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COMMUNICATION RESEACH METHODOLOGY
UNIT 1
Research is a process of systematic inquiry that entails collection of data; documentation of critical information; and analysis and interpretation of that data/information, in accordance with suitable methodologies set by specific professional fields and academic disciplines. Research is conducted to evaluate the validity of a hypothesis or an interpretive framework; to assemble a body of substantive knowledge and findings for sharing them in appropriate manners; and to generate questions for further inquiries. Nature & Scope ∗ .Research tries to find out the conditions under which certain phenomenon occurs. ∗ Research is an aspect of scientific quest and now has become a major discipline. It is a systematic way of collecting, classifying and analyzing information, either quantitative or qualitative. ∗ Basic research is designed to add organized knowledge to the body of scientific knowledge. It does not necessarily produce results of immediate practical value. It is either concerned ∗ with the formulation of theory or contributes to the existing body of knowledge. It is also termed as fundamental or pure research. Its chief concern is to discover knowledge for the sake of knowledge and not for the sake of application of the findings or even for their social usefulness. Simply put, basic research is generally done for academic purposes. ∗ Applied research aims at improving a theory, product or process. It is testing of theoretical concepts in specific problem situations. Its concern is with the solution of immediate ∗ problems. ∗ Action research is not much concerned with the development of theory or its general application. It concerns itself with an immediate problem in a specific setting. Action research aims at improving the social reality. It’s finding can be carried into effect by the administrator ∗ and sometimes, even the layman. Its emphasis, therefore, is on experience in which the administrator and the layman can participate creatively in the research process. ∗ Research is objective and verifiable. The data collected can be tested and validated. ∗ Research involves an empirical process. It is based upon empirical evidence or observable ∗ experiences. It focuses on such problems as can be verified through empirical observation. ∗ Research calls for rigorous and valid data gathering procedures. These may include mechanical, electronic, clinical or psychometric devices together with observation, ∗ description and analysis of data. To ensure precise description and explanation, it can take the help of quantitative measuring devices also. ∗ Research can be replicative and transmitted in different settings and in different times. ∗ Research has a specific purpose of findings solutions to some problems. It seeks to develop generalizations, principles, and theories. ∗ Research requires diligent observation at the stage of collection of facts. It involves time, energy, efforts, manpower, and money. ∗ Research calls for patience and diligence. An impatient mind is not fit for research. Hurry and impatience hamper genuine research. Good research must be purposive. It is carefully planned and timely executed. o Researchers need foresight along with an open mind and clarity of purpose. o Objectivity is the chief trait of all research. Biases have no place in research.
- Research is a professional affair involving systematic, accurate and expert handling of the research problem. Data has to be gathered through systematic planning.
- Good research study should have focus on facts. A balance has to be struck between the quantitative and qualitative facts. Facts become significant only when interpreted in the light of accepted standards and assumptions, which are normative in character.
- All good research presupposes insight and imagination in the researcher. These are needed to interpret, explain and draw inferences.
- Good research should contribute to the widening of knowledge and to solution of problems confronting human society.
- Research enables one to think rigorously and critically. It trains researchers to carefully examine research evidence that is advanced for acceptance in variety of popular and scholarly applications. Research enables one to acquire skills and techniques to study problems in specific social field situations.
- Without research, the development and discrimination of knowledge is not possible. Research contributes to innovative ideas necessary for professional competence and growth. Research contributes to new facts and generalizations. It keeps the professional researcher abreast with the latest in their discipline.
- Research creates an urge for taking further strides in one's discipline. It modifies all partial theories and helps dispel myths and antiquated practices by examining them on the anvil of scientific validity.
- Research requires mastery over such processes as observing events with a clear vision, handling sophisticated research tools or equipment, knowledge of various research methods, treating data statistically, analyzing and interpreting results and writing research reports. Scope
- There is a demand fro information in media field
- Need for media researchersd in public and private sectore.
- A number of specializations in media are there
- Act as a liason to the management
- Attempt to describe media, and its advancement
- analyse the ffects of media
- understand audience behaviour and attitudes. RESEARCH CRITERIA Validity Validity is the extent to which an instrument, such as a survey or test, measures what it is intended to measure (also known as internal validity ). This is important if the results of a study are to be meaningful and relevant to the wider population. There are four main types of validity:
- Construct validity Construct validity is the extent to which the instrument specifically measures what it is intended to measure, and avoids measuring other things. For example, a measure of intelligence should only assess factors relevant to intelligence and not, for instance, whether someone is a hard worker. Construct validity subsumes the other types of validity.
- Content validity Content validity describes whether an instrument is systematically and comprehensively representative of the trait it is measuring. For example, a questionnaire aiming to score anxiety should include questions aimed at a broad range of features of anxiety.
- Face validity Face validity is the degree to which a test is subjectively thought to measure what it intends to measure. In other words, does it “look like” it will measure what it should do. The subjective opinion for face validity can come from experts, from those administering the instrument, or from those using the instrument.
- Criterion validity Criterion validity involves comparing the instrument in question with another criterion which is taken to be representative of the measure. This can take the form of concurrent validity (where the instrument results are correlated with those of an established, or gold standard, instrument), or predictive validity (where the instrument results are correlated with future outcomes, whether they be measured by the same instrument or a different one). Reliability Reliability is the overall consistency of a measure. A highly reliable measure produces similar results under similar conditions so, all things being equal, repeated testing should produce similar results. Reliability is also known as reproducibility or repeatability. There are different means for testing the reliability of an instrument:
- Inter-rater (or inter-observer) reliability The degree of agreement between the results when two or more observers administer the instrument on the same subject under the same conditions.
- Intra-rater (or intra-observer) reliability Also known as test-retest reliability, this describes the agreement between results when the instrument is used by the same observer on two or more occasions (under the same conditions and in the same test population).
- Inter-method reliability This is the degree to which two or more instruments, that are used to measure the same thing, agree on the
BASIS FOR
COMPARISON QUALITATIVE RESEARCH^ QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
Reasoning Inductive Deductive Sampling Purposive Random Data Verbal Measurable Inquiry Process-oriented Result-oriented Hypothesis Generated Tested Elements of analysis Words, pictures and objects^ Numerical data Objective To explore and discover ideas used in the ongoing processes. To examine cause and effect relationship between variables. Methods Non-structured techniques like In-depth interviews, group discussions etc. Structured techniques such as surveys, questionnaires and observations. Result Develops initial understanding Recommends final course of action QUANTITATIVE - SURVEY & EXPERIMENTAL - Book SURVEY - definition, Nature, Scope, Steps, Definition A Survey is defined as a research method used for collecting data from a pre-defined group of respondents to gain information and insights on various topics of interest. Surveys have a variety of purposes and can be carried out in many ways depending on the methodology chosen and the objectives to be achieved. The data is usually obtained through the use of standardized procedures whose purpose is to ensure that each respondent is able to answer the questions at a level playing field to avoid biased opinions that could influence the outcome of the research or study. A survey involves asking people for information through a questionnaire, which can be distributed on paper, although with the arrival of new technologies it is more common to distribute them using digital media such as social networks, email, QR codes or URLs. Nature Many a time survey study intends to understand and explain the phenomena in a natural setting or provide information to government / other organization or compare different demographic groups or see the cause and effect relationship to make predictions. For this it requires responses directly from respondents of large population in general. The kind of information requires decides the coverage of geographical area for data collection and whether it is a extensive or intensive one. Extensive survey carried out when researcher want to make generalization, whereas intensive survey is done for making estimation. Survey researches demands various tools to collect the data from samples. They are ranging from observation, interview to questionnaire. So the kind of survey study needed for any study is based on its purpose, nature of data and population and sample of the study. Steps
- Selection of the problem and defining objective
- Deciding the information needed
- Research Design
- Operationalisation of concepts and construction of measuring indexes and scales
- Sampling
- Construction of tools for collection of data and their pre – test
- Field work and collection of data
- Processing of data and tabulation
- Analysis of data
- Reporting
SAMPLING TECHNIQUE - probability & non Probability BASIS FOR COMPARISON
PROBABILITY SAMPLING NON-PROBABILITY SAMPLING
Meaning Probability sampling is a sampling technique, in which the subjects of the population get an equal opportunity to be selected as a representative sample. Nonprobability sampling is a method of sampling wherein, it is not known that which individual from the population will be selected as a sample. Alternately known as Random sampling Non-random sampling Basis of selection Randomly Arbitrarily Opportunity of selection Fixed and known Not specified and unknown Research Conclusive Exploratory Result Unbiased Biased Method Objective Subjective Inferences Statistical Analytical Hypothesis Tested Generated Methods Simple Random Sampling Stratified Sampling Cluster Sampling Systematic Sampling Convenience Sampling Quota Sampling Judgment or Purposive Sampling Snowball Sampling ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF SURVEY Advantages:
- It gives the opportunity to researcher to see the reality more closely, inference are not based on theory or dogma but it is based on facts.
- It leads greater objectivity.
- It leads to the introduction of new theory. For example, poverty was regarded as the cause of crime for fairly long time but increasing crime in advanced countries has falsified this theory.
- It helps to know the social situation.
- The important aspect of survey study is its versatility. It is the only practical way to collect many types of information from individuals, such as personal characteristics, socio-economic data, attitudes, opinions, experiences and expectations.
- Facilitates to draw generalisations about population on the basis of data from representative sample.
- It is flexible and allows various methods of collection of data.
- It sensitizes the researcher to unanticipated or unknown problems.
- It is useful in verifying theories. Disadvantages
- It requires training for those who collect information, which demands more financial source.
- It is time consuming process, if the universe is large.
- Its reliability and validity is based on the honesty and efficiency of the survey workers.
- Survey mostly based on samples, so always there is a possibility of sampling error.
- As data is collected from primary sources, the feasibility is depends upon the willingness and cooperation of the respondents.
- There is a possibility of response error, due to respondents’ untrue / misleading answers. UNIT 3 EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH - Definition, Nature, Scope, Advantages & Disadvantages- Book Qualitative Methods- participant Observer, Depth Interview, Focus Group, Case Study - Book
SEMIOTIC
Semiotic Analysis is a broad theoretical hypothesis of symbols and signs that pacts particularly with their meaning in both synthetically created and natural words. It includes semantics, syntactic, and pragmatics. It can be a study of symbols and behavior of using symbols, mainly in language. Semiotic Analysis History: In the middle of 19th and 20th centuries, the effectual work done by Charles Sanders Peirce and Ferdinand de Saussure directed to the manifestation of semiotics as a technique for testing facts in various fields such as communications, anthropology, aesthetics, semantics, and psychology. A noticeable awareness in the pattern and
structure following the exercise of special signs connects semiotics among the techniques of structuralism. Semiotic Analysis Objectives: Semiotic analysis signifies a method designed for the analysis of special texts in spite of the standard in which it is offered. In support of these purposes, special text can be any message conserved in a structure having an independent existence. It may possibly develop ergonomic plan or a structural analysis in circumstances where it is essential to make sure that individuals are able to interconnect more efficiently with their surroundings. The mode of interaction can vary; it can be a large-scale as found in structural design, or a small-scale as found in the design of instrumentation for individuals. Applications of Semiotic Analysis: Semiotic analysis can be applied to everything that can be observed as suggesting something. In simple words, this analysis is applicable to anything which has denotation surrounded by a culture. Also, in the framework of the mass communication, you can relate semiotic analysis to a few media texts such as posters, films, newspaper, cartoons, magazine articles, radio and TV programs and other advertisements. It is also possible to relate it to the methods engaged in creating and inferring such kind of texts. Semiotic analysis is gradually ascertaining itself as an order and structure to be followed. In many countries, semiotic analysis is biased because its limits are bordered to literary analysis and an approval of visual and audio media, however this constricted focus might slow down an additional broad study of the communal and political forces forming how various media are employed. It can also challenge the active status of media within current culture. Issues of technical and industrial determinism in the preference of medium and the aim of communication plans presume new significance into this period of a mass media. The application of semiotic analysis is to expose diverse levels of connotation and, occasionally, some unknown impulses have directed a few to demonize fundamentals of the subject. This analysis plays the crucial role in decision making as well. It is widely used by the managers engaged in the preparation of meaning-making. The users of this analysis learn the theoretical philosophy of symbols and signs. This comprises the study of different signs and sign practices, communication, figure of speech, symbolism, indication, rendering, equivalence, signification, and designation. RHETORIC ANALYSIS Rhetorical Analysis Rhetoric is a term that is broadly used, but its most classical definition is the art of persuasion. If you are asked to write a rhetorical analysis, you are really being asked to identify the particular strategies that an author is using to appeal to or persuade a given audience. Typically, the three components of the rhetorical situation are defined at the writer/speaker, the audience, and the message. In the traditional schema shown below, these three elements are equally related: A rhetorical analysis paper asks you to identify these three elements and determine how they are working together. That is, what strategies is the author employing to communicate this message to this audience? What is the effect of these strategies? And, most importantly, do you find these strategies convincing, given the author’s specific purpose and specific audience? Rhetorical Situation The rhetorical situation identifies the relationship among the elements of any communication--audience, author (rhetor), purpose, medium, context, and content. Audience Spectator, listeners, and/or readers of a performance, a speech, a reading, or printed material. Depending on the author’s/writer’s perception, an audience may be real (actually listening or reading), invoked (those to whom the writer explicitly writes) or imagined(those who the writer believes will read/hear her work) (Dept. of English) Author/Rhetor/Speaker/Writer The person or group of people who composed the text. Purpose of the Author The reason for communicating; the expected or intended outcome.
Ethos The authority or credibility of the author. Can refer to any of the following: the actual character of the speaker/writer, the character of the writer as it is presented in a text, or as a series of ground rules/customs, which are negotiated between speaker, audience, and specific traditions or locations. The speaker must convince the audience of their credibility through the language they use and through the delivery, or embodied performance, of their speech. Pathos Emotional appeals to the audience to evoke feelings of pity, sympathy, tenderness, or sorrow. The speaker may also want the audience to feel anger, fear, courage, love, happiness, sadness, etc. Logos In classical rhetoric, logos is the means of persuasion by demonstration of the truth, real or apparent, the reasons or supporting information used to support a claim, the use of logic or reason to make an argument. Logos can include citing facts and statistics, historical events, and other forms of fact based evidence. Kairos The right time to speak or write; advantageous, exact, or critical time; a window of time during which action is most effective. (Ex. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a dream speech was delivered at the right moment in history—in the heat of civil rights debates.) Stasis Literally, stasis is “a stand” or a “resting place” in an argument where opponents agree on what the issue is but disagree on what to do about it. The skilled rhetor is able to move the argument away from stasis. (Ex. Rhetor A asserts that abortion is murder. Rhetor B asserts that abortion is not murder. This is the point of stasis. The argument cannot rest here indefinitely. One of these rhetors must get the argument beyond the issue of murder.) PSYCHOANALYSIS What is Psychoanalysis? A Definition and History of Psychoanalytic Theory Psychoanalysis is a type of therapy that aims to release pent-up or repressed emotions and memories to lead the client to catharsis, or healing (McLeod, 2014). In other words, the goal of psychoanalysis is to bring that which is at the unconscious or subconscious level up to consciousness. This goal is accomplished through talking to another person about the big questions, the things that matter, and diving into the complexities that lie beneath the simple-seeming surface. The Founder of Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud and His Concepts No doubt you’ve heard of the influential but controversial founder of psychoanalysis: Dr. Sigmund Freud. Freud was born in Austria but spent most of his childhood and adult life in Vienna after his family moved there when he was four years old (Sigmund Freud Biography, 2017). He entered medical school and trained to become a neurologist, earning a medical degree in 1881. Soon after his graduation, he set up a private practice and began treating patients with psychological disorders. His attention was captured by a colleague’s intriguing experience with a patient; the colleague was Dr. Josef Breuer and the patient was the famous “Anna O.” who suffered from physical symptoms with no apparent physical cause. Dr. Breuer found that her symptoms abated when he helped her recover memories of traumatic experiences that she had repressed, or hidden away from her conscious mind. This case sparked Freud’s interest in the unconscious mind and spurred the development of some of his most influential ideas. Models of the Mind Perhaps the most impactful idea put forth by Freud was his model of the human mind. His model divides the mind into three layers, or regions:
- Conscious : this is where our current thoughts, feelings, and focus live.
- Preconscious (sometimes called the subconscious): this is the home of everything we can recall or retrieve from our memory.
- Unconscious : at the deepest level resides a repository of the processes that drive our behavior, including primitive and instinctual desires (McLeod, 2013). Later, Freud came up with a more sophisticated and structured model of the mind, one that can coexist with his original ideas about consciousness and unconsciousness. In this model, there are three metaphorical parts to the mind:
- Id : the id operates entirely at an unconscious level and focuses solely on basic, instinctual drives and desires. According to Freud, two biological instincts make up the id: a. Eros, or the instinct to survive that drives us to engage in life-sustaining activities. b. Thanatos, or the death instinct that drives destructive, aggressive, and violent behavior.
- Ego : the ego acts as both a conduit for and a check on the id, working to meet the id’s needs in a socially appropriate way. It is the most tied to reality and begins developing in infancy.
- Superego : the superego is the portion of the mind in which morality and higher principles reside, encouraging us to act in socially and morally acceptable ways (McLeod, 2013). The 5 Psychosexual Stages of Development Finally, one of the most enduring concepts associated with Freud is his psychosexual stages. Freud proposed that children develop in five distinct stages, each focused on a different source of pleasure:
- First Stage : Oral – the child seeks pleasure from the mouth (e.g., sucking).
- Second Stage : Anal – the child seeks pleasure from the anus (e.g., withholding and expelling feces).
- Third Stage : Phallic – the child seeks pleasure from the penis or clitoris (e.g., masturbation).
- Fourth Stage : Latent – the child has little or no sexual motivation.
- Fifth Stage : Genital – the child seeks pleasure from the penis or vagina (e.g., sexual intercourse; McLeod, 20 13). IDEOLOGICAL CRITICISM The ideological criticism method looks to beliefs, values, attitudes, and visions of a particular aspect of the world. It points to the way the civilization views certain topics and often challenges the status quo. It identifies power dimensions and reveals hidden ideologies about how our society viewed racial equality in the past. In our example, we will review an ideological vision of racial equality as presented in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech (1963), a rhetorical act that is widely recognized as one of the best speeches ever given in human history. We will look at the dominant ideology of segregation and compare it with the proposed ideology of equality, and additionally through rhetorical analysis and specifically the Ideological method, we will analyze and produce an
DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
Discourse analysis involves an ‘analysis of the ways in which discourses – which can be read in texts and talk – constitute the social world (Mason, 2006). Developed from linguistics, literary criticism, semiotics, discourse analysis looks at meaning behind ‘text’ or implied meanings’. Discoure analysis situates a text within a context and unpacks what people are implicitly trying to do in a text. It is largely concerned with language, but text can also refer to images, film...The methodology assumes that words and images do not depict reality, but create reality, that words are chosen to have an effect to readers Unlike grounded theory, discourse analysis works with prior assumptions, since existing knowledge about society informs the analysis. Discourse analysis can mean different things, since many strands developed over the years. It is therefore important to define how the term is used. Some see discourse analysis as method rather than a research framework or strategy. Indeed there is some overlap between linguistic phenomenology and discourse analysis. Critical discourse analysis explores how texts serves the interest of powerful groups and how discourse achieves power. Discourse analysis can also examine the blending together of different texts. This assumes that knowledge and meaning are produced through interaction with multiple discourses (Starks and Brown 2007, p 1373). Assumption[edit] Language is itself meaningless – a system of signs but agreed meaning generates meaning. Words are not determined by what they represent, they are chosen to have an effect (same for images and photo). Language thus reveals background assumptions and has to be examined within the context in which it is produced. Data collection and methods[edit] Written and spoken texts, images. Method involves examining how language is used to accomplish certain objectives and positions in relation to others. Involves deconstruction of data to show how texts sustain particular ideas about social life, to find out what a text is trying to do and how this is achieved (Denscombe, 2010). Discourse analysis is generally qualitative, but can be empirical and quantitative, e.g. linguistic study of texts scrutinised as separate from their author. Uses of Discourse Analysis The contribution of the postmodern Discourse Analysis is the application of critical thought to social situations and the unveiling of hidden (or not so hidden) politics within the socially dominant as well as all other discourses (interpretations of the world, belief systems, etc.). Discourse Analysis can be applied to any text, that is, to any problem or situation. Since Discourse Analysis is basically an interpretative and deconstructing reading, there are no specific guidelines to follow. One could, however, make use of the theories of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Julia Kristeva, or Fredric Jameson, as well as of other critical and postmodern thinkers. Again, the purpose of Discourse Analysis is not to provide definite answers, but to expand our personal horizons and make us realize our own shortcomings and unacknowledged agendas/motivations - as well as that of others. In short, critical analysis reveals what is going on behind our backs and those of others and which determines our actions. For example, Discourse Analysis applied to the theory of Library Science, would not argue for or against the validity and "truth" of a certain research method (qualitative or quantitative), statement, or value (i.e. the Library Bill of Rights, or policies concerning free speech). Rather, discourse analysis would focus on the existence and message of these texts and locate them within a historical and social context (see Bernd Frohmann's article "The Power of Images: A Discourse Analysis of the Cognitive Viewpoint" below). In this manner, Discourse Analysis aims at revealing the motivation and politics involved in the arguing for or against a specific research method, statement, or value. The concrete result will be the awareness to the qualities and shortcomings of each and the inception of an informed debate. Though this debate will never be settled, it allows for the correction of bias and the inclusion of minorities within the debate and analyzed discourse. NARRATIVE ANALYSIS
- focuses on “the ways in which people make and use stories to interpret the world”
- does NOT treat narratives as stories that transmit a set of facts about the world, and is not primarily interested in whether stories are ‘true’ or not (so is closer to social contructionism than positivist approach)
- views narratives as social products that are produced by people in the context of specific social, historical and cultural locations
- views narratives as interpretive devices through which people represent themselves and their worlds to themselves and to others Narrative theory argues that:
- people produce accounts of themselves that are ‘storied’ (ie. that are in the form of stories/narratives)
- the social world is itself ‘storied’ (ie. ‘piblic’ stories circulate in popular culture, providing means people can use to construct personal identities and personal narratives). Ricoeur argues that narrative is a key means through which people produced an identity.
- Some of most interview accounts are likely to be ‘storied’ (ie. in narrative form)
- Narratives link the past to the present, but …
- There is no ‘unbiased account of the past Definitions Narrative can be characterised by:
- Accounts which contain an element of transformation (ie. change over time)
- Accounts containing some kind of action and characters
- That are brought together in a plot line So:
- narratives have a temporal dimension
- characters and actions can be imaginary/fantasy
- ‘emplotment’ is a process through which narratives are produced: many disparate elements go together to make up one story (eg. digressions, sub-plots etc.)
- Narratives must have a point (a ‘so what?’ factor), which often takes the form of a moral message Research Methods and Narrative Analysis Research that focuses on the role of narrative:
- Usually involves life story research or oral history
- Usually adopts a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews rather than questionnaires
- Usually the researcher says very little, acting primarily as an attentive listener, but …
- All narratives are always co-constructed, even if the audience is oneself or an imaginary other, or if the story is told to oneself in the form of a daydream Structuralist approaches to narrative: eg. Propp, 1968 / Labov, 1973(from Silverman’ 2nd^ edition, ‘Interpreting Qualitative Data’) Narratives can take different forms, and Propp (1968) argued that:
- The Fairytale involves a narrative form that is central to all story-telling
- The Fairytale is structured not by the nature of the characters but by the function they play in the plot
- And the number of possible functions is fairly small Example:(Using Propp’s approach) Most fairytales follow a similar plot line… ‘A dragon kidnaps the king’s daughter’ Element Function Replacement Dragon Evil force Witch King Ruler Chief Daughter Loved one Wife Kidnap Disappearance Vanish Now – can you do the same using ‘Star Wars’ as an example?
