Methodology

termen leren

How does scientific research start?

Knowlegde of the existing research, personal experience, needs in society, scientific worldview, profitability, fundability, social or political beliefs, advisor’s topic, methodology/technique, current events

What makes a research question good?

Specificity, connection to theory, grounded in research, no assumptions, scope, open-ended, clarity

Nudging

Slightly influencing behaviour, mostly in commercial settings

Nomothetic approach (worldview 1)

Human behaviour is generalisable, predictable and motivated by events, personality and other people. Understanding behavior is best done by isolating factors

Idiographic approach (worldview 2)

Each person is unique, unpredictable and self-motivated. Understanding behaviour is best done from the participant’s perspective and by considering the whole situation

Quantitative research

Built around the idea that human traits and behaviours can be translated into numbers to analyse them (experiments, surveys, content analysis)

Qualitative research

Built around the idea that human triats and behaviours are best understood by observerving and interviewing people (interviews, focus groups, case studies, observational studies, diary studies)

Postpositive worldview

cause-and-effect, testable theories (quantitative methods)

Constructivist worldview

individuals construct own views (qualitative methods)

Transformative worldview

Change-oriented, focused on marginalised groups and social justice

Pragmatism worldview

Solutions to problems, mixed methods

Craig’s communication metatheory

A family of concepts embracing several different traditions of communication research

Rhetorical (Craig’s communication metatheory)

Discourse, persuasion, debate or discussion (power of words)

Semiotic (Craig’s communication metatheory)

Relationship between signs and symbols, and thought

Phenomenological (Craig’s communication metatheory)

Experience of others (perceived)

Cybernetic (Craig’s communication metatheory)

Information flow/feedback (source-message-channel-receiver ch. 2)

Sociopsychological (Craig’s communication metatheory)

Individual interactions: attitudes and perceptions and individuals influencing each other (collective outcome)

Sociocultural (Craig’s communication metatheory)

Social order (re)production: shared meanings/structures

Critical (Craig’s communication metatheory)

Power, oppression, emancipation in society

Ontology (Craig and Xiong)

Questions about the nature of existence and what we're really observing

Triangulation

The act of combining research methods to neutralize the weaknesses of single research methods

The three forces reshaping communication research

Web Worlds, fuzzy boundaries, AI

Polymedia

The idea that we’re not just facing new technology, but new social relations created by an expanding environment of communication options

Masspersonal communication

The concept that the old split between ‘interpersonal’ and ‘mass’ communication is a false dichotomy, since people now use mass channels for personal ends (and vice versa) simultaneously

WEIRD

Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic

Nethography

The practice of doing ethnographic research (i.e., immersive observation of a culture/community) online

Ethno-mining

A mixed-methods approach that combines ethnography with data mining

The Internet of Things (IoT)

The network of internet-connected everyday devices (smart watches, speakers, appliances, etc.) that have tracking and data collection built in

Induction

Observation, pattern, hypothesis (theory). Reasoning from the particulars to the general

Deduction

Theory, hypothesis, observation. Reasoning from the general to the particulars (theory/hypothesis testing)

Theory requirements

Covers a broad area, can be falsified, generate hypothesis, is substantiated by converging evidence

Hypotheses

Statements that specify the relation we expect to find (must be testable)

Moderation (moderator)

Might cause or correlate with variation in the outcome variable (manipulated by the researcher)

Mediation

The causal effect of IV on DV is indirect (the IV influences the mediating variable)

Abduction

Reasoning from an effect to possible causes

Model of human communication

Source, message, channel and receiver

Rhetoric of place

Studies examine how public places (museums, memorials, parks, sports stadiums) can shape public memory and shared understandings of history and events

Epistemology

The question of how we know what we know

Tenacy

We’ve always done it that way (results in epistemology)

Operationalisation

defining constructs in such a way that they can be measured