Epistemology and Methodology of Communication Research
Code: 42443 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4313227 Media, Communication and Culture | OB | 0 | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Jaume Soriano Clemente
- Email:
- jaume.soriano@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject. Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2023.
Prerequisites
No previous knowledge of the Official Master’s Degree in Media, Communication and Culture modules is required.
Objectives and Contextualisation
Knowledge and usage of communication research methods and techniques.
Competences
- Apply advanced techniques in quantitative and qualitative research to the production and reception of communication.
- Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously.
- Lead and work in interdisciplinary teams.
- Plan and lead basic and applied research projects in media communication and culture.
- Use acquired knowledge as a basis for originality in the application of ideas, often in a research context.
Learning Outcomes
- Apply procedures for data collection and analysis.
- Assess the appropriateness of techniques of communication research.
- Carry out fieldwork using quantitative and qualitative research techniques.
- Construct instruments for data collection and analysis.
- Construct research samples.
- Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously.
- Formulate hypotheses, research questions and objectives.
- Identify the different possible research strategies.
- Lead and work in interdisciplinary teams.
- Programme the implementation of research projects.
- Use acquired knowledge as a basis for originality in the application of ideas, often in a research context.
Content
1. Epistemology of scientific knowledge
2. The debate on method in the social sciences. Paradigms
3. Mediated communication as an object of study.
4. The research process. Methodological dimensions
- 4.1. Choice and delimitation of the object of study.
- 4.2. Formulation and operationalisation of hypotheses and research questions.
- 4.3. Sample construction: representativeness and validity
5 Introduction to basic methodological procedures in mediated communication
- 5.1. Quantitative and qualitative content analysis
- 5.2. Interviews
- 5.3. Focus groups
- 5.4. Ethnography/Participant Observation
- 5.5. Survey
- 5.6. Experiments/Quasi-experiments
The calendar with the content of the different sessions will be displayed on the day of the presentation of the course. In the module's Virtual Campus, the various teaching materials and any information necessary for the proper monitoring of the subject will be posted. In the event of a change of teaching modality for health reasons, the teaching staff will inform of the changes that will take place in the course programme and in the teaching methodologies.
This teaching guide incorporates the gender perspective in the contents and treatment.
Methodology
- Lectures
- Case study
- Readings
- Tutoring
- Projects and assignments
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Case study | 5 | 0.2 | 7 |
| Lectures | 25 | 1 | 8, 2 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutoring | 15 | 0.6 | 10 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Reading, projects and assignments | 105 | 4.2 | 8, 2 |
Assessment
1.Evaluation
The final grade will result of combining three ways of evaluating the academic performance:
1.-Carrying out essays that will be the 50% of the final grade. 50%
2.-Taking a type test exam about the reading of a text. The qualification of this test will be a 30% of the final grade.
3.-Oral presentation to the class of one of the readings of the course, valued at 10% of the final grade.
4.-Class attendance and participating in debates and academic controversies that will take place in class. This will be a 10% of the final grade.
2.Reevaluation
Both the test and the essay can be retaken. Assistance and participation will be not evaluated a second time.
Only students who have failed the test or the essays previously will be suitable for retaking either one or both of them, as long as their final mark for the module is below 5 points. Students with a higher final grade than 4,9 will not be able to retake any activity.
3.Ordinary revision of the evaluation activities
In the case of not agreeing with the marks given to each different evaluation activity, the student will have the right to an ordinary revision of those with the professor. The date and time of this revision will be announced on the Virtual Campus module’s class.
4.Extraordinary revision of the module’s final mark
In case of not agreeing with the final qualification of the module, the student will have the right to ask for an extraordinary revision. He or she will have to fill a reasoned request to the Communication Sciences Faculty office within the fifteen days following the publication of the final mark. The revision will be carried out following the extraordinary revision instructions approved by the Faculty Board on the 5th of May of 2016, whichcan be found on the Faculty’s web:http://www.uab.cat/web/estudiar/grados/informacion-academica/evaluacion/revision-extraordinaria-de-la-calificacion-final-1345717361537
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Content follow-up tests | 30% | 0 | 0 | 8, 7, 2 |
| Oral presentation | 10% | 0 | 0 | 11, 6 |
| Participating in classes and debates | 10% | 0 | 0 | 11, 6 |
| Realization of assignments | 50% | 0 | 0 | 1, 4, 5, 3, 10, 9 |
Bibliography
Arroyo, Millán; Sádaba, Igor (coords.)
2012 Metodología de la investigación social Madrid, Editorial Síntesis.
Becker, Howard
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Chalmers, Alan F.
2000 ¿Qué es esa cosa llamada ciencia? (Tercerca edición en España) Madrid, Siglo XXI.
Couldry, Nick and Hepp, Andreas
2017 The Mediated Construction of Reality, Cambridge, Polity Press.
Della Porta, Donatella; Keating, Michael (eds.)
2013 Enfoques y metodologías en las ciencias sociales, Madrid, Ediciones Akal.
Gauntlett, David
2007 Creative Explorations. New approaches to identities and audiences New York, Routledge.
Goyanes, Manuel
2017 Desafío de la investigación estándar en comunicación. Crítica y alternativas, Barcelona, Editorial UOC.
Hansen, Anders and Machin, David
2019 Media and Communication Research Methods (2nd Edition), London, Red Globe Press
Igartua, Juan José
2006 Métodos cuantitativos de investigación en comunicación Barcelona, Bosch.
Íñiguez, Lupicinio (ed.)
2006 Análisis del discurso. Manual para las ciencias sociales Barcelona, Editorial UOC.
Rose, Gillian
2019 Metodologías visuales: una introducción a la investigación con materiales visuales Murcia, Cendeac.
Soriano, Jaume
2007 L’ofici de comunicòleg Vic, Eumo Editorial.
2017 "Investigar la comunicación con métodos biográficos. Propuestas de estudio", en Historia y Comunicación Social vol. 22(1), pàgs. 157-171.
Wright Mills, Charles
2009 [1959] La imaginación sociológica México D.F., Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Verd, Joan M.; Lozares, Carlos
2016 Introducción a la investigación cualitativa Madrid, Editorial Síntesis.
VV.AA.
1973 La disputa del positivismo en la sociología alemana Barcelona, Grijalbo.
Software
This subject does not require knowledge of specific computer programmes other than those for writing university papers and for telematic communication.