Year I - Semester I

Course Description:

This course advances a framework, a process, and compositional approaches for conducting a research in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods in media and communication fields. Advanced social research paradigms, approaches and methods will be covered to equip the PhD candidates with the up to dated knowledge and skills of doing research in media and communication. The continuing use of the traditional forms of quantitative designs, the ascendency of qualitative research and the emergence of mixed methods approaches will be presented to advance producing knowledge and solving problems in the field of media and communication. This begins with consideration of philosophical world views or paradigms of research, the research process, a review of the literature, an assessment of the use of theory in research approaches, and reflections about the importance of writing and ethics in scholarly inquiry. The major research designs for quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research are given due attention together with data collection, analysis and interpretation procedures and techniques. Students are required to work on several assignments that allow them to practice specific methods and foster development of research skills. They are required to present examples of qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research in class, illustrating both research design and data analysis. Generally, the overarching objective of this course is to examine not only how one goes about “doing” those aspects of one’s work but also delve into a variety of ethical, epistemological, ontological and methodological issues inherent in media and communication research.

Course Objectives:

At the end of the course students will be able to:

• equip with the theoretical understanding and practical skills to apply core quantitative,  qualitative and mixed  methods used across the different disciplines of social sciences and humanities in general and media and communication in particular 
• familiarize with key critical perspectives on the application of quantitative,  qualitative and mixed  methods
• acquire the skills needed to take field notes, write up and present results and satisfy research ethics requirements .
• acquire working knowledge of range of research approaches
• acquire the capacity to critically examine quantitative,  qualitative and mixed  research and evidence in a chosen field of enquiry
• acquire the ability to engage in solid, ethically-sound research design in media and communication
• acquire the skills to find appropriate quantitative,  qualitative and mixed  methods that relate to their inquiries  in media and communication
• recognize and evaluate in writing the diversity of specialized techniques and approaches involved in analyzing quantitative and qualitative data in communication/media science
• present and summarize analyzed data in a coherent and effective manner
• Conduct scientific  research in media and communication areas for PhD dissertation and beyond