Researching Communications A Practical Guide to Methods in Media and Cultural Analysis

by Deacon, David; Pickering, Michael; Golding, Peter; Murdock, Graham

• ISBN13: 9780340731932
• ISBN10: 0340731931
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-07-29
• Publisher: Hodder Education Publishers

Summary

This is a complete guide to researching media and communications. It introduces the major research methods, giving examples of research analyses and practical step-by-step guides on how to do research. Packed with useful information, tips and sources, and illustrated with a variety of international case studies, it wit be essential both to serious students of media and to the practicing researcher.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgements	xi
Approaching research	1	(13)
Communications and contemporary life	1	(1)
Undisciplined study	2	(1)
The appliance of science: positivism	3	(3)
Making sense: interpretation	6	(3)
Choices and circumstances: critical realism	9	(4)
Interventions and responsibilities	13	(1)
Dealing with documentation	14	(26)
Taking advantage	14	(4)
Using documentary sources to support your research	18	(3)
Off the page: varieties of documentation	21	(1)
Accessing archives: major holdings	22	(3)
Using archives and collections: practical questions	25	(1)
Using documents: questions of evidence	26	(4)
Texts and contexts	30	(1)
From principles to practice	30	(4)
Mapping networks of power: questions of media ownership and control	34	(4)
Summary: key points	38	(2)
Selecting and sampling	40	(22)
Samples, populations and types of sampling	41	(1)
Sample error: random errors and constant errors	42	(1)
Sample size	42	(1)
Non-response	43	(1)
Random sampling	44	(6)
Non-random sampling	50	(10)
Summary: key points	60	(2)
Asking questions	62	(19)
Question delivery	63	(2)
Strengths and weaknesses of delivery methods	65	(5)
Final comments on question delivery	70	(1)
Types of questions	71	(3)
Question ordering	74	(1)
Questions to avoid	74	(2)
Dealing with answers	76	(4)
Summary: key points	80	(1)
Handling numbers	81	(33)
Why you need to know about numbers	81	(3)
Levels of measurement	84	(1)
Descriptive statistics	85	(3)
Exploring relationships: associations and correlations	88	(5)
Visual presentation: using graphs	93	(5)
Inferential statistics: using numbers to ask wider questions	98	(14)
Summary: key points	112	(2)
Counting contents	114	(18)
Content analysis	115	(2)
Defining your concerns	117	(1)
Sampling	118	(2)
Deciding what to count	120	(3)
Deciding on qualifying criteria	123	(1)
Designing a coding frame	124	(4)
Collecting data	128	(1)
Analysing results	129	(2)
Final remarks: what price objectivity?	131	(1)
Summary: key points	131	(1)
Analysing texts	132	(30)
Against academic apartheid	132	(3)
Semiotic and structuralist analysis	135	(9)
Critical linguistics	144	(17)
Summary: key points	161	(1)
Unpacking news	162	(23)
A sample linguistic analysis	162	(12)
Guide to our method of interpretation	174	(5)
The limitations of textual analysis	179	(4)
Summary: key points	183	(2)
Viewing the image	185	(23)
From texts to images and back again	185	(1)
The camera: an unerring eye?	186	(1)
Icon, index and symbol	187	(1)
The photographic image	188	(1)
Cameraworks: images and experiences	189	(7)
Images and words	196	(1)
Being realistic	197	(3)
Altered images, digital deceptions	200	(1)
Moving images: from frames to flows	201	(5)
Images and sounds	206	(1)
Summary: key points	207	(1)
Interpreting images	208	(40)
A modern Leviticus	208	(12)
Watching the news	220	(25)
A summary of our analytical steps	245	(2)
Summary: key points	247	(1)
Being an observer	248	(31)
Why observation?	248	(2)
Types of observational methods	250	(3)
Structured experimental observation	253	(1)
The feminist critique	254	(1)
Advantages of observational methods	255	(7)
Disadvantages of observational methods	262	(6)
Doing observational studies	268	(9)
The role of observation	277	(1)
Summary: key points	277	(2)
Attending to talk	279	(25)
Sites and kinds of media talk	281	(5)
Recording talk	286	(4)
Oral history and the media	290	(4)
Preparing for the interview	294	(3)
Doing your oral-history interview	297	(3)
Assessing your evidence	300	(3)
Summary: key points	303	(1)
Taking talk apart	304	(25)
Talk as interaction	304	(1)
Conversation analysis	305	(4)
Discourse analysis	309	(3)
Talking heads: the political speech and television	312	(1)
First step: data	313	(7)
Second step: analysis	320	(5)
Towards a conclusion	325	(2)
Summary: key points	327	(2)
Using computers	329	(36)
Information seeking and networking	331	(5)
Knocking around numbers - SPSS for Windows	336	(15)
Analysing qualitative data using NUD*IST	351	(13)
Summary: key points	364	(1)
Beyond methodology: the what, how and why of researching communications	365	(23)
What to research	366	(1)
Why to research	367	(5)
The `how' of research	372	(14)
Researching communications for what? A final thought	386	(1)
Summary: key points	386	(2)
Glossary1	388	(14)
Bibliography	402	(15)
Index	417