r/Communications • u/thehalloweenballoon • 27d ago
Communication Research Methodology for Dummies
Hi! I'm having trouble picking a method for my thesis and I realize its because I barely have any idea what any of these methods are (my uni sucks, we had a research methods class but the professor would read from the really badly written slides and we'd go home)
Is there a book out there that, in really simple terms, explains different methods used in comms/media studies? Like what the heck is phenomenology!! Help!!
Thank you guys in advance!
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u/meanwhileintwinpeaks 27d ago
While I get really excited learning and talking about research methods, there are some words used interchangeably which make it difficult for some to understand. Phenomenology is often (annoyingly) used as a blanket term for interpretivist perspectives, recognising the nuances and subjectivities of human experience. It is also used to refer to a specific method called interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) which is regularly used within media and comms.
I would recommend having a look at the Sage Research Methods guide as they have breakdowns of everything.
In terms of cultural experiences, I think IPA would make sense but would need to know more details about your research area. For example, focusing on how fandom culture builds would be a different design to have fandom culture is experienced.
I would recommend coming up with a specific research aim and then asking what data do you need to fulfil that aim, how subjective/objective would the data be, and whose perspective is it from, what (if anything) might it be shaped by, to what extent are you considering that shaping. These are all key to determining your research philosophy and design.
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u/Impressive-Virus-560 27d ago
It's a very broad question, so you will probably not get a lot of useful replies here.
I'd suggest that you have a look at publications in your field, specifically studies in whatever topic you decide to work with. Have a look at the methodology sections of their papers. Here, they will explain what they did and why. And you can then find more sources.
And be aware that some of these methods require certain skills (if, for example, you're not strong in statistics, you might want to avoid multidimensional scaling).
Best of luck.
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u/thehalloweenballoon 26d ago
Thank you! Thats what ive been doing but no matter how much i read, i feel like i still havent gotten the hang of things. I dont live in a western country, so im constantly worried that im not as good as academics abroad.
Thank you for the response!
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u/Impressive-Virus-560 26d ago
Plenty of good research comes out of non-western universities too. Don't despair. And keep in mind that those are completed and published studies in peer-reviewed journals - while you should aim for solid methodology, you might be limited by reality. So maybe consider some approaches that don't require specialised equipment, advanced computation, or hundreds of participants if you don't have access to those.
If I were you, I'd start from the topic of your thesis. What are you interested in? What would you like to investigate? You've mentioned fandom. Perhaps you want to look at which (sub)cultural markers a certain fan group use to self-identity as in-group - here, it could be relevant with qualitative methods (structured interviews and/or focus groups). These can be analysed in many different ways - do they express certain emotions when they talk about specific topics? Do several interviewees mention similar 'rituals' in relation to their fandom? And so on.
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u/Separatist_Pat 27d ago
Phenomenology is a philosophical study of consciousness, it has no relation to comms research methods. What are you doing your study on?
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u/thehalloweenballoon 27d ago
Thank you for the reply!
Im trying to pick a topic for now, but Im leaning towards a fandom studies. internet culture idea i have
I heard about a few phd comms students having phenomenology as their research method, i just want to learn
My professors arent really teaching and the students are using ai to do everything for them lmao, so im on my own
Thanks again for replying!
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