1. CMNS 801: Design and Methodology in Communication Research 1-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)
Bill Trochim’s Research Methodlogy website
Another resource for review of general methodological Concepts/techniques
My undergraduate empirical methods course (CMNS260) from Spring 2008

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
Identifying Styles of Research: Example of Quantitative vs. Qualitative Approaches (common about 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 Content
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: ideographic nomethetic (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 instrumental orientation to predict and control
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
Interdependence of 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
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)