Doing Media Research: An Introduction

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.

Susanna Hornig Priest, Ph.D., has taught mass communication theory and research methods at the undergraduate and graduate level beginning in 1989. She holds a doctoral degree in communications from the University of Washington, a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley. Her own research is centered on the role of science in American society and culture, its expression in the mass media, public engagement in science and science policy, and public opinion formation. She is also interested in the social roles of new media technologies.

Priest has served as a member of the Research and Publications committees of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications and as chair and research chair of the Association’s Science Communication Interest Group. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, past associate editor of the journal Public Understanding of Science, and current editor of the journal Science Communication. She regularly serves as an advisor to a wide range of academic projects, government agencies, and private organizations on communication, public engagement, and public opinion issues, and reviews research submissions for a variety of academic organizations and scholarly journals. Her current research is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and other sources.

Her publications include over 30 refereed research articles and nearly 20 book chapters, plus 2 books and the Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Communication, for which she served as General Editor. Currently, she is based in Camano Island, WA, and edits Science Communication.