Methods of Communication Research & Statistics (MCRS)
Institution
Universiteit Van Amsterdam (UvA)
Book
Introducing Communication Research - International Student Edition
These are an in-depth overview of the course material relevant to the 1st partial exam for MCRS, the document is halved into Methods and Statistics.
(note that the SPSS commands are not included, but can be uploaded if asked)
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Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA)
Communicatiewetenschap
Methods of Communication Research & Statistics (MCRS)
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MCRS REVISION
METHODS
What is Scientific research?
- A systematic process
- Theoretical knowledge
- Observation = empiricism (based on a social reality)
- Public (verifiable, open to criticism, preliminary results)
- Objective (not personal findings, uniform rules)
- Systematic & cumulative (builds on previous research, in search of
patterns or associations)
- predictive
A systematic process of gathering theoretical knowledge through
observation
1. Posing questions
2. Answering questions
3. Demonstrating results are valid
4. Shows research results
- Communication research = a systematic process of asking/answering
questions about human communication
- Fundamental research = contributes to science
- Applied research = acquire knowledge to solve a problem
- Quantitative (measurement, numbers, specific experiment, testing theory)
- Qualitative (no measurement, words, interviewing, generating theory)
- Research design:
1. Experimental (causality)
2. Cross-sectional (correlational)
3. Longitudinal (correlational)
- Data collection methods:
o Observation
o Posing questions (interviews, surveys)
o Content analysis
- Research should be socially (for whom is it useful) and scientifically (which
knowledge you add) relevant
Scientific Approaches:
- Worldview I
o communication is objectively measurable
o nomothetic approach
- Worldview II
o Communication is subjective
o Idiographic approach
- Ontology
o Questions about the nature of human communication
o What is the social world?
o Objectivism = the underlying reality > an attitude has the
characteristics of an object and therefore can be measured
o Constructionism > attitude is a social construction can is subjective,
therefore it cannot be measured.
- Epistemology
o Questions of how communication can be understood
, MCRS REVISION
o What counts as knowledge?
o How do we acquire knowledge?
1. Tenacity > consistency
2. Intuition > seems right
3. Authority > because they said so
4. Empiricism > because I have observed it
5. Rationalism > logic
6. Positivism
i. Apply rules/laws of natural sciences
ii. Empirical, you must see the knowledge
7. Interpretivism
i. Subjective process
ii. There is a difference between people and objects of
natural sciences
- 2 main scientific approaches
1. Empirical - Analytical
a. Deduction phase
b. Explain & observe human behaviour
c. quantitative
d. positivism/objectivism
2. Empirical – interpretive
a. Induction phase
b. Understand & observe from participant POV
c. Qualitative
d. Constructionism/interpretive
Scientific Method
- Systematic observation = evaluate plausibility, better chance of valid
explanations in empirical study
- Criteria of Scientific hypotheses
1. Empirically testable
2. Replicable
3. Objective
4. Transparent
5. Falsifiable
6. Logically consistent
- Observation = in/accurate representation of the world, doesn’t describe or
explain a situation
- Hypothesis = describes/explains an uncertain pattern/relation, confirmed
by observation, precise and usually mathematic
- Theory = broad overarching explanation, not certain but is the closest
thing to truth because its made up from hypotheses that have survived
the scientific method
Type of knowledge
Purpose of Universalistic Particularistic
knowledge (general) (specific)
Fundamental (to Frequent Rare
know)
Applied (to help) Rare Frequent
The Empirical Cycle
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