Research Log. Communications and Media Assignment
Choose three of the following and write 500 words each:
1. From Week 1: Write a short reflective piece, drawing on Silverstone and other relevant literature, responding to the following questions:
a. In what ways can/do we study the media? Otherwise put, what kinds of approaches do we find in media studies?
b. What does rigour look like in media studies research ? Can we be ‘exhaustive’ in a media saturated world, or given what Silverstone calls the “the constant media mastication of everyday culture”?
c. How can we appraise or value one piece of media studies (and cultural studies) research against another? What research values do you think are important?
2. FromWeek2:Discusshowyouwouldpotentiallydefineandbuildupanarchive for one of the hypothetical research projects discussed in the seminar, including practical and ethical considerations.
3. From Week 3: Report on the activities and exercises in which you engaged at the Keep, the archival material you encountered, and any questions and reflections that the experience raised for you.
P5016: Researching Media and Communications Instructions and assessment criteria for assessment 1
4. From Week 4: Report on the steps you took to begin to take a political economic approach to a select piece of media, company or industry. What did you begin to find? What kinds of challenges did you encounter? How might you try to address these challenges if you were pursuing the research?
5. FromWeek5:Writeashortresponsetothefollowingquestionsinrelationtothe readings from week 5:
a. How are these pieces of scholarship examples of digital methods?
b. Are digital methods new and/or distinct, or do they consist of the application
of established methods to the digital?
c. What are the different ethical issues that arise in each of the research projects,
and how do these relate (or not) to the digital?
6. From Week 6: Report on the preliminary plan you began to put together to hold interviews or focus groups for your hypothetical project (e.g. who you would plan to include and why, how you would find and recruit these people to participate in your project, ethical and practical considerations), and give examples of the kinds of questions you would plan to ask them and why. Note: do not just include a long list of proposed interview or focus group questions.
7. From Week 7: Report on the preliminary thematic analysis of data that you conducted in the seminar. How did you find themes in the data? What were the different patterns you began to see emerging? Did you reach any preliminary analytic insights? Be sure to include any visual thematic maps that you may have begun to draw.
Please choose week1，3 and7
Research Log
Name
Professor’s Name
CourseDate
Research Log
In weeks 1, 3, and 7, I learned a lot of things which helped me build my understanding of media and to factor in some of the comments of people like Silverstone. Aside from the above, these three weeks also greatly influenced my understanding of research and helped me understand how reporting works. Reporting here is in the sense of communicating results and finding ways to derive meaning from data or any piece of information. Therefore, I believe I have greatly improved and that I have grown as a student.
1 From week 1: Write a short reflective piece, drawing on Silverstone and other relevant literature, responding to the following questions:
* In what ways can we do/study the media? Otherwise put, what kinds of approaches do we find in media studies?
Studying media is indeed essential in today’s society. Some of the reasons why we need to study media are its close relationship with other disciplines, its insight into the modern world, etc. These are but a few things which help to insist on the importance of studying media. There are different approaches of or to studying media. According to Silverstone, they include social and cultural, political, and economic dimensions or approaches. Studying media in these three approaches helps the world to make sense of not only what is happening within our sphere of life but also beyond. Studying media through the lens or through a single approach will indeed offer a one-sided answer to how and what life is. However, looking at media from the levels of approaches listed above indeed helps to ensure that people understand society and the world they are living in. Therefore, these approaches will indeed offer great insight.
* What does rigor look like in media studies research? Can we be ‘exhaustive’ in a media-saturated world, or given what Silverstone calls the “constant media mystification of everyday culture”?
In media studies research, one needs to ensure that everything they are doing can lead to the answers they need or that nothing will interfere with the research and the credibility of the collected data. Marquart (2017) defines rigor as “the soundness or precision of a study in terms of planning, data collection, analysis, and reporting.” The above statement seeks to emphasize the importance of ensuring that research is done in a way that ensures the results reflect the real picture in the world. In media studies research, rigor means that the researchers do not interfere with or manipulate the sources of data, employ a clean and clear process of collecting and analyzing data, and finally, report exactly what they find out. The entire process must be easy to follow and the results should either coincide or have minimal errors or issues.
No. Being exhaustive cannot be achieved or is not achievable in today’s world. The constant media mystification of everyday culture is something that acts as an impediment to the goal of being exhaustive. The media has managed to gift importance to a few aspects of the world and this is a challenge because it means that people have been conditioned to what they consider to be newsworthy. Therefore, the goal of being exhaustive cannot be achieved.
* How can we appraise or value one piece of media studies (and cultural studies) research against another? What research values do you think are important?
To appraise media studies research against another, several things need to be considered. The first one is rigor. The rigor of two media studies research must be heavily considered. To consider rigor means to look into the planning, data collection, analysis, and reporting. These processes or stages must be greatly looked into to ensure that they are in line with research guidelines. These processes must be clean and clear of any interference or manipulation.
The values which I believe apply or are the most important include objectivity, integrity, openness, accountability, fairness, and stewardship. These must always be adhered to and be used to ensure that the rigor of a particular research is fitting or not. The research must meet all or most of the above but objectivity should be the first value to be met. Researchers must always stay clear of any interference or manipulation.
2 Report on the activities and exercises in which you engaged at the Keep, the archival material you encountered, and any questions and reflections that the experience raised for you.
The history of media was an important part of my learning and understanding the past. The past helped me as a student understand the current trends which are evident in the media industry and hint at the possible future trends which we can expect. First, at the East Sussex Record Office (ESRO), the Royal Pavilion & Museums Local History Collection, you encounter many differently sorted and stored materi...