CMNS 260: Empirical Communication Research Methods 1-Introduction to the Course

CMNS 260: Empirical Communication Research Methods 1-Introduction to the Course

Professor: Jan Marontate Teaching Assistants: Nawal Musleh-Motut, Megan Robertson

Lab Instructor: Chris JeschelnikSchool of Communication.

Simon Fraser UniversityFall 2011

Course Organization & Handouts• Syllabus & Outline of Class Sessions– Objectives– Course Administration (textbook, grading, office

hours)– Tentative Schedule of Class Sessions

• Assignments: Handouts 3, 4 & 5

Course contentCourse content

• Introduce different forms of research • Analyze relationships between goals,

assumptions, theories and methods• Study basic data collection and analysis

techniques• Research process—focusing on empirical

methods

Why study methods? Practical aspects– learn to read other people’s research & critically

evaluate it– learn ways to find your own “data” to answer your

own research questions– acquire skills potential employers seek– self-defense (against misinformation) &

responsible citizenship

Importance of research in everyday life & in communications studies

• civil society --Interpersonal & intercultural relations

• policy decisions about “life and death” issues (student loans, health care, welfare benefits…etc

• healthcare (evidence-based medicine), Personal identity and ideas about society

• industry and marketing decisions (choices of products in stores, cable channels, opinion polls etc..)

• …..MORE…..

Babbie (1995: 101)

The Research Process

Why study methods? – “Knowledge is power” (to acquire skills for social

action or change)• “Savoir pour pouvoir, Pouvoir pour prévoir” (Auguste

Comte)• «To know to do (have power), to do (have power) in

order to predict the future and plan for it »

– « Knowledge is understanding »• “décrire, comprendre, expliquer ” (Gilles Gaston Granger)• “to describe, to understand and to explain”

Research has the potential to inform and misinform

• even well-done research is not always used accurately

• some research is technically flawed• knowledge of methods an important tool for

understanding logic and limits of claims about research

Research Methodology (Scholarly Perspectives)

• Process– methods– logic of inquiry (assumptions & hypotheses)

• Produces– laws, principles and theories that can be tested• (Karl Popper & notion of falsifiability for politically

engaged scholars interested in the fight against genocide in the early 20th century)

Research has the potential to inform and misinform

• even well-done research is not always used accurately

• some research is technically flawed• knowledge of methods an important tool for

understanding logic and limits of claims about research

Other Ways of Knowing

– authority (parents, teachers, religious leaders, media gurus)

– tradition (past practices)

– common sense– media (TV. etc.)– personal experience

Talk show host Oprah Winfrey

Cory DoctorowElectronic Frontier Assoc. & Boingboing.net

Ordinary Inquiry vs. Scholarly Inquiry

Risks of “Errors” associated with non-scholarly knowledge

• selective observation--only notice some phenomena-- miss others

• overgeneralization-evidence applied to too wide a range of conditions

• premature closure--jumping to conclusions• halo effect--idea of being influenced by prestige

Types of “Disciplines” (in history)

• Ranking of disciplines (are they scientific or not?)

• Middle ages– education as preparation for careers in theology – trivium (studied first, language skills)• logic rhetoric, grammar

– quadrivium• arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy

19th century

concrete

abstract

concrete

abstract

Ranking Disciplines: Positivist ideas (Auguste Comte)

Communication as a Science?

• Field more recent – affiliations with the sciences, social sciences & the

humanities

• Scholarly work (like old ideas of science) distinguished from mythology by methods AND goals

• many different approaches

Relations between theory and empirical observation

• Theory and empirical research– Testing theories through empirical observation

(deductive)– Using empirical observation to develop theories

(Inductive)

Theories

EmpiricalGeneralizations

Observations

Predictions(Hypotheses)

TheScientificProcess

Empirical and LogicalFoundations of Research

(does not have to start with theory)

Source: Singleton & Straits (1999: 27); Babbie (1995: 55)

Scholarly Communities--Norms

• universalism -- research judged on “scientific” merit

• organized scepticism -- challenge and question research

• disinterestedness-- openness to new ideas, non-partisan

• communalism--sharing with others• honesty

Scholarly Publications vs. Other publications

• peer review – by knowledgable people– “blind” peer review• referees don’t know who did it• authors don’t know who refereed it

– unpaid

Research Questions

• Questions researchers ask themselves, not the questions they ask their informants

• Must be empirically testable• Not– too vague– too general– untestable (with implicit, untested assumed outcomes)

Using literature reviews to develop ideas for topics

• Literature review = Survey of research done on your topic.

• May be used to• previous research may inspire you to:– replicate a project (exactly or with variations) – explore unexpected findings– follow suggestions for further research– extend explanation or theory to new topic or setting or

context– challenge findings-- try to refute conclusions– look for new variables, relationships not treated in

literature

Developing research topics

Research Paradigms

• Sets of shared patterns in a scholarly community about what constitutes worthwhile research (Thomas Kuhn, The structure of scientific revolutions, 1968) – What problems are worth investigating?– What constitutes an answer?

• Different views on how approaches are grouped

Identifying Styles of Research: Example of Quantitative vs. Qualitative Approaches

(Common about 20-30 yrs ago but still used. .Textbook Chapter 13)

Quantitative vs. Qualitative

Objective SubjectiveVariables Processes and eventsReliability

AuthenticityValue-Free Explicitly Stated ValuesIndependent of Context Aware of ContentMany cases or subjects Few cases or subjectsStatistical Analysis Other qualitiesDetached Researcher Involved Researcher

Another idea: Four Paradigms (Burrell & Morgan)

radical humanist radical structuralist

interpretive functionalist

Conflict/radical change

Order/stability/regulation

subj

ecti

ve

objective

““Dimensions” of ResearchDimensions” of Research

Neuman (2000: 37)

Purpose ofPurpose of

StudyStudy

Intended Use Intended Use of Studyof Study

Treatment of Time Treatment of Time in Studyin Study

Space Unit of Space Unit of

Analysis Analysis

ExploratoryExploratory

DescriptiveDescriptive

ExplanatoryExplanatory

BasicBasic

AppliedApplied

-Action-Action

-Impact-Impact

-Evaluation-Evaluation

Cross-sectionalCross-sectional

LongitudinalLongitudinal

-Panel-Panel

-Time series-Time series

-Cohort analysis -Cohort analysis

-Case Study-Case Study

--Trend studyTrend study

-dependent -individual-dependent -individual

-independent -family-independent -family

-household-household

-artifact-artifact

(media, (media,

technology)technology)

Exploratory ResearchExploratory Research

• When not much is known about topic• Surprises (e.g. Serendipity effect)• Acquire familiarity with basic concerns

and develop a picture• Explore feasibility of additional

research• Develop questions

Descriptive ResearchDescriptive Research

• Focuses on “who”, “what” and “how”• Background information, to stimulate new

ways of thinking, to classify types, etc.

Explanatory ResearchExplanatory Research

• To test theories, predictions, etc…• Idea of “advancing” knowledge

Intended Use of StudyIntended Use of Study

• Basic• Applied– action research (We can make a difference)– social impact assessment (What will be the

effects?)– evaluation research (Did it work?)– needs assessment (Who needs what?)– cost-benefit analysis (What is it worth?)

Basic or Fundamental ResearchBasic or Fundamental Research

• Concerns of scholarly community• Inner logic and relation to theoretical issues

in field

Applied ResearchApplied Research

• commissioned/judged/used by people outside the field of communication

• goal of practical applications– usefulness of results

Types of Applied ResearchTypes of Applied Research

Action Research Social Impact Assessment Needs Assessment Evaluation Research

• formative (built in)• summative (final outcomes)

Cost-benefit analysis

Treatment of TimeTreatment of Time Cross-sectional(one point in time)

Longitudinal (more than one point in time)

Main Types of Longitudinal StudiesMain Types of Longitudinal Studies• Panel study

– Exactly the same people, at least twice• Cohort Analysis

– same category of people or things (but not exactly same individuals) who/which shared an experience at at least two times

– Examples: Birth cohorts. Graduating Classes, Video games invented in the same year2000 2010

41-50 41-5051-60 51-6061-70 61-7071-80 71-80

• Time-series– same type of info., not exactly same people, multiple time periods, e.g. Same place

2006 2011Burnaby residents Burnaby residents

• Case Studies may be longitudinal or cross-sectional

Lexis Diagram (To study Cohort Survival)

Units of Analysis • Examples

– Individual people– Newspaper articles or broadcasts– Individual video games

Units of Analysis – Families, Sports Sections etc.

Units of analysis:

• Examples: – Households– News networks

(Al Jazeera, Channel News Asia, CNN)

Importance of Choosing Appropriate Unit of Analysis

• example: Ecological Fallacy (cheating)

Ecological Fallacy

Ecological Fallacy

Ecological Fallacy & Reductionism

ecological fallacy--wrong unit of analysis (too high)

reductionism--wrong unit of analysis (too low)reductionism--wrong unit of analysis (too low)

The Research Wheel

ChooseTopic

FocusResearchQuestion

DesignStudy

CollectData

AnalyzeData

InterpretData

InformOthers

The“Research Wheel”

Source: Neuman (1995: 12)

Steps in theresearch process