Research Methods for Media and Culture Studies (ENG)

Course goals

After the course the student has:

• insight into the central questions of media and culture studies;
• become acquainted with three important perspectives into media and performance: Political economy, representation, and reception;
• become acquainted with “cultural studies” as a perspective within media studies with its own research questions and methods.

After the course the student can:

• conduct a small-scale research project with a correct research question, relevant theory, and fitting method;
• study phenomena from media and performance within their appropriate socio-cultural context;
• write a clear academic argument, particularly a “thesis statement” and argumentative structure.

Content

This course introduces students to methods which are used to research media in cultural research, i.e.: visual analysis, textual analysis, discourse analysis, production analysis and public research. The specific objective of these cultural methods is to research the role and significance of media in society and culture. The methods will be explained and positioned in a historical, social and theoretical context. Topics will include issues such as identity, the political economics of media, representation, ideology, discourse and the public.

More specifically, narrative analysis, representation analysis, production analysis and qualitative public research will be discussed and placed within a historical, social and theoretical context. Students will use these methods when performing their own analyses and setting up their own research.

In workgroups the students practice with the methods in order to prepare for their own mini-analyses.  The student chooses one of their own mini-analyses as the starting point for a longer research proposal. Using the “Five Question Pie Chart,” students will formulate their paper using the following prompts: “which phenomena shall I research?”, “Why is that research necessary?”, “What question will guide the research?”, “Within which theoretical framework is the research framed?”, and “Which method follows logically from the other components?” As a result, this course comprises an important basis of knowledge for the following courses on the topics of research in a socio-cultural context.

This course forms part of the Media and Culture Bachelor’s programme. The course forms part of Core Profile 1 and builds on skills which were acquired previously in the Core Profile. In terms of their learning, students further improve their general academic skills in the field of reading and writing of academic texts and make a start on putting their research skills into practice.

 

Additional information

This course is part of Core Profile 1 of the BA Media and Culture in English.

Note: This is the course code to register for a workgroup in English.
Let op: Dit is de cursuscode voor een Engelstalige werkgroep

Priority rules
This course has priority rules and a waiting list. Your enrolment is guaranteed if you
- are a student in the BA Media and Culture and this course is part of your core profile (basispakket)
- are an exchange student and meet the course’s entry requirements
In all other situations, you will be placed on a waiting list if you enrol in this course. For any remaining slots in the course, lots are drawn among the students on the waiting list.

A Maximum of 8 exchange students will be admitted to this course.

Early Exit option for international exchange students (5 ECTS)
Exchange students who are required to return to their home university before January, are allowed to choose an Early Exit option for this course. The Early Exit option means that students can finish the course before Christmas break, receiving 5 ECTS for the course. Students must make arrangements with the course coordinator at the start of the course.