Workshop II: Qualitative Social Science Methods for Media Studies

Readings

SES #	TOPICS	READINGS
1	Introduction, Ethics, and Institutional Review Boards Course introduction, expectations, scope. Overview of basics around working with human subjects, ethics, consent.	Boellstorff, Nardi, Pearce Celia, et al. “Ethics” and “Human Subjects Clearance and Institutional Review Boards.” In Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook of Method. Princeton University Press, 2012. ISBN: 9780691149516. [Preview with Google Books] Seveningsson Elm, Malin. “How do Various Notions of Privacy Influence Decisions in Qualitative InternetResearch?” In Internet Inquiry: Conversations About Method. Sage Publications, 2008. ISBN: 9781412910019. [Preview with Google Books] Orgad, Shani. “How can Researchers Make Sense of the Issues Involved in Collecting and Interpreting Online and Offline Data?” In Internet Inquiry: Conversations About Method. Sage Publications, 2008. ISBN: 9781412910019. [Preview with Google Books] Optional Example reference: T. L. Taylor Institutional Review Board Application from December 2012 (PDF - 1.1MB) The iMoMS (Ian’s Map of Media Studies) (PDF - 1.2MB)
2	Framing Social Science Research What different methods are good for, evidence and argumentation, social science and qualitative methods.	May, Tim. “Social Theory and Social Research.” In Social Research: Issues, Methods and Research. 4th ed. Open University Press, 2011. ISBN: 9780335235674. [Preview with Google Books] Schwandt, Thomas. “Three Epistemological Stances for Qualitative Inquiry.” In The Landscape of Qualitative Research: Theories and Issues. 2nd ed. Sage Publications, 2003. ISBN: 9780761926948. Becker, Howard. “How I Learned What a Crock Was.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 22, no. 1 (1993): 28–35. Geertz, Clifford. “Thick Description: Toward and Interpretive Theory of Culture.” In The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books, 1977. ISBN: 9780465097197. Orgad, Shani. “How can Researchers Make Sense of the Issues Involved in Collecting & Interpreting Online & Offline Data?” In Internet Inquiry: Conversations about Method. Sage Publications, 2008. ISBN: 9781412910002. [Preview with Google Books] Optional May, Tim. “Perspectives on Social Scientific Research.” In Social Research: Issues, Methods and Research. 4th ed. Open University Press, 20011. ISBN: 9780335235674. [Preview with Google Books]
3	Participant Observation Negotiating entry, self-presentation, fieldnotes, levels of involvement, exit. Advanced Topic: Risk & Crime	Emerson, Robert, et al. “Participant Observation and Fieldnotes.” In Handbook of Ethnography. Sage Publications Limited, 2001. ISBN: 9780761958246. [Preview with Google Books] Berreman, Gerald D. “Behind Many Masks: Ethnography and Impression Management.” In Ethnographic Fieldwork: An Anthropological Reader. Wiley-Blackwell, 2006. ISBN: 9781405125925. Pink, Sarah. “Re-sensing Participant Observation: Sensory Emplaced Learning.” In Doing Sensory Ethnography. Sage Publications Limited, 2009. ISBN: 9781412948036. [Preview with Google Books] Trigger, et al. “Revelatory Moments in Fieldwork.” Qualitative Research 12, no. 5 (2012): 513–27. Fetterman, David. “Walking in Rhythm: Anthropological Concepts.” In Ethnography: Step-by-Step. 2nd ed. Sage Publications, Incorporation, 1997. ISBN: 9780761913856. Advanced Topic Readings Lyng, Stephen. “Dangerous Methods: Risk Taking and the Research Process.” In Ethnography at the Edge: Crime, Deviance, and Field Research. Northeastern University Press, 1998. ISBN: 9781555533335. [Preview with Google Books] Ferrell, Jeff. “Criminological Verstehen: Inside the Immediacy of Crime.” In Ethnography at the Edge: Crime, Deviance, and Field Research. Northeastern University Press, 1998. ISBN: 9781555533335.
4	The Monograph I Close read of a published ethnography.	Condry, Ian. The Soul of Anime: Collaborative Creativity in Japan’s Media Success Story. Duke University Press Books, 2013. ISBN: 9780822353942.
5	Interviews Recruiting / approaching, open-ended vs. structured, formal vs. informal, thematic, biographical, questioning, recording, transcribing, coding, organizing, synthesizing. Directed vs. semi-directed, marketing vs. social science. Visit by Nancy Baym, Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research Advanced Topic: Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality	Spradley, James P. The Ethnographic Interview. Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1979, pp. 45–68, 78–91, 120–31, and 155–72. Kuniavsky, Mike. “Focus Groups.” In Observing the User Experience. Morgan Kaufmann, 2003. ISBN: 9781558609235. [Preview with Google Books] Morgan, David L. “Focus Group Interviewing.” In Handbook of Interview Research. Edited by Gubrium & Holstein. Sage Publications, Incorporation, 2001. ISBN: 9780761919513. Thomas, Robert J. “Interviewing Important People in Big Companies.” The Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 22, no. 1 (1993): 80–96. Advanced Topic Readings Shields, Stephen. “Gender: An Intersectional Perspective.” Sex Roles: A Journal of Research 59, no. 5 (2008): 301–11. Jordan-Zachery, Julia S. “Am I a Black Woman or a Woman Who is Black? A few Thoughts on the Meaning of Intersectionality.” Politics & Gender 3, no. 2 (2007): 254–63. Pascoe, C. J. “What If a Guy Hits on You?” In Dude, You’re a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School. UC Berkeley Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780520252301. Optional Crenshaw, Kimberle. Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Idenitity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. Stanford Law Review 43, no. 6 (1991): 1241–99. Kendall, Lori. “How do Issues of Gender and Sexuality Influence the Structures and Processes of Qualitative Internet Research?” In Internet Inquiry: Conversations About Method. Edited by Markham and Baym. Sage Publications, Incorporation, 2008. ISBN: 9781412910019.
6	Technology Thinking about technology & values in social science work, non-human actors, “flat” ontologies, assemblage. Advanced Topic: Ontology & Agency	Latour, Bruno. “Where are the Missing Masses? The Sociology of a Few Mundane Artifacts.” In Shaping Technology / Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change. MIT Press, 1992, pp. 225–58. ISBN: 9780262023382. Star, Susan Leigh. “The Ethnography of Infrastructure.” American Behavioral Scientist 43, no. 3 (1999): 377–91. Taylor, T. L. “The Assemblage of Play.” Games and Culture 4, no. 4 (2009): 331–9. Advanced Topic Readings Sayes, Edwin. “Actor-network Theory and Methodology: Just What does it Mean to Say That Nonhumans have Agency?” Social Studies of Science 44, no. 1 (2014): 134–49. Lynch, Michael. “Ontography: Investigating the Production of Things, Deflating Ontology.” Social Studies of Science 43, no. 3 (2013): 444–62. Caplan, Paul. “Software Tunnels Through the Rags ’n Refuse: Object Oriented Software Studies and Platform Politics.” (PDF) Culture Machine 14 (2013). Winner, Langdon. “Do Artifacts have Politics?” Daedalus 109, no. 1 (1980): 121–36.
7	Visual Materials Working with the visual as a node of social life, producing images within fieldwork, privacy & publics, using the visual for analysis and argumentation	Pink, Sarah. “Classifying and Interpreting Photographic and Video Materials.” In Doing Visual Ethnography. Sage Publications Limited, 2013. ISBN: 9781446211175. ———. “Photography in Ethnographic Research.” In Doing Visual Ethnography. Sage Publications Limited, 2013. ISBN: 9781446211175. Optional ———. “Video in Ethnographic Research.” In Doing Visual Ethnography. Sage Publications Limited, 2013. ISBN: 9781446211175. Boellstorff, Nardi, Pearce, et al. “Three Brief Histories.” In Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook of Method. Princeton University Press, 2012, pp. 13–28. ISBN: 9780691149516. [Preview with Google Books]
8	Cultural Probes and Artifacts Using documents, archives, 3rd party materials. Artifacts to capture and elicit data, activity-logs, time journals, use in creative design research vs. social science.	Gaver, Bill, Tony Dunne, et al. “Design: Cultural Probes.” Interactions 6, no. 1 (1999): 21–9. Robertson, Shanthi. “Cultural Probes in Transmigrant Research: A Case Study.” Interactions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies 4, no. 2 (2008): 1–25. Tilley, Christopher. “Ethnography and Material Culture.” In Handbook of Ethnography. Sage Publications Limited, 2001. ISBN: 9780761958246. Latour, Bruno. “Circulating Reference: Sampling the Soil in the Amazon Forest.” In Pandora’s Hope: Essays on the Reality of Science Studies. Harvard University Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780674653368. [Preview with Google Books] Optional Haraway, Donna. “A Cyborg Manifesto.” In Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. Routledge, 1991. ISBN: 9780415903875. [Preview with Google Books]
9	Usability Utilizing some basic observation and interview techniques for applied purposes. Advanced Topic: Studying Up	Kuniavsky, Mike. “Usability Tests.” In Observing the User Experience. Morgan Kaufman Publishers, 2003. ISBN: 9781558609235. [Preview with Google Books] ———. “Do a Usability Test Now!” In Observing the User Experience. Morgan Kaufman Publishers, 2003. ISBN: 9781558609235. [Preview with Google Books] Microsoft User Research. Do-it-Yourself Usability: A Crash Course on User-Testing. GDC, 2005. Advanced Topic Readings Nader, Laura. “Up the Anthropolgoist—perspectives Gained from Studying Up.” In Reinventing Anthropology. Pantheon Books, 1972. ISBN: 9780876651131. Gusterson, Hugh. “Studying Up Revisited”. Polar 20, no. 1 (1997): 114–9. Seaver, Nick. “Studying Up: The Ethnography of Technologists.” Ethnography Matters. March 10, 2014. Optional Fullerton, Tracy. “Playtesting.” In Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. Morgan Kaufmann, 2008. ISBN: 9780240809748. [Preview with Google Books]
10	Analysis Some additional techniques / tricks / approaches to analyzing material not previously covered in weekly sessions. Advanced Topic: Reciprocity	Crang, Mike, and Ian Cook. “Analyzing Field Materials.” In Doing Ethnographies. Sage Publications Limited, 2007. ISBN: 9780761944461. Clarke, Adele. “Doing Situational Maps and Analysis.” In Situational Analysis: Grounded Theory After the Postmodern Turn. Sage Publications, Incorporation, 2005. ISBN: 9780761930563. Lapadat, Judith C., and Anne C. Lindsay. “Transcription in Research and Practice: From Standardization of Technique to Interpretive Positionings.” Qualitative Inquiry 5, no. 1 (1999): 64–86. Fetterman, David. “Finding your Way Through the Forest: Analysis.” In Ethnography Step-by-Step. Sage Publications, Incorporation, 1998. ISBN: 9781412950459. [Preview with Google Books] Advanced Topic Readings Lather, Patti. “Research as Praxis.” Harvard Educational Review 56, no. 3 (1986). Weems, Lisa. “Unsettling Politics, Locating Ethics: Representation of Reciprocity in Postpositivist Inquiry.” Qualitative Inquiry 12, no. 5 (2006): 994–1011. Fine, Gary Alan. “Ten Lies of Ethnography: Moral Dilemmas of Field Research.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 22, no. 3 (1993): 267–94.
11	Creating Persuasive Arguments Writing and the creation of truths, social fictions, generalizablity, thinking about audiences / uses of social science. Advanced Topic: Generalization	Crang, Mike, and Ian Cook. “Writing Through Materials.” In Doing Ethnographies. Sage Publications Limited, 2007. ISBN: 9780761944461. Clifford, James. “Introduction: Partial Truths.” In Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. University of California Press, 1986. ISBN: 9780520057296. [Preview with Google Books] Fine, et al. “For whom? Qualitative Research, Representations, and Social Responsibilities.” In The Landscape of Qualitative Research: Theories and Issues. 2nd ed. Sage Publications, 2003. ISBN: 9780761926948. Advanced Topic Readings Payne, Geoff, and Malcon Williams. “Generalization in Qualitative Research.” Sociology 39, no. 2 (2005): 295–314. Flyvbjerg, Bent. “Five Misunderstandings about Case-study Research”. Qualitative Inquiry 12, no. 2 (2006): 219–45.
12	The Monograph II Close Read of a Published Ethnography.	Larkin, Brian. Signal and Noise: Media, Infrastructure, and Urban Culture in Nigeria. Duke University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780822341086. [Preview with Google Books] Mills, C. Wright. “On Intellectual Craftsmanship.” In The Sociological Imagination. Oxford University Press, 1959. ISBN: 9780195000221.