Practical Research Methods for Media and Cultural Studies: Making People Count (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780820329246)

Many very intelligent people don't like dealing with numbers. Similarly, many gifted scientists are not especially interested in studying people and their cultural behavior. In this book, we argue that being interested in people and their cultures, and helping students and others to use numbers to pursue these interests, are not mutually exclusive. Research methods are becoming an increasingly important requirement for students of all kinds. But many students, particularly those in the humanities, struggle with concepts drawn from the social sciences and find quantitative and statistical information inaccessible and daunting. Nonetheless, such concepts are found in nearly all areas of society, from market research to opinion polls to psychological studies of human behavior.

This book provides a simple guide to the process of conducting research in the humanities, with special reference to media and culture, from the planning stage, through the data gathering, to the analysis and interpretation of results: planning it, doing it, and understanding it.

The book shows how students' own choice of research topic can be refined into a manageable research question and how the most appropriate methodologies can be applied. Each section draws on actual examples from research that the authors and their students have conducted. Topics covered include: choosing a research question and method; instrument design and pilot data; practical procedures; research with children; looking at statistics; and interpretation of results.

Author: M疂re Messenger Davies, Nick Mosdell
ISBN-10: 082032924X
ISBN-13: 9780820329246
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Language: English
Published: 03/01/2007
Pages: 336
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.58lbs
Size: 8.46h x 6.36w x 0.49d

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 05/01/2007 pg. 228