QLMMC L1
Research paradigm – set of views and beliefs that researchers use to guide their work;
intellectual map…; …
Four principles of Qualitative Research
1. Meaning-making (not numbers like quanti)
2. Embraces complexity (not causal relationships)

Observe phenomenon in natural context

Comprehensive view not causal explanation that can be generalized
3. Micro insights (not macro picture)
4. Different epistemological, ontological, and methodological positions
(applying our views to the world/color what we see)

Epistemology – how we know the world; understanding how the world exists
(knowledge)
o Positivist epistemology – quanti research – …
o Constructivist epistemology – quali research – …
 Role of the research is crucial (background)

Ontology – how do we exist in the world, nature of existence; what is the
world
Different epistemologies + ontologies  lead to different approaches to the research
process = paradigm
(all are paradigms) Ontology (what)  Epistemology (how)  Methodology and Methods
(how we study them)
Two views of communication

Message transmission
o Focus on effects on audiences (media effects)
o Messages: explicit, denotative meaning

Communication as ritual
o Focus on meaning-making as an active participation drawing upon
cultural familiarity
o Language: implicit, connotative
Methodology VS methods

Methodology – beliefs related to how to study the social world; how we gain
knowledge about the world

Method – concrete way of studying the social world
o Method of data collection
o Method of data analysis

Methodological section in paper/thesis
o …
o …
o …
Dominant Media and Communication Paradigms

Predictive:
o Positivism
o Post-positivism

Descriptive
o …
o …
o …
T1
Data collection

…
Data analysis

…
Reflexivity – …
Small t
Big T
Falsefication
Ethics = morality