Media and Communication Research Methods - International Student Edition
An Introduction to Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

Fifth Edition

Arthur Asa Berger

Other Titles in:
Communication Research Methods | Research Methods (General)

January 2019 | 488 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc

This step-by-step introduction to conducting media and communication research offers practical insights along with the author’s signature lighthearted style to make discussion of qualitative and quantitative methods easy to comprehend. The Fifth Edition of Media and Communication Research Methods includes a new chapter on discourse analysis; expanded discussion of social media, including discussion of the ethics of Facebook experiments; and expanded coverage of the research process with new discussion of search strategies and best practices for analyzing research articles. Ideal for research students at both the graduate and undergraduate level, this proven book is clear, concise, and accompanied by just the right number of detailed examples, useful applications, and valuable exercises to help students to understand, and master, media and communication research.

Preface to the Fifth Edition

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Round Up the Usual Suspects

Applying the Focal Points Model to Media

How I Became a Man without Quantities

Date Man versus Date-Free Man

Kinds of Questions Researchers Ask

Conclusions of a Man without Quantities, Who Is also a Practicing Theoretician

Introduction: Applications and Exercises

I. GETTING STARTED

1. What Is Research?

We All Do Research, All the Time

Scholarly Research Is Different From Everyday Research

Cultural Studies and Research

Nietzsche on Interpretation

Problem of Certainty

Diachronic and Synchronic Research

The Way the Human Mind Works

Overt and Covert Oppositions

Thinking Fast and Slow

Quantity and Quality in Media Research

Media and Communication

Why a Book That Teaches Both Methodologies?

Considering Research Topics

What Is Research? Applications and Exercises

Conclusions

Further Reading

2. The Research Process

Search Strategies

Sources of Information

How to Read Analytically

Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking as Defined by the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, 1987

Doing a Literature Review

Primary and Secondary Research Sources

Searching on the Internet (or “Find the Info if You Can!”)

Using the Internet to Conduct Research

Analyzing Methodology in Research Articles

The Research Process: Applications and Exercises

Conclusions

Further Reading

II. METHODS OF TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

3. Semiotic Analysis

Saussure’s Division of Signs into Signifiers and Signifieds

Semiotics of Blondeness

Semiotics and Society

Peirce’s Trichotomy: Icon, Index, And Symbol

Allied Concepts

Foucault on Codes and Cultural Change

Marcel Danesi on Codes and Culture

Clotaire Rapaille on Culture Codes

Semiotics in Society: A Reprise

Syntagmatic Analysis of Texts

Paradigmatic Analysis of Texts

Applications of Semiotic Theory

Paul Ekman on Facial Expression

Semiotics: Applications and Exercises

Conclusions

Further Reading

4. Rhetorical Analysis

Aristotle on Rhetoric

Rhetoric and the Mass Media

A Brief Note on the Communication Process

Certeau on Subversions by Readers and Viewers

Applied Rhetorical Analysis

A Miniglossary of Common Rhetorical Devices

Other Considerations When Making Rhetorical Analyses

A Sample Rhetorical Analysis: A La Mer Advertisement

Rhetorical Analysis of the Visual Image

Images in Narrative Texts

Gangsta Rap and American Popular Culture

Rhetorical Analysis: Applications and Exercises

Conclusions

Further Reading

5. Ideological Criticism

Mannheim’s Ideology and Utopia

Defining Ideology

Marxist Criticism

Roland Barthes on Mythologies

The Problem of Hegemony

The Base and the Superstructure, False Consciousness, and the “Self-Made Man and Woman”

Post-Soviet Marxist Criticism

Society of the Spectacle

Basic Ideas in Marxist Criticism

A Marxist Interpretation of the Fidji “Snake” Advertisement

John Berger on Glamour

Identity Politics

Feminist Criticism of Media and Communication

The Social Conception of Knowledge

Phallocentric Theory: The Physical Basis of Male Domination

Political Cultures, the Media, and Communication

Pop Cultural and Media Preferences of the Four Political Cultures

Marxist Perspectives on Social Media

A Preview of Critical Discourse Analysis

Ideological Criticism: Applications and Exercises

Conclusions

Further Reading

6. Psychoanalytic Criticism

Freud’s Contribution

Smartphones and the Psyche: Applying the Theories of Erik Erikson

Smartphones and the Self

Neuropsychoanalysis: Freud and Neuroscience

Jungian Theory

Psychoanalytic Criticism: Applications and Exercises

Conclusions

Further Reading

7. Discourse Analysis

Defining Discourse Analysis

Teun A. Van Dijk on Discourse Analysis

Spoken and Written Discourse

Styles and Written Discourse

Political Ideologies and Discourse Analysis

Critical Discourse Analysis

Advertising and Critical Discourse Analysis

Multimodal Discourse Analysis

Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis

Fashion and Discourse Analysis

A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of an Advertisement

Discourse Analysis: Applications and Exercises

Conclusions

Further Reading

III. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS

8. Interviews

The Prisoner Interviews Number Two

What Is an Interview?

Four Kinds of Research Interviews

Why We Use Interviews

How to Interview People

Kinds of Questions

Questions Investigative Reporters Ask

The Structure of Conversations and Interviews

Transcribing Recorded Interviews

Making Sense of Transcribed Interviews

Coding

Problems with Interview Material

Interviews: Applications and Exercises

Conclusions

Further Reading

9. Historical Analysis

What Is History?

History as Metadiscipline or Specialized Subject

Is History Objective, Subjective, Or A Combination Of The Two?

The Importance of Fernand Braudel

Kinds of Historical Research

The Problem of Writing History

The Problem of Meaning

Historical Periods

Baudrillard and Jameson on Postmodernism

Postmodernism and Historiography

The Historical and the Comparative Approach

History Is an Art, Not a Science

Doing Historical Research

Historical Analysis: Applications and Exercises

Conclusions

Further Reading

10. Ethnomethodological Research

Defining Ethnomethodology

Garfinkel’s Ingenious and Mischievous Research

Norbert Wiley’s Interesting Perspective on Harold Garfinkel

Using Ethnomethodology in Media and Communication Research

Metaphors and Motivation

Love Is a Game

Humorists as Code Violators

Techniques of Humor

Ethnomethodology and the Communication Process

Ethnomethodological Research: Applications and Exercises

Conclusions

Further Reading

11. Participant Observation

Defining Participant Observation

Significant Considerations When Doing Participant Observation

A Case Study of Participant Observation: Readers of Romance Novels

Problems with Participant Observation

Benefits of Participant Observation Studies

Making Sense of Your Findings

Writing up A Participant Observation Study

An Ethical Dilemma

Ethics and Research Involving Humans

Participant Observation: Applications and Exercises

Conclusions

Further Reading

IV. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS

12. Content Analysis

Defining Content Analysis

Why We Make Content Analyses

Methodological Aspects of Content Analysis

Aspects of Violence

Advantages of Content Analysis as a Research Method

Difficulties in Making Content Analyses

Content Analysis Step-By-Step

Content Analysis: Applications and Exercises

A Cautionary Note from Denis McQuail

Conclusions

Further Reading

13. Surveys

Defining Surveys

Kinds of Surveys: Descriptive and Analytic

The VALS Typology Survey

Methods of Data Collection

Advantages of Survey Research

Problems with Surveys

Surveys and the 2012 Presidential Election

Surveys and the 2016 Presidential Election

A Note on Media Usage Surveys: Shares and Ratings

Open-Ended and Closed-Ended Survey Questions

Writing Survey Questions

Making Pilot Studies to Pretest Surveys

Conducting Online Surveys

Samples

Obtaining Random Samples

Evaluating Survey Accuracy

Surveys: Applications and Exercises

Conclusions

Further Reading

14. Experiments

Everyday Experimentation

Defining Experiments

The Structure of an Experiment

The Hawthorne Effect

Advantages of Experiments

Disadvantages of Experiments

The “Black Rats” Case and Experimental Fraud

A Checklist on Experimental Design

What’s An Experiment and What Isn’t?

Ethics and the Facebook Experiment

Experiments: Applications and Exercises

Conclusions

Further Reading

15. A Primer on Descriptive Statistics

Levels of Measurement

Descriptive Statistics

Measures of Central Tendency

Measures of Dispersion

The Normal or Bell-Shaped Curve

The Problem with Ratings

A Cautionary Note on Statistics

Using Statistics to Support a Claim

Statistics and Comparisons

Data on Media Use in America

Smartphones

The Problem of Interpretation

Statistics and Problems Caused by Definitions

Statistics: Applications and Exercises

Conclusions

Further Reading

V. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

16. Nineteen Common Thinking Errors

Common Fallacies

Conclusions

Further Reading

17. Writing Research Reports

Keeping a Journal

A Trick for Organizing Reports

Outlines, First Drafts, and Revisions

Writing Research Reports

The IMRD Structure of Quantitative Research Reports

Writing Correctly: Avoiding Some Common Problems

Academic Writing Styles

A Checklist for Planning Research and Writing Reports

Conclusions

Further Reading

Glossary

References

Author Index

Subject Index

About the Author

Key features

NEW TO THIS EDITION:

A new chapter on discourse analysis (Chapter 7) defines discourse analysis and offers multiples examples for its application.
Expanded coverage of the research process offers students new search strategies and best practices for analyzing research articles.
A new discussion of binary oppositions and culture helps students to better understand semiotics.
An expanded discussion of social media keeps students engaged with different perspectives of social media, including discussion of the ethics of Facebook experiments.
A new discussion of Gangsta Rap encourages students to rhetorically analyze American popular culture.
A new discussion of Foucault codes and cultural change helps students better understand the methods of textual analysis.
Several new topics connect key concepts to current events, such as William Dutton on the Cambridge Analytica scandal and an Iranian scholar on mistakes made by pollsters for the 2016 election.
New insights from experts in the field feature personal correspondence on the personality of the ethnomethodologist Harold Garfinkel and by a psychiatrist on addiction and the relationship between young people and their cell phones.

KEY FEATURES:

Comprehensiveness: From opening discussions on the nature of research to thorough treatment of the methods of textual analysis, qualitative and quantitative methods, and writing up research, breadth of coverage is the hallmark of this text.
Humor: Chapter-opening conversations with the author’s “Grand Inquisitor” (who poses questions about the nature of research), numerous cartoons, and references to student life use lively humor to make the material approachable and accessible.
Applications and exercises: In each methods chapter, applications and exercises allow students to practice and apply what they’ve learned.

· PART II—Chapter-By-Chapter Changes

Authors and editors are asked to delineate detailed changes to a revision on a chapter-by-chapter basis. We recommend that you maintain a record of changes over the entire revision process. This report will be kept on file at SAGE in compliance with the legal standards required by the Higher Education Opportunity Act. Please utilize the form below to report chapter-by-chapter changes.

I. Overall Book Changes

Please include all additions, deletions, and updates.

Table of Contents: (e.g. Reorganization of chapters, chapter deletions, additions, splitting, or combining)

Additions to Table of Contents

Daniel Chandler on Binary Oppositions

William Dutton on the Cambridge Analytica Fiasco

Selected authors on Critical Thinking

Michel Foucault on Codes and Cultural Change

Marcel Danesi on Codes and Culture

Guy Debord on Society of the Spectacle

Addiction to Cell Phones

Fashion and Discourse Analysis

Kinds of Questions

The Importance of Fernand Braudel

Norbert Wiley on Harold Garfinkel

A Cautionary Note by Denis McQuail

Surveys and the 2016 Presidential Election

Using Statistics to Support a Claim

Statistical Problems Caused by Definition

Pedagogy and Feature Sets:

· Introductory Chapter Pedagogy

Additions to Focus Questions in some chapters

· End-of-Chapter Pedagogy

Click here to enter textAdditions in some chapters to End-of-Chapter Pedagogy

· Chapter Features

New illustrations, new textual material as listed above

· Questionnaires/Worksheets

· No new Questionnaires or Worksheets

No new Questionnaires of Worksheets

· Glossary

Additions made to Glossary

.

· Table/Figures, and/or Other Art

Updated Tables and new images drawn by author

References:

New references at the end of chapters based on new material added.

Overall Manuscript Length:

Around 100,000 words

II. Chapter-Specific Changes

Please list changes to each element, including textual revision, tables, maps, charts, figures, data, readings, etc., as applicable.

Preface:

New textual material in preface

Foreword:

N/A No Foreword

Introduction:

New quotation on cultural studies added

Chapter 1:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

Added new material on binary thinking from Daniel Chandler book on semiotics

Revised image on horizontal/vertical axes

Added to Research Topics

Chapter 2:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

New section on Critical Thinking

New material on using Google Search

Added new quotation on Research

New material on Using Internet to Conduct Research

New Boxed Insert on Cambridge Analytica Fiasco by William Dutton

Additions to Further Reading

Chapter 3:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

New material by Michel Foucault on Codes and Cultural Change

New material by Marcel Danesi on Codes and Culture

New quote by Juri Lotman

Adds to Further Reading

Chapter 4:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

New material on Visual Rhetoric

Added to list of Rhetorical Devices

New section on Gangsta Rap Music and Race in USA

Addition to Further Reading

Chapter 5:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

New quotation by Engels

Addition to Focus Questions

New material on Guy Debord’s Society of the Spectacle

Updated chart on Political Cultures and Popular Culture

Additions to Further Reading

Chapter 6:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

New discussion of Cell Phones and Addiction

Addition to discussion of the Unconscious

Addition to list of Defense Mechanisms

New Focus Question

Addition to Bond and the Oedipus Complex

Changes in chart on Id, Ego and Superego

Chapter 7:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

New quotation on Critical Discourse Analysis

New section on Fashion and Discourse Analysis

New advertisement reproduced for Critical Discourse Analysis

New question in Applications and Exercises

Addition to Further Reading

Chapter 8:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

New quotation by Bakhtin on Conversation

New discussion of Kinds of Questions

New material on Apps for Transcribing Recorded Interviews

Addition to Further Reading

Click here to enter text

Chapter 9:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

New material on Fernand Braudel’s Annales School of Historiography

New material on Generations

New drawing of Fernand Braudel

Addition to Further Reading

Chapter 10:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

New Quotation on Importance of Harold Garfinkel

New material by Norbert Wiley on Garfinkel’s Research

New material on Ethnographic Research and Communication Process

Addition to References

Chapter 11:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

Added another definition of participant observation

Added new drawing

Added new quotation on observational research

Added new citations to Further Reading

Chapter 12:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

Added new image of Leo Lowenthal

Added new definition of content analysis

Added new material from Chaim Eyal on content analysis

Added “cautionary note” from Denis McQail on analyzing media content

New material in Further Reading

Chapter 13:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

Boxed Insert on Surveys and 2016 Presidential Election

Addition to Focus Questions

Addition to Further Reading

Chapter 14:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

New material from book on Media Research Methods

New extended discussion of Media Sex and Violence

New Citation in Further Reading

Chapter 15:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

New drawing of Comte

Addition to Focus Questions

New Extended Discussion of Using Statistics to Support a Claim

New Chart on Media Use in USA 2012-1017

New discussion of Statistics and Problems Caused by Definitions

New Citation in Further Reading

Chapter 16:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

No changes

Chapter 17:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

No changes

Chapter 18:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

Additions to Glossary

Chapter 19:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

Additions to Glossary

Chapter 20:

Please check all that apply

?Major Changes ?Minor Changes ?Changed Tables/Figures

?Changes Data &Statistics ?Changed References/Citation

Summary of Changes:

Additions to References?

You are here

Media and Communication Research Methods - International Student Edition
An Introduction to Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

I. Overall Book Changes

Pedagogy and Feature Sets:

.

References:

II. Chapter-Specific Changes

Please list changes to each element, including textual revision, tables, maps, charts, figures, data, readings, etc., as applicable.

Preface:

For instructors

Select a Purchasing Option