, Key concepts in CDA: IDEOLOGY ................................................................................................. 32
Key concepts in CDA: ARTICULATION .......................................................................................... 32
Doing CDA step-by-step ................................................................................................................. 33
How? ......................................................................................................................................... 33
HC5+HC6: See exersizes .................................................................................................................... 35
Researching people’s engagements with media, technology, and cultures ............................................ 35
Approaches to studying media engagement ..................................................................................... 35
Approaches to media audiences in research ................................................................................ 35
Audiences as Active Agents ............................................................................................................ 36
Uses and Gratifications ............................................................................................................... 36
Interpreting and decoding (mass) media texts............................................................................... 38
Contexts of Reception and Use .................................................................................................... 39
Applying critical discourse analysis on journalism to examine homonationalist representations ............ 41
The case ........................................................................................................................................ 41
Research framework ...................................................................................................................... 41
Finding your research questions ...................................................................................................... 42
What is discourse? ......................................................................................................................... 42
What can CDA do? ......................................................................................................................... 43
Exercises ....................................................................................................................................... 43
One of the many ways of doing CDA ................................................................................................ 44
Open-ended reading ................................................................................................................... 44
Textual analysis .......................................................................................................................... 44
Contextual analysis .................................................................................................................... 45
Applying CDA ................................................................................................................................. 45
Findings of analysis ........................................................................................................................ 47
Conclusions of that research .......................................................................................................... 48
Some reflections ............................................................................................................................ 48
Applying CDA in NVivo .................................................................................................................... 48
How my coding file ended up looking ........................................................................................... 49
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 49
2
,QUALITATIVE METHODS
OF COMMUNICATION RESEARCH
HC1
What is communication research?
Research?
“A certain look comes over the faces of some of my students when they hear the word research. Their
eyes glaze over, and their faces take on a pained expression as if they had a migraine or a bad
stomachache. They see the required course on research as some kind of an ordeal they must survive
before being allowed to take the courses they want and go on to live a normal life.”
“Curiosity” door Simonas Gutautas
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?
▪ What is this conflict about?
Scientific research is different from everyday research
▪ More systematic
▪ Based more on facts than feelings
▪ More cautious
▪ 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)
3
, 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 interdisciplinary research
Two major currents within communication science research (see Deuze, 2021)
▪ Humanities-oriented study of media and communication
▪ 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
▪ 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, 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
Think for a moment about a current research question within each of these traditions within media
and communications research.
How is social class associated with cultures?
How do Netflix shows influence how we see different cultures and identities?
How do social media algorithms affect political opinions?
4
OF COMMUNICATION RESEARCH
INHOUD
What is communication research?........................................................................................................3
Communication research .................................................................................................................4
Communication research as interdisciplinary research ...................................................................4
Quantitative vs. Qualitative? .............................................................................................................5
Introduction to qualitative communication research into the nexus media, culture, and society. ..............7
Communication research as interdisciplinary research ......................................................................7
Doing research into the nexus media, culture, and society ..................................................................7
Society .........................................................................................................................................8
Media ...........................................................................................................................................8
Culture .........................................................................................................................................9
Qualitative communication research as a response to media effects studies/model ...................... 12
The Foundations of Doing Qualitative Communication Research ...................................................... 12
The ontology of qualitative communication research .................................................................... 13
The epistemology of qualitative communication research ............................................................. 13
What, why, how .......................................................................................................................... 15
Unit of analysis and sampling ...................................................................................................... 15
Researching Mediated Content and Fictions........................................................................................ 15
Quantitative content analysis .......................................................................................................... 16
Qualitative content analysis ............................................................................................................ 17
Constructivist forms of content analysis in media and cultural studies - Textual analysis of mediated
fiction ............................................................................................................................................ 19
Fact and fiction ........................................................................................................................... 19
Representation ........................................................................................................................... 20
Why constructivist analysis of mediated fictions? ......................................................................... 21
Genre ......................................................................................................................................... 21
Textual analysis in media and cultural studies .............................................................................. 22
(Critical) Discourse Analysis ............................................................................................................... 26
What is (critical) discourse analysis? ............................................................................................... 26
What is discourse analysis?......................................................................................................... 26
Critical discourse analysis (CDA) ................................................................................................. 28
Key concepts in CDA ...................................................................................................................... 30
Key concepts in CDA: POWER ..................................................................................................... 30
1
, Key concepts in CDA: IDEOLOGY ................................................................................................. 32
Key concepts in CDA: ARTICULATION .......................................................................................... 32
Doing CDA step-by-step ................................................................................................................. 33
How? ......................................................................................................................................... 33
HC5+HC6: See exersizes .................................................................................................................... 35
Researching people’s engagements with media, technology, and cultures ............................................ 35
Approaches to studying media engagement ..................................................................................... 35
Approaches to media audiences in research ................................................................................ 35
Audiences as Active Agents ............................................................................................................ 36
Uses and Gratifications ............................................................................................................... 36
Interpreting and decoding (mass) media texts............................................................................... 38
Contexts of Reception and Use .................................................................................................... 39
Applying critical discourse analysis on journalism to examine homonationalist representations ............ 41
The case ........................................................................................................................................ 41
Research framework ...................................................................................................................... 41
Finding your research questions ...................................................................................................... 42
What is discourse? ......................................................................................................................... 42
What can CDA do? ......................................................................................................................... 43
Exercises ....................................................................................................................................... 43
One of the many ways of doing CDA ................................................................................................ 44
Open-ended reading ................................................................................................................... 44
Textual analysis .......................................................................................................................... 44
Contextual analysis .................................................................................................................... 45
Applying CDA ................................................................................................................................. 45
Findings of analysis ........................................................................................................................ 47
Conclusions of that research .......................................................................................................... 48
Some reflections ............................................................................................................................ 48
Applying CDA in NVivo .................................................................................................................... 48
How my coding file ended up looking ........................................................................................... 49
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 49
2
,QUALITATIVE METHODS
OF COMMUNICATION RESEARCH
HC1
What is communication research?
Research?
“A certain look comes over the faces of some of my students when they hear the word research. Their
eyes glaze over, and their faces take on a pained expression as if they had a migraine or a bad
stomachache. They see the required course on research as some kind of an ordeal they must survive
before being allowed to take the courses they want and go on to live a normal life.”
“Curiosity” door Simonas Gutautas
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?
▪ What is this conflict about?
Scientific research is different from everyday research
▪ More systematic
▪ Based more on facts than feelings
▪ More cautious
▪ 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)
3
, 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 interdisciplinary research
Two major currents within communication science research (see Deuze, 2021)
▪ Humanities-oriented study of media and communication
▪ 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
▪ 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, 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
Think for a moment about a current research question within each of these traditions within media
and communications research.
How is social class associated with cultures?
How do Netflix shows influence how we see different cultures and identities?
How do social media algorithms affect political opinions?
4
