1. CMNS 260: Empirical Communication Research Methods 1-Introduction to the Course
Professor: Jan Marontate
Teaching Assistants: Nawal Musleh-Motut, Megan Robertson
Lab Instructor: Chris Jeschelnik
School of Communication.
Simon Fraser University
Fall 2011

2. 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

3. Course 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

4. 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

5. 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…..

6. The Research Process
Babbie (1995: 101)

7. 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”

8. 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

9. 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)

10. 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

11. 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 Doctorow
Electronic Frontier Assoc. &
Boingboing.net

12. 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

13. 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

14. Ranking Disciplines: Positivist ideas (Auguste Comte)
19th century
Same
Methods
Different
"Subjects"
Sociology
simple
complex
concrete
abstract
simple
complex
concrete
abstract
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Mathematics

15. 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

16. Relations between theory and empirical observation
Theory and empirical research
Testing theories through empirical observation (deductive)
Using empirical observation to develop theories (Inductive)

17. Source: Singleton & Straits (1999: 27); Babbie (1995: 55)
Empirical and Logical Foundations of Research (does not have to start with theory)
Theories
The
Scientific
Process
DEDUCTION
Empirical
Generalizations
Predictions
(Hypotheses)
INDUCTION
Observations
Source: Singleton & Straits (1999: 27); Babbie (1995: 55)

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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)

21. 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

22. Developing research topics

23. 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

24. Quantitative vs. Qualitative
Identifying Styles of Research: Example of Quantitative vs. Qualitative Approaches (Common about yrs ago but still used. .Textbook Chapter 13)
Quantitative vs Qualitative
Objective
Subjective
Variables
Processes and events
Reliability
Authenticity
Value-Free
Explicitly Stated Values
Independent of Context
Aware of Content
Many cases or subjects
Few cases or subjects
Statistical Analysis
Other qualities
Detached Researcher
Involved Researcher

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

26. “Dimensions” of Research
Purpose of
Study
Intended Use of Study
Treatment of Time in Study
Space Unit of Analysis
Exploratory
Descriptive
Explanatory
Basic
Applied
-Action
-Impact
-Evaluation
Cross-sectional
Longitudinal
-Panel
-Time series
-Cohort analysis
-Case Study
-Trend study
-dependent individual
-independent -family
-household
-artifact
(media,
technology)
Neuman (2000: 37)

27. Exploratory 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

28. Descriptive Research Focuses on “who”, “what” and “how”
Background information, to stimulate new ways of thinking, to classify types, etc.

29. Explanatory Research To test theories, predictions, etc…
Idea of “advancing” knowledge

30. Intended 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?)

31. Basic or Fundamental Research
Concerns of scholarly community
Inner logic and relation to theoretical issues in field

32. Applied Research
commissioned/judged/used by people outside the field of communication
goal of practical applications
usefulness of results

33. Types of Applied Research
Action Research
Social Impact Assessment
Needs Assessment
Evaluation Research
formative (built in)
summative (final outcomes)
Cost-benefit analysis

34. Treatment of Time Cross-sectional (one point in time) Longitudinal
(more than one point in time)

35. Main 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 year
Time-series
same type of info., not exactly same people, multiple time periods, e.g. Same place
Burnaby residents Burnaby residents
Case Studies may be longitudinal or cross-sectional

36. Lexis Diagram (To study Cohort Survival)

37. Units of Analysis Examples Individual people
Newspaper articles or broadcasts
Individual video games

38. Units of Analysis
Families, Sports Sections etc.

39. Units of analysis: Examples: Households
News networks (Al Jazeera, Channel News Asia, CNN)

40. Importance of Choosing Appropriate Unit of Analysis
example: Ecological Fallacy (cheating)

41. Ecological Fallacy

42. Ecological Fallacy

43. 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)

44. The Research Wheel The “Research Wheel” Steps in the research process
Choose
Topic
Focus
Research
Question
Inform
Others
The Research Wheel
The
“Research Wheel”
Interpret
Data
Design
Study
Steps in the
research process
Collect
Data
Analyze
Data
Source: Neuman (1995: 12)