Research Methods for Cultural Studies

This new textbook addresses the neglect of practical research methods in cultural studies. It provides students with clearly written overviews of research methods in cultural studies, along with guidelines on how to put these methods into operation. It advocates a multi-method approach, with students drawing from a pool of techniques and approaches suitable for their own topics of investigation. The book covers the following main areas:

Drawing on experience, and studying how narratives make sense of experience.

Investigating production processes in the cultural industries, and the consumption and assimilation of cultural products by audiences and fans.

Taking both quantitative and qualitative approaches to the study of cultural life.

Analysing visual images and both spoken and written forms of discourse.

Exploring cultural memory and historical representation.

The contributors, along with Michael Pickering, are Martin Barker, Aeron Davis, David Deacon, Emily Keightley, Steph Lawler, Anneke Meyer, Virginia Nightingale, and Sarah Pink. The book is designed for use by students on upper-level undergraduate and taught Masters-level courses as well as postgraduate research students and cultural studies researchers more generally. It will be of enormous value across all fields of study involved in cultural enquiry and analysis.

James Fraser is a graduate of the Scottish Studies programme at the University of Guelph having earned his first degree in History at the University of Toronto. His Edinburgh PhD was awarded for his work on the christianisation and early ecclesiastical history of the southern Picts. He is a Lecturer in Early Scottish History and Culture with a joint appointment in Scottish History and Celtic and Scottish Studies.

Michael Pickering is Professor of Media and Cultural Analysis in the Department of Social Sciences at Loughborough University.