About people's relations with the media. Qualitative analysis of web content 3500-SEMBAD-RELMED
A growing number of studies, including those conducted as part of thesis work at the Department of Sociology, are using social media content. The methodological challenge is the diversity of the types of material they offer: whether textual, graphic or audiovisual. At the same time, social media pose important questions for researchers about users' relationships with media, about where to look for "media influence" on selected aspects of social life, and how to perceive the interpenetration of different online and offline activities and realities.
The seminar will aim, first, to conceptualize this relationship between digital media and their users from the perspective of the concept of deep mediatization. Second, to translate this perspective into ways of investigating selected mediatized worlds and figurations. Third, to use the potential of the diversity of social media material to describe these mediatized worlds in a multidimensional way. The fourth goal will be to develop participants' sociological analytical and research skills.
To achieve these goals, in the 1st and 2nd theoretical and introductory blocks, students will be introduced to basic concepts of mediatization, as well as to semiology (G. Rose's visual analysis) and various types of content research. In the next block, they will become familiar with the basic functions of Maxqda. In block IV, they will choose the topic of their research and select sources, and then create a research plan, make a selection of material. The fifth block will be devoted to the analysis of the material. Credit for the seminar, in addition to activity in class, will require the submission of partial papers (small take-home assignments, I anticipate 8 of them during the year), as well as the preparation of a final report and presentation(block VI).
Participants will become familiar with the basic functions of the Maxqda software, but the main goal of the course will not be to learn how to use the software, but to use it in practice to conduct analyses. Participation in the seminar will also require work at home (material analysis, teamwork, etc.).
The effects of the projects will be presented in research reports and presentations shared during class.
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Can use ethical norms and rules in research practice
Can use academic knowledge acquired in social practice
Can select proper research methods and techniques to conduct an analysis of a particular problem
Can plan and carry out a social study using basic quantitative and qualitative research methods and techniques
Can use the basic functions of a chosen computer program for data analysis
Can effectively collaborate with members of a task team
Can share the acquired sociological knowledge
Can find, gather and synthesize information about social phenomena
Can critically assess sources
Can present results of his/her own research
Knows and observes the rules of professional ethics, including those pertaining to intellectual property
Assessment criteria
Participation in class, take-home assignments (5 per year), final research report (group or individual)
Bibliography
selected literature:
Hepp A and Hasebrink U (2018) Researching transforming communications in times of deep mediatization: A figurational approach. In: Hepp A, Breiter A and Hasebrink U (eds) Communicative figurations: Transforming communications in times of deep mediatization. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 15-35.
Hsieh, H-F., Shannon, S. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative text analysis. Qualitative Health Research, Vol. 15 No. 9: 1277-1288
Krotz F and Hepp A (2011) A concretization of mediatization: How mediatization works and why ‘mediatized worlds’ are a helpful concept for empirical mediatization research. Empedocles: European Journal for the Philosophy of Communication 3(2): 132-152.
Kuckartz, U., & Rädiker, S. (2019). Analyzing qualitative data with MAXQDA: Text, audio, and video. Springer.
Mayring, P., 2000. Qualitative Content Analysis. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research Vol 1, No 2 (2000): Qualitative Methods in Various Disciplines I: Psychology. https://doi.org/10.17169/FQS-1.2.1089
Rose, G. (2007). Visual Methodologies. London, New Delhi: Sage.
Zhang, Yan & Wildemuth, Barbara M. (2005). Qualitative Analysis of Content. Human Brain Mapping 30 (7):2197-2206.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: