ALC 208: Researching Media: Texts, Audiences and Industries

1. ALC 208: Researching Media: Texts, Audiences and Industries Week 3- Topic 2: THeoreticalparadiGms and COncePts

2. Theoretical Perspectives or Research Paradigms • Paradigms- A way of looking at something - Young/Old woman in drawing • A given paradigm locks us into it at expense of others- even momentarily • Different paradigms -Different points-of-view-Provide different perspectives of same phenomenon • Well known paradigms in the pure sciences- • Darwins’ theory of Evolution; • Einsteins’ Theory of Relativity

3. Changing Paradigms • Different Paradigms dominate at different times and challenged by others • Theory of Evolution vs Intelligent Design • In pure sciences, paradigms change when proven wrong and replaced by new ones • Earth from flat to round • Paradigm changes can lead to different research findings e.g. Columbus ‘discovering’ the ‘Americas’ • In social sciences, contradictory paradigms remain side by side- or return later: e.g. McLuhan’s theories

4. Basic Paradigms and Research Traditions in Communication • Five Paradigms of ‘knowing’ a) Positivist b) Systems c) Interpretivist d) Critical e) Functionalist

5. a) The Positivist Paradigm • Positivism- Auguste Comte (1798-1857) -Argued for society to be studied the same way as nature -Observation through the five senses • Opposed to the dominant religious paradigm of ‘God’s will’ (or fate/Karma/luck) • Assumes an objective reality to be known through empirical observation (linked to Objectivism) • Generally uses quantitative methods

6. The Positivist Paradigm (Contd) • Generalised laws – relied of two types of explanations or causal reasoning • Nomothetic (i.e. general) type of explanation e.g. Reduced enrolments in IT at Aus unis after DotCom crash • Idiographic (idiosyncratic) type of explanation i.e. Look for unique causes affecting a phenomenon Why a specific student enrols in IT even during low enrolments • Covering laws- A specific theory generalisable to a large group of phenomena

7. b) The Systems Paradigm • Sees a society or a social entity as a ‘system’ of different parts interacting and working interdependently to run it efficiently and maintain equilibrium e.g. The human body • System ‘whole’ larger than the ‘sum of its parts’. E.g A cake • So examine a phenomenon in its wider context looking at all sides/factors-Synergy, Interactions, interrelationships and correlations e.g. DVD ‘Does TV Kill?’ effects of TV violence on children

8. Positivism vs Systems Theory • Both assume the existence of an objective reality • Use quantitative data • Assume the social world to be similar to the natural world • Positivism looks for pattered cause-effects relationships • Systems theory examines how different parts of the system works together to maintain it and issues related to dis/re/equilibrium e.g. A marriage

9. c) The Interpretivist Paradigm • Sees human activity as aimed at meaning making • Interpretation necessary to understand human experience • Meaning needs to be interpreted – not discovered (Refer to Constructionism) • Social world is different from natural world because humans have self-reflexivity (see themselves in a mirror image/through other people’s eyes) • Human do things based on what society means for those actions (Refer to Subjectivism) • Study of meaning related to the study of rules in a society. e.g. Language rules, ‘Shouting’, cockfights

10. d) The Critical Paradigm • Juergen Habermas (1971) – Karl Marx, Frankfurt School • Looks at what is unfair or wrong in society and tries to change things for the better for the disadvantaged /everyone concerned. e.g. ‘Do Gooders’, ‘Bleeding Hearts’, Amnesty Intl. etc. • Originally based on class, not extended to race, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation etc. • Critical reflection- Look for ideological bias and power imbalances in a situation • Ideology- Ideology and power shape social experiences so expose values embedded in them to educate and emancipate • Applications of Critical theory-How power relations are embedded in media portrayals; Sex and the City

11. e) The Functionalist Paradigm • Auguste Comte (1896), Spencer, Durkheim, Radcliffe-Brown, Malinowski etc. • Social structures and processes (how we do things) have specific functions (actions and uses) and a mechanism to maintain those structures and processes. • Explains why people behave the way they do e.g. Uses and Gratifications theory and TV vie • As Administrative research & Columbia School to find ways to improve things by looking at how and why people do things in a particular way ad how things work . e.g. Program evaluation in PR

12. The Nature of Explanation Under Each Paradigm 1. Cause and Effect Explanations- - via empirical observation, often in positivism • Function Explanations • Interpretivistslook for meaning; Systems look for a person’s behaviour as a member of a system or group and how individual action influence the group; Functionalists examine why and how things work in a particular way 3. Reason Explanations - Critical looks for inequalities and the reasons for them, and power imbalances in society

13. Multimethod Research • More than one methodological tool / data collection method used in one study • Examined using more than one paradigm • Mix of qualitative & quantitative methods e.g. Survey with close ended (Quantitative) with open ended questions (qualitative) • Methodological Triangulation

14. Concepts: Building Blocks of Theory • A Concept- A name given to a category of recognisable, distinguishable phenomena e.g A Nerd, ‘Aspirational Voters’, DINKS, Underclass, Bogans, CUBs, technical terms, slang • Often used in profiling groups as having specific characteristics- May be stereotypical too but used to target specific advertising or political campaign messages at specific groups

15. A Construct • A combination of concepts to make an abstract concept measurable or observable. e.g. A ‘keen student’- - ‘A Keen Student’- measured by considering: attends at least 80% of classes, reads at least 75% of assigned readings each week’ etc. (Useful for surveys and to be covered in detail under Measurement)

16. Variables and Correlations • A Variable is the empirical (observable and measureable) counterpart of a construct • A variable’s values can be either quantitative (Age of a person) or qualitative (Sex and male /female) • Changes in one variable can be measured by observing how it changes from one value to another. e.g. TV watched as light (less than 10 hours /week) , moderate (10-20), heavy (21-40) to compare between low, moderate and heavy viewers.

17. Correlations • If changes in one variable, corresponds with changes in another. • e.g. If newspaper reading is decreased as time spent watching TV is increased. • Does not mean one causes the other- just that they happen together. • Correlation DOES NOT MEAN causality. • e.g. TV ratings going down after a new CEO takes over a TV channel.

18. Types of variables -Independent- Changed or manipulated by researcher- e.g. Hours of TV watched (low, moderate, heavy) -Dependent-the one researcher hopes to explain e.g. Attitudes towards violent TV and kids (not a problem, somewhat/ very problematic) • What is dependent /independent is not fixed. It varies with each study and its research questions/hypotheses. • Multivariate analysis: When there is more than one independent or several dependent variables.

19. Relationship Between Variables • Linear- As one variable changes, one or several others also change • Positive vs Negative- The relationship between the variables. Positive if one increases as the other/s also increase; Negative if when one increases, the other decreases or vice versa. • Non-Linear- No direct relationship between variables • Curvilinear- U-shaped or inverted U-shape; One increases along with another only up to a point, but them one decreases as the other increases.

20. Operational definitions of Variables • The procedure followed in measuring, observing or experiencing a concept • Tells us what and how to observe the independent and dependent variables e.g. Population figures used to identify the main ethnic /racial groups • Circulation figures of newspapers from Audit Bureau /TV ratings from OZTAM to select the most popular media outlets to study a phenomenon

21. Logic in Scientific Reasoning • Deductive reasoning • Used when the researcher assumes a relationship between variables • Uses hypotheses that are tested • Inductive reasoning • Researcher goes with an open mind to examine ‘What’s going on?’ • Uses research questions -Begin by collecting data and then look for correlations between the many variables examined

22. Hypotheses & Research Questions • A Hypothesis (H)- A formal and specific statement about a predicted relationship between two variables. Tested as either true or false • A Research Question (RQ)- A formally stated question intended to provide an idea about something. e.g. RQ: Does TV lead to distortions of reality for children? • H: A child’s level of distortion of reality (Dependent variable) is directly related to the amount and types of TV programs (Independent variables) the child views.

23. Summary of Paradigms Please read from the lecture notes.