scholarly journals Rethinking the Rethinking

2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Göran Eriksson
Keyword(s):  
Critical Realism ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Media Consumption ◽  
General Knowledge ◽  
Audience Research ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
Media And Communication ◽  
Oriented Research ◽  
Media Audience

Abstract During the last few decades, the possibilities and limitations of qualitative media audience research have regularly been discussed in media and communication research. Quantitatively oriented researchers have claimed that qualitatively oriented research is incapable of producing general knowledge. From a ‘radical ethnographic’ point of view it has been stated that such knowledge is more or less useless, while other qualitatively oriented researchers have approached the question of generality in a more balanced way, and argued for the necessity to interpret specific events within a framework of more general theories. But these solutions are not satisfactory. The aim of this article is to suggest an alternative conceptualisation of generality. From the meta-theoretical viewpoint of critical realism, this article states that generalisations have to take into consideration the domain of the deep structures of reality. Qualitative media audience research should aim at producing general knowledge about the constituent properties or transfactual conditions of the process of media consumption.

scholarly journals Audience Reception Research in a Post-broadcasting Digital Age

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Christian Schrøder
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Method ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Sense Making ◽  
Audience Reception ◽  
Audience Participation ◽  
Mixed Method Research ◽  
Audience Research ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
Media And Communication

Audience reception research was a child of the broadcasting age, emerging strongly as a subdiscipline in media and communication research in the 1980s. Many saw reception research as a cross-fertilizing force theoretically and methodologically, bringing together research traditions from the humanities and the social sciences, and adding a qualitative orientation to the near-hegemonic rule of quantitative methods in audience research. This article discusses the ways in which reception research is reinventing itself in a post-broadcasting age. With sense-making processes as the continued key concern, three transformations are affecting the trajectory of reception research: An empirical shift has occurred from analyzing viewers’ “decoding” encounters with media “texts” to mapping audience participation in the wider mediascapes of traditional, digital, and social media; a theoretical adoption of, and contributions to, theories of participation and mediatization; and a methodological shift from purely qualitative to a mixed-method research design.

scholarly journals The English language in academia: Identifying power structures, denaturalizing daily choices. ECREA 2018 special panel report

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena Sousa
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Academic Life ◽  
Special Session ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Critical Reasoning ◽  
Panel Report ◽  
Specific Dimension ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Media And Communication

Media and communication research has been dominated by the Anglo-American paradigm and English has become the lingua franca of academic life. The 2018 ECREA conference focused on centres and peripheries, inclusions and exclusions, cores and margins in the field. In line with the programme, this special session on Language in Academia tried to respond to contemporary critical asymmetries, analysing a specific dimension often taken for granted: the English language hegemony. The centrality of the English language is often assumed without questioning or critical reasoning.

scholarly journals Television from Digital Generation’s Perspective: Concerning the Problem of Media Consumption

2019 ◽  
pp. 374-385
Author(s):  
Marina Myasnikova
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Mass Communication ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Media Consumption ◽  
Qualitative Properties ◽  
Communication Processes ◽  
Digital Generation ◽  
The Media ◽  
Journalism Students ◽  
Media Audience

The paper focuses on the problem of new digital generation’s participation in the media consumption process and first of all in television watching under conditions when the contemporary television audience transforms due to the emergence of mobile digital technologies. The digital generation is the most vivid segment of the society in terms of diverse interests and active media consumption; it possesses new selection opportunities and influences the elder generation. This article aims to define the digital generation’s role in contemporary media processes; identify its current functions and current attitude to traditional media, particularly television, as well as Russian telecontent. Methods of researching the media audience also change. The main object of mediametry measurements is now the process, not the result of media consumption. In practice, however, the audience is still viewed as a homogenous mass, not a dynamic system. That is why “mass” calculations cannot be used to judge specific audience needs. It is important not simply to measure views but also to study the audience, taking into account the content and formats of media texts consumed by it within the telecommunication process. The research applies the expert survey method within homogenous groups of young people and focuses on qualitative properties of media consumption, specifically its motivation structure and audience needs. Results of three expert surveys conducted among 17–27 years old journalism students of the Ural Federal University at various times are presented. The motives of telecontent consumption are defined. The paper reveals that the new digital generation relies on the telecontent posted on various online platforms. The youth have a critical attitude towards broadcast television not only because of competition from the new media but also due to low quality of professional media products. Additionally, representatives of the young media audience participate in mass communication processes not only as consumers but also as creators of their own video content.

scholarly journals The Significance of Nordicom and the NordMedia Conference to Nordic Media and Communication Research

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (s1) ◽  
pp. 18-28
Author(s):  
Kaarle Nordenstreng ◽  
Kirsten Frandsen ◽  
Rune Ottosen
Keyword(s):  
Communication Research ◽  
Media And Communication

A commentary on the special issue Performance and Citizenship: Challenging populist political performances through citizenship as performance?

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 706-715
Author(s):  
Jason Vincent A. Cabañes
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
Political Regimes ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Transitional Democracies ◽  
Contemporary Media ◽  
Media And Communication

This piece teases out the links between this special issue’s key themes regarding performance and citizenship and the distinct realities of transitional democracies. To contribute to generating insights into other countries currently in the grip of populist political regimes, it looks at the case of the Philippines. In this context, it matters to think about the diversity of productions that can enable performances of citizenship. This is because contemporary media and communication research in the country has understandably but narrowly prioritised the toxicity of online political discourse brought about by the rise of populist political performances and political trolling. It also matters in the Philippines to think about the role of those involved in productions about performances of citizenship. This is because of the problems posed by how ‘authenticity’ has been hijacked by populism and has been weaponised against those who seek to critique the current political dispensation.

Mediation Analysis and Warranted Inferences in Media and Communication Research: Examining Research Design in Communication Journals From 1996 to 2017

2020 ◽  
pp. 107769902096151
Author(s):  
Michael Chan ◽  
Panfeng Hu ◽  
Macau K. F. Mak
Keyword(s):  
Research Design ◽  
Mediation Analysis ◽  
Mass Communication ◽  
Communication Research ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Causal Inferences ◽  
The Past ◽  
Human Communication Research ◽  
Media And Communication

The number of studies employing mediation analysis has increased exponentially in the past two decades. Focusing on research design, this study examines 387 articles in the Journal of Communication, Human Communication Research, Communication Research, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, and Media Psychology between 1996 and 2017. Findings show that while most studies report statistically significant indirect effects, they are inadequate to make causal inferences. Authors also often infer that they uncovered the “true” mediator(s) while alternative models and mediators are rarely acknowledged. Future studies should pay more attention to the role of research design and its implications for making causal inferences.

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