Qualitative Methods in Media and Communication (CM2005)
Summary
Qualitative Methods Exam Summary
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Course
Qualitative Methods in Media and Communication (CM2005)
Institution
Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (EUR)
This is a summary of everything that is important to know about the Qualitative Methods exam of IBCoM! It includes all of the lectures, readings, videos, Canvas modules and everything else that is important.
Qualitative Methods in Media and Communication (CM2005)
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Qualitative Methods CM2006 – term 2
– Week 1 –
Lecture notes:
Why qualitative methods?
• Meaning making: social & cannot be measured
• Not just cause/effect: how do people make sense of the world?
Four principles for Qualitative research:
1. Meaning-making NOT numbers.
2. Complexity NOT causal relationships.
a. Observe phenomenon in natural context.
b. Comprehensive view NOT causal explanation that can be generalized.
3. Micro insights NOT macro picture.
4. Different epistemological, ontological, and methodological positions
Quantitative methods:
Positivism = there is one truth (objective knowledge, neutral data collection and analysis)
Post-positivism = there is one truth (researchers flawed, we might not be able to get to the
truth)
Qualitative methods:
Constructionism: several truths, knowledge filtered through shared meanings
Critical tradition: reality and truth shaped by factors such as race, gender, culture
Participatory and cooperative tradition: co-creation, empowering participants
Achieve transformative social change
Methodology = beliefs related to how to study the social world
Methods = concrete ways of studying the social world (method of data collection and
analysis)
,Methodological section in paper/thesis:
1. Methodological literature
2. Justify what you have done to collect and analyze data
Core features of qualitative research:
• Insightful
• Complex
• Emancipatory
Social science research:
• Intentionality
• Methodical process (choices, who are explained and justified, and qualitative
research: iterative)
Iterative = it is fine to make changes
Planning:
1. Field/topic
The view of communication: ritualistic and meaning-making: intersubjective by
nature
2. Taking a perspective
Angle/focus your broad topic, theory informs: 1) how do we plan to do our research
2) our research process and analysis 3) our choices of methods
3. Develop a research question
Research question: answerable, open ended, incorporates a theoretical concept
4. Designing your project
What type of evidence is needed in order to answer the question in a convincing
way?
5. Data collection and analysis
Gathering evidence (= methods)
Analyzing and interpreting data
6. Writing it all up
Introduction – research question – theoretical framework – literature review –
methodology – analysis/interpretation/commentary – conclusion – references
,Ethical principles:
Protection: for yourself, research subjects and research data
Basic principles: informed consent (required part of research), avoid deception, privacy and
confidentiality, data accuracy, respect, well-being, justice
How to engage in ethical research:
Awareness of: Maintain:
• Potential confrontations • Accuracy
• Potential harm • Fairness
• Vulnerable people • Confidentiality
• Disturbance to research site • Respect
• Own interaction (pushiness) • Sensitivities
• Own ignorance • Anonymity
Reading (book chapter 1):
Qualitative research does not provide us with easy answers, simple truths or precise
measurements.
The author of the book believes that all documents of material culture are produced under
specific political and economic conditions, and any or all of these cultural products can
provide us with insights about our society at a particular historical place and time.
This book understands the communication process as a means of production that is based
on the discourse of individuals and groups and is produced within a specific cultural,
historical and political context.
Quantitative social science research: strives to be systematic, precise and accurate as it tries
to determine validity, reliability, objectivity and truth.
Qualitative research: attempts to isolate specific elements, and it uses numerical
correlations within value-free environments to measure and analyze the causal relationships
between variables. It is interdisciplinary, interpretive, political, and theoretical in nature.
Qualitative researchers consider the diversity of meanings and values created in media. It is
about the relationships between media and society.
The use of qualitative methods in media studies research emerged as a viable alternative to
challenge the research status quo. Much of the early journalism and mass communication
research was influenced by Pragmatism and framed from a cultural and historical
understanding of communication.
After WW2, a scientific definition of mass communication was embraced and developed
methodological techniques to measure the social effects of communication. Quantitative
research remained the dominant approach to mass communication research. In the twenty-
first century, qualitative research is an integral part of the field of media studies.
, Paradigms -> intellectual maps that provide a set of views/beliefs that researchers use to
guide their work. There are three conceptual elements: epistemology, ontology, and
methodology. In contemporary society, Positivism remains the dominant paradigm.
The definitions by Denzin and Lincoln: “Epistemology asks: How do we know the world?
What is the relationship between the inquirer and the known? Ontology raises basic
questions about the nature of reality. Methodology focuses on how we gain
knowledge about the world”.
Positivism = considers reality to exist and scientific truth to be knowable and findable
through rigorous testing that is free from human bias. It focuses on explanation, prediction
and control while knowledge accumulates as factual building blocks in the form of
‘generalization or cause-effect linkages. The value of research is determined through internal
validity (how findings correspond to the issue being studied) and external validity (the extent
to which the findings can be generalized and related to similar studies).
Post-Positivism paradigm = responds to recent criticisms of Positivism in a few key areas.
Post-Positivists consider that because people are flawed, they may not be able actually to
understand it.
The other paradigms that influence qualitative research are Constructivism and Critical
Theories. Both paradigms incorporate various non-Positivist alternative worldviews that
blend research issues and theoretical positions, blur disciplinary boundaries, and draw upon
all types of qualitative methodologies. They include a variety of theoretical positions,
including (but not limited to) Neo-Marxism, Feminism, Cultural Materialism, Critical Race
Theory, Poststructuralism and Postmodernism.
Constructivists replace Positivist concepts of external and internal validity with notions of
authenticity and trustworthiness.
There is also the participatory/cooperative Inquiry paradigm by Guba and Lincoln. It is a
transformative perspective that emphasizes the subjectivity of practical knowledge and the
collaborative nature of research.
The alternative worldviews of Critical Theories, Constructivism and
Participatory/Cooperative Inquiry, among others, all believe in multiple interpretations of a
little“t” understanding of truth and envision many constructed and competing notions of
reality. All of these alternative paradigms consider values to shape their research and find
ethical considerations essential to their work. They see researchers’ subjectivity as integral
to the research process and they draw primarily upon qualitative methods to answer their
research questions.
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