CMNS 801: Design and Methodology in Communication Research 1-Introduction to the Course

1. CMNS 801: Design and Methodology in Communication Research1-Introduction to the Course Professor: Jan Marontate School of Communication. Simon Fraser University Spring 2008

2. Today • Brief Introductions • Syllabus (Handout #1) • Review of Research Interests & Methodological Backgrounds • Choosing Topics (Part 2) and Scheduling Presentations • Discussion:Paradigms & Models (Historical and Contemporary Approaches to Methodology)

3. On-line Resources • Course materials (Resources Folder) • http://webdav.sfu.ca/web/cmns/courses/2008/801 • Bill Trochim’s Research Methodlogy website • http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/

4. Why study methods? • “Knowledge is power” (to acquire skills for social action or change) • “Savoir, pouvoir, 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”

5. Research Methodology (Scholarly Perspectives) • Process involving • 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)

6. Classification of Theories to Understand Different Approaches • Paradigms, other typologies (like quantitative vs. qualitative) • direction of reasoning (inductive, deductive) • level of reality (micro, macro) • forms of explanation • theoretical frameworks • degree of abstraction

7. Identifying Styles of Research: Example of Quantitative vs. Qualitative Approaches(common about 20-30 yrs ago but still used)Neuman (2000: 16) Quantitative vs. Qualitative Objective Subjective Variables Processes and events Reliability Authenticity Value-Free Explicitly Stated Values Independent of Context Aware of Context Many cases or subjects Few cases or subjects Statistical Analysis Other qualities Detached Researcher Involved Researcher

8. Research Paradigms • Sets of shared patterns in a scholarly community about what constitutes worthwhile research(Thomas Kuhn, The structure of scientific revolutions) • What problems are worth investigating? • What constitutes an answer? • Different views on how approaches are grouped

9. Assumptions about nature of people & knowledge for use in classifying approaches (Burrell & Morgan) Subjective vs. Objective Assumptions • ontology : nominalism realism • epistemology : anti-positivism positivism • human nature: voluntarism determinism • methodology:ideographicnomethetic (laws) (idiographic=unique, singular)

10. Assumptions about Order/Conflict • Order/regulation) vs. Conflict/Radical Change) • Stability/solidarity Change/emancipation • Integration Conflict • Functional coordination disintegration • consensus coercion • need satisfaction deprivation

11. Four Paradigms (Burrell & Morgan) Conflict/radical change radical humanist radical structuralist interpretive functionalist subjective objective Order/stability/regulation

12. Four Paradigms in Communications Research (proposed by Baxter & Babbie) • Positivist • Once widely taught as same as science • early religious aspect • association with quantitative research • Systems Paradigm • Interpretive • Verstehen • association with qualitative research • direct observation, context, meaningful action • holistic • Critical **Note: other groupings & more approaches exist

13. Questions to Ask about Research 1. reasons for research 2. nature of social reality 3. nature of human beings 4. role of common sense 5. Ideas about what theory looks like 6. explanation that is acceptable 7. good evidence 8. place for values

14. Example: Positivism • 1. Why conduct research? • instrumental orientation • to predict and control • 2. Nature of Social Reality? • has order • fundamentally unchanging • can be discovered using science • 3. Nature of Human Beings? • self interest, pleasure seeking, rational • operate on basis of external causes, probability • mechanical model of man • 4. Science and common sense? • separate

15. Positivism (cont’d) • What constitutes Explanation or Theory? • science nomethetic (universal laws) • causal relationships, universally valid • 6. How to judge explanation • use reason : no logical contradictions • Observation, Replication • 7. Good evidence? • observations , empirical knowledge • can be communicated • 8. Social/Political Values? • value-free science • objectivity

16. Concepts associated with Positivism • Objective Reality that can be studied scientifically (logic & empirical observation) • Variables • Relationships between variables • Quantitative Reasoning

17. Systems Paradigm • Holistic • Society or group as organism • Interdependenceof parts of system • Whole is greater than sum of parts • Dynamic equilibrium • Uses “Language of variables”

18. Interpretive Approaches • Why conduct research? • to understand meanings • 2. Nature of Social Reality? • importance of human consciousness • socially constructed • multiple social realities possible • 3. Nature of Human Beings? • people use meanings, have reasons • laws (?) • 4. Science and common sense? • must study common sense, pragmatic

19. Interpretive Approaches • 1. Why conduct research? • to understand meanings • 2. Nature of Social Reality? • importance of human consciousness • socially constructed • multiple social realities possible • 3. Nature of Human Beings? • people use meanings, have reasons • laws (?) • 4. Science and common sense? • must study common sense, pragmatic

20. Interpretive Approaches (cont’d) 5.. What constitutes Explanation or Theory • ideographic • “thick” descriptions), semantic relationships • Rules in interpretive traditions= shared beliefs 6. How to judge explanation– as understanding • makes sense to others • Heuristic framework 7. Good evidence? • in context, has meaning for social actors (evocative) 8. Social/Political Values? • does not try to be value free, state biases

21. Critical Theory as a Paradigm • Why conduct research? • discover structures • change world, action oriented • knowledge is power (from below) • 2. Nature of Social Reality? • changing • conflict (not always visible-myths, false consciousness) • 3. Nature of Human Beings? • have potential but can be mislead • potential realized through collective action • 4. Science and common sense? • idea of objective reality , underlying truths but science can be instrument of oppression

22. Critical Theoretical Approaches (cont’d) • 5. What constitutes Explanation or Theory • combination of determinism and voluntarism • 6. How to judge explanation • capacity to describe social conditions and promote change • 7. Good evidence? • material conditions separate from subjectivity but facts not neutral • 8. Social/Political Values? • everpresent, promotes activism

23. Typology of “Women’s Ways of Knowing” (p. 63) • Silence (determined by external factors) • Received knowledge • Subjective knovledge • Procedural knowledge • Constructed knowledge

24. “Dimensions” of Research Neuman (2000: 37)