Research Methods in Communication

Ringo Ma’s Home Page

http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ringoma/

Ringo Ma’s Lecture Notes

http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ringoma/syllabi.html

Office: CVA 914

Phone: 3411-7483

Chapter 1Introduction to the Research Culture

• The importance of knowing research methods– We have become a research-based culture.

• Claim, evidence, & warrant

• Five common everyday ways of knowing:

– Personal experience

– Intuition

– Authority

– Appeals to tradition, custom, and faith

– Magic, superstition, & mysticism

A Model of Argument

Evidence Claim

Warrant

Backing

• Induction– Reason from

Specific to General

• Deduction– Reason from

General to Specific

The Classical Ideal of Science

Generalization

Theories

Hypotheses

Observation

Deduction

OperationalizationMethod & measurement

Induction

Theory Construction

Axioms, Premises, or Assumptions

1+1=2

Theorems, Theoretical Statements

a2+b2=c2

A wonderful theory of dating

Axioms, Premises, or Assumptions

?

Theorems, Theoretical Statements

1. The more physically attractive a man is, the more dating opportunities he tends to have.

2. The more dating opportunities a man has, the less generous he tends to be toward each dating partner.

• Proprietary research vs. scholarly research

• Characteristics of research– Research is based on curiosity and

asking questions.– Research is a systematic process.– Research is potentially replicable.– Research is reflexive and self-critical.– Research is cumulative and self-

correcting.– Research is cyclical.

Research Cultures• Physical sciences, humanities, social

sciences• Positivist vs. naturalistic research

– The positivist paradigm is concerned with how to apply some of the methods used in the physical sciences to the study of human behavior.

– The naturalistic paradigm is concerned with the development of methods that capture the socially constructed and situated nature of human behavior.

A working model of communication research

• Phase 1: Conceptualization• Phase 2: Planning and designing research

(transform abstract concepts into operational, or measurable terms)

• Phase 3: Methodologies for conducting research

• Phase 4: Analyzing and interpreting data• Phase 5: Reconceptualization