Doing Media Research

An Introduction
Second Edition
Susanna Horning Priest - Oregon State University, USA
Doing Media Research
March 2009 | 272 pages | Sage US
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Description

Emphasizing conceptual understanding rather than algebra, Doing Media Research: An Introduction provides comprehensive coverage of both quantitative and qualitative social science methods used in research about the media and its role in society. Using straightforward language, author Susanna Hornig Priest shows students exactly how to design and implement meaningful small-scale research projects. This book is based on the philosophy that students can learn methods most effectively through actually using them, and it empowers beginning students to experience research for themselves. This Second Edition features completely revised hands-on exercises and greatly expanded discussions of both media content analysis and the application of social science to new media.  

Features and Benefits:   ·       
  • Explores both qualitative and quantitative approaches to help beginning students understand both, so they can choose the right approach for a particular problem
  • Assumes no background in statistics and introduces most topics with a minimum of algebra, explaining all technical concepts in simple language in the text (and in the extensive glossary)
  • Explains the disciplinary origins of our various research methods, the nature of academic publishing, and the importance of the academic literature
  • Emphasizes the process of research design as applied to real-world problems and incorporates discussion of research ethics throughout the book
  • Gives students a chance to practice as they go along through chapter-by-chapter exercises, rather than approaching methods as an abstract subject that must be learned by rote
  • Describes advanced techniques in general terms to give beginning students an understanding of the full range of tools available without getting in the way of their ability to use more basic approaches right away  
Doing Media Research: An Introduction, Second Edition is intended for an introductory course in social science research methods for students in journalism, mass communication, and media studies at either the undergraduate or beginning graduate levels.

Contents

PART I. ROOTS: SOCIAL SCIENCE FOUNDATIONS

  • 1. A Philosophy of Social "Science"
  • 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

Description

Emphasizing conceptual understanding rather than algebra, Doing Media Research: An Introduction provides comprehensive coverage of both quantitative and qualitative social science methods used in research about the media and its role in society. Using straightforward language, author Susanna Hornig Priest shows students exactly how to design and implement meaningful small-scale research projects. This book is based on the philosophy that students can learn methods most effectively through actually using them, and it empowers beginning students to experience research for themselves. This Second Edition features completely revised hands-on exercises and greatly expanded discussions of both media content analysis and the application of social science to new media.  

Features and Benefits:   ·       
  • Explores both qualitative and quantitative approaches to help beginning students understand both, so they can choose the right approach for a particular problem
  • Assumes no background in statistics and introduces most topics with a minimum of algebra, explaining all technical concepts in simple language in the text (and in the extensive glossary)
  • Explains the disciplinary origins of our various research methods, the nature of academic publishing, and the importance of the academic literature
  • Emphasizes the process of research design as applied to real-world problems and incorporates discussion of research ethics throughout the book
  • Gives students a chance to practice as they go along through chapter-by-chapter exercises, rather than approaching methods as an abstract subject that must be learned by rote
  • Describes advanced techniques in general terms to give beginning students an understanding of the full range of tools available without getting in the way of their ability to use more basic approaches right away  
Doing Media Research: An Introduction, Second Edition is intended for an introductory course in social science research methods for students in journalism, mass communication, and media studies at either the undergraduate or beginning graduate levels.

Contents

PART I. ROOTS: SOCIAL SCIENCE FOUNDATIONS

  • 1. A Philosophy of Social "Science"
  • 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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Doing Media Research

An Introduction

Susanna Horning Priest
Cancel Print

March 2009 | 272 pages | Sage US

Format Published Date ISBN Price

Emphasizing conceptual understanding rather than algebra, Doing Media Research: An Introduction provides comprehensive coverage of both quantitative and qualitative social science methods used in research about the media and its role in society. Using straightforward language, author Susanna Hornig Priest shows students exactly how to design and implement meaningful small-scale research projects. This book is based on the philosophy that students can learn methods most effectively through actually using them, and it empowers beginning students to experience research for themselves. This Second Edition features completely revised hands-on exercises and greatly expanded discussions of both media content analysis and the application of social science to new media.  

Features and Benefits:   ·       
  • Explores both qualitative and quantitative approaches to help beginning students understand both, so they can choose the right approach for a particular problem
  • Assumes no background in statistics and introduces most topics with a minimum of algebra, explaining all technical concepts in simple language in the text (and in the extensive glossary)
  • Explains the disciplinary origins of our various research methods, the nature of academic publishing, and the importance of the academic literature
  • Emphasizes the process of research design as applied to real-world problems and incorporates discussion of research ethics throughout the book
  • Gives students a chance to practice as they go along through chapter-by-chapter exercises, rather than approaching methods as an abstract subject that must be learned by rote
  • Describes advanced techniques in general terms to give beginning students an understanding of the full range of tools available without getting in the way of their ability to use more basic approaches right away  
Doing Media Research: An Introduction, Second Edition is intended for an introductory course in social science research methods for students in journalism, mass communication, and media studies at either the undergraduate or beginning graduate levels.

Table Of Contents:

  • PART I. ROOTS: SOCIAL SCIENCE FOUNDATIONS
  • 1. A Philosophy of Social "Science"
  • 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

Recent Product Reviews:

too quantitatively focused
Dr Trey Stohlman, Broadcast Cinematic Arts Dept, Central Michigan University
This is a great introductory book for undergraduate and postgraduate journalism and media students. It uses simple language and straight forward examples and avoids being verbose or alienating. However it is definitely a starter book rather than one for students who have already undergone a lot of research methods reading already.
Ms Lily Canter, Communication & Media, Sheffield Hallam University
Proved to be more generic that specific to media studies. I was looking for a text that would help students to specifically work with research questions using mass communication data. Hence i choose it as a supplementary text
Dr Lystra Hagley-Dickinson, Dept of Sociology, Northampton University
Too simplistic for postgraduate research. More attention needed to be paid to qualitative methods of analysis.
Ms Sandra Pitcher, Media and Cultural Studies, University of KwaZulu - Natal

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