Doing Media Research

Emphasizing conceptual understanding rather than algebra, Doing Media Research: An Introduction provides comprehensive coverage of both quantitative and qualitative social science methods used in research about the media and its role in society. Using straightforward language, author Susanna Hornig Priest shows students exactly how to design and implement meaningful small-scale research projects. This book is based on the philosophy that students can learn methods most effectively through actually using them, and it empowers beginning students to experience research for themselves. This Second Edition features completely revised hands-on exercises and greatly expanded discussions of both media content analysis and the application of social science to new media.

Features and Benefits:

• Explores both qualitative and quantitative approaches to help beginning students understand both, so they can choose the right approach for a particular problem
• Assumes no background in statistics and introduces most topics with a minimum of algebra, explaining all technical concepts in simple language in the text (and in the extensive glossary)
  
• Explains the disciplinary origins of our various research methods, the nature of academic publishing, and the importance of the academic literature
• Emphasizes the process of research design as applied to real-world problems and incorporates discussion of research ethics throughout the book
• Gives students a chance to practice as they go along through chapter-by-chapter exercises, rather than approaching methods as an abstract subject that must be learned by rote
• Describes advanced techniques in general terms to give beginning students an understanding of the full range of tools available without getting in the way of their ability to use more basic approaches right away

Doing Media Research: An Introduction, Second Edition is intended for an introductory course in social science research methods for students in journalism, mass communication, and media studies at either the undergraduate or beginning graduate levels.