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Paradigms & Models in Research Design. Jan Marontate CMNS 801: Design and Methodology in Communication Research School of Communication. Simon Fraser University Fall 2008. Today’s Class Session. Discussion of Readings Discussion of aspects Methodological Design in 1st Exercise
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Paradigms & Models in Research Design Jan Marontate CMNS 801: Design and Methodology in Communication Research School of Communication. Simon Fraser University Fall 2008
Today’s Class Session • Discussion of Readings • Discussion of aspects Methodological Design in 1st Exercise • “Special Topic Assignment” (Handouts 2 & 3) • Research Interests & Methodological Backgrounds • Choosing Topics and Scheduling Presentations • If time: Film-- Quiet Rage
The Research ProcessBabbie (1995) Social Science Research, p. 101
Methods & Fundamental Assumptions • “Savoir, pouvoir, prévoir”(Auguste Comte) • To know, to be able (to have power), to predict the future and plan for it • Knowledge as power (to acquire skills for social action, change, forecasting) • “décrire, comprendre, expliquer”(Gilles Gaston Granger) • describe, understand and explain • Knowledge as understanding
Writing about Methods Platt, Jennifer. “Writing on Method” and “Theory and practice” in A history of sociological research methods in America, 1920-1960. Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press 1996, pp. 1-67, 106-142. • Emergence of methodological textbooks (social sciences) in N. America (c. 1920s) • writing on methods--often followed practices • Not necessarily derived from theory, influenced by commercial uses and social work • Shifts over time • 1920s-1940s --conflicts between qualitative & quantitative • 1940s-1960s-- little work on qualitative methods (more on notions like scaling, sampling, logic, design, practicalities of interviewing) • 1960s re-emergence of qualitative methods
Causes of writing about methods? • Rise of university programs, need for teaching resources • Professionalization & differentiation • Increasing orientation toward empirical research • Motivations often unstated (especially in ‘self-defence’-driven work
Problems • Relating methods to their uses and practices • Questions about relationship of specific methods to theories • Mode of transmissions • Methodological choices • Practical influences • Constraints (positive & negative) • Accidental • Notion of ‘bricolage’ • Untidiness of life in process
Two Paradigms • Bruhn-Jensen Reading
