Professor Ellen Helsper

This course is available on the MSc in Media and Communications (Research). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Students taking non-research track media and communications MSc programmes may take this course instead of MC4M1 subject to their own degree regulations and with the agreement of the teacher responsible.

i. Principles of Research in Media and Communications: A series of lectures offered by media and communications staff in MT. The lectures will normally cover the following topics central to research design across the social sciences, with a specific emphasis on their application to media and communications contexts: the general nature of research as social inquiry, interviewing, social network analysis, critical discourse analysis, content analysis, visual analysis, survey design/questionnaires, experiments, ethnography and participant observation, as well as research ethics.

ii. Principles and Specialist Research workshops: A series of ten three-hour workshops (10 comprised of two x 1.5 hour sessions) offered by media and communications staff in LT. Students are required to participate in all ten workshops.

iii. Quantitative Analysis: Students take two statistics courses offered by the Methodology Department: MY452M Applied Regression Analysis; MY455 Multivariate Analysis and Measurement. Please note that these courses are compulsory and automatically included when you register for the standard MC4M8 course.

This course is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars and workshops totalling a minimum of 85 hours across Michaelmas and Lent Term. This year, some or all of this teaching will be delivered through a combination of virtual classes and flipped-lectures delivered as online videos. This course includes a reading week in Week 6 of term.

i. Principles of Research in Media and Communications: Lecture (one hour) x 10 MT; Lecture on Writing Methodological Critiques (one hour) x 1 LT.

ii. Principles and Specialist Research Workshops: Workshop (three hours) x 10 LT.

iii. Quantitative Analysis:

• MY452M: This course is delivered through a combination of classes and lectures totalling a minimum of 20 hours in MT. This year, some or all of this teaching may be delivered through a combination of virtual classes and flipped-lectures delivered as short online videos.
• MY455: This course is delivered through a combination of classes and lectures totalling a minimum of 20 hours across LT. This year, the lectures may be delivered live or as short online videos. The classes will be live and in person, and delivered online or in class.

iv. Methodology pilot drop in clinic: Workshop (two hours) x 1 LT and ST.

i. Principles of Research in Media and Communications: All students are expected to complete advance readings and submit one essay of 1500 words in the MT.

ii. Principles and Specialist Research Workshops: All students are expected to complete advance readings and submit workshop assignments.

iii. Quantitative Analysis: Most statistics courses require weekly assignments

• Alasuutari, P. (1995). Researching Culture: Qualitative Method and Cultural Studies. London; Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications Ltd.
• Bauer, M. W., & Gaskell, G. D. (2000). Qualitative Researching with Text, Image and Sound: A Practical Handbook for Social Research. London; Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications Ltd.
• Bell, A., & Garrett, P. (1998). Approaches To Media Discourse. Oxford; Malden, Mass: John Wiley & Sons.
• Bertrand, I & Hughes, P. (2005) Media Research Methods. Audiences, Institutions and Texts. New York: Palgrave.
• Bryman, A. (2012). Social Research Methods. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
• Burton, D. (2000). Research Training for Social Scientists: A Handbook for Postgraduate Researchers. London; Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications Ltd.
• Deacon, D., Pickering, M., Golding, P., & Murdock, G. (1999). Researching Communications: A Practical Guide to Methods in Media and Cultural Analysis. London: Hodder Education.
• Flick, U. (1998). An Introduction to Qualitative Research. London; Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications Ltd.
• Hansen, A., Cottle, S., Negrine, P. R., & Newbold, C. (1998). Mass Communication Research Methods. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Jensen, K. B., & Jankowski, N. W. (1991). A Handbook of Qualitative Methodologies for Mass Communication Research. London; New York: Routledge.
• Kent, R. (1994). Measuring Media Audiences. Londona€¯; New York: Cengage Learning EMEA.
• Robson, C. (1993). Real World Research: A Resource for Social Scientists and Practitioner-researchers. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons.
• Rose, G. (2012). Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to Researching with Visual Materials. London; Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications Ltd.
• Schroder, K., Drotner, K., Kline, S., & Murray, C. (2003). Researching Audiences: A Practical Guide to Methods in Media Audience Analysis. London: New York: Bloomsbury Academic.
• Silverman, D. (2013). Doing Qualitative Research: A Practical Handbook. London; Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Exam (17%, duration: 2 hours) in the summer exam period.
Coursework (66%, 5000 words) and take-home assessment (14%) in the ST.
Continuous assessment (3%) in the MT.

Description of assessment:

1. Coursework: One written assignment of not more than 5000 words to be submitted in the ST (66%).
2. One two-hour exam in ST relating to MY455, as well as one take-home assessment due in ST and continuous assessment in MT relating to MY452M (see Methodology Department course guides) (34%).