Researching the Media & Cultural Industries

‘Research methods cannot and should not be discussed or understood in isolation from the theories, models and socio-political concerns which have guided media and communication research’(Hansen and Machin, 2013, p. 2). To outline the key points of the research the Media & Cultural Industries I read How to do media & cultural studies (Stokes, 2003, pp. 98-127) and Media & Communication Research Methods (Hansen & Machin, 2013, pp. 2-33).

The research is determined by four main methods[i]: archive research, interview, participant observation and oral history.[ii] One more key to analyse for a research project is the financial status of the company. (Stokes, 2003, pp. 100-101)There can be added concepts as: theoretical methods of society, concepts of media power, types of communication process, tone and so on. (Hansen & Machin, 2013, pp .3-4)

Popular Culture refers to the industry that produces or promotes the art in all its form that are accepted by general mass as a universal unit of lifestyle (Stokes, 2003, pp. 98-100). As both reading agree, the Marx’ concept about the society is based on social structures and its culture that includes even the economy sector. Through this state of mind it can be deduced the ideological and power levels of cultural and political environments. Furthermore, according to Marxists, Adorno and Horkheimer, the biggest industries that decide the media content are based on ideological concepts.[iii]

There are a lot of criteria in which a company can be researched as: company’s history[iv], its response to market changes, new technology, new legislation etc.[v] According to Hansen & Machin (2013, pp. 15-31), the process of research should start from the point of selection the research topic and it should end up by presentation or publication data.

There are two main ways of research: source-oriented and problem-oriented, although the first one, well known as ‘archive research’[vi] is one of the most frequently methods as long as the access of documents is allowed.[vii]

According to Stokes (2003, pp. 114-118), moving on to interview as a method of research it is seen as the primary method. This side of research shows people’s opinions and different points of views that help in constructing a complex overview upon certain topics. However, interviews are harder to be conducted as they require a large amount of time and a careful examination of target audience and topics.[viii]

The third method of research, studying behaviour in workplace, can be the most close to reality as you experiment the work environment, having a direct contact with employees. [ix]

The oral history method is based on people’ narration, but the biggest problem is to find the available people to tell their stories. (Stokes, 2003, pp. 124-125)

I believe the research is always the most useful tool, using it as a start point of a project or to summarize the topic. I would chose interview as a research method to find out the most used research technique in academic field and why is that technique the best choice: is commodity or great involvement?

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References:

Hansen, A. and Machin, D. (2013) Media & Communication Research Methods, London: palgrave macmillan

Long, P. and Wall, T. (2012) Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context, 2n dEdition, Essex: Pearson Education Limited

Stokes, J. (2003) How to do media & cultural studies, London: Sage Publications Ltd.

Bibliography:

Hansen, A. and Machin, D. (2013) Media & Communication Research Methods, London: palgrave macmillan

Long, P. and Wall, T. (2012) Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context, 2n dEdition, Essex: Pearson Education Limited

Saukko, P. (2003) Doing Research in Cultural Studies, London: SAGE Publication Ltd.

Stokes, J. (2003) How to do media & cultural studies, London: Sage Publications Ltd.

[i] Outlined in Lecture by Dr Ayo Oyeleye

[ii] (Stokes, 2003, pp. 98-99)

[iii] (Stokes, 2003, pp. 103-104; Hansen & Machin, 2013, pp. 32-33)

[iv] Having access to research data of a company can be really hard as they are spending a lot of money to monitories the competition for their own improvement.

[v] Text from Stokes, 2003, p. 107, Table 4.1

Both readings (Stokes, 2003, p 108; Hansen & Machin, 2013, p. 6) agree that there are also a lot of question worth to be asked as Table 4.2 (Stokes, 2003, p. 108) shown below

[vi] The stages of an archive research are defining object of analysis, research question, identify the archive sources, defining the range of work, gather the data, collate the information and writing up the findings.

[vii] Stokes ,2003, pp. 108-110

[viii] The steps of interview are: deciding how to conduct the interview, conduct background research, planning the interview, conducting the interview, take notes, transcribe the interview and reflection.

[ix] The stages in participant observation are: documentation about the company, fieldwork and after fieldwork reflection (Stokes, 2003, pp. 120-124)

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