SOC 482 Study Guide - Winter 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Numeris, Ford Focus, Michel Foucault
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
SOC 482
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Two Major Schools of Thought in Communication Research
Week 1
Administrative Research
● Paul Lazarsfeld (194) how do ideas in mass media
● More quantitative - more statistical analysis
● Mass meda - something that does something to the audience - influence
● All about empirical focus
○ To prove a theory, must be able to see it or doesn’t count
○ If want to test/observe something, prove it exists in physical world
● Ex. Demographic questions;
○ What are the effects of media on audiences?
○ What are the members of the audience?
○ Who watched the Golden Globes two Sundays ago?
○ What television programs do audiences in Canada consume?
● Eg. Numeris reasoning list of programs - top 30 on the list and their statistics
○ TV broadcasters - CTV and Global, start new relatively at 8pm
Critical Research
● Frankfurt School (1930s and 40s) challenged media determined interpretation
○ Focused on media institutions, culture and interpretation
● All use a piece of Marxist analysis of the cultural industry
○ Anything that includes mass media and linked to art and culture industry
○ Didn’t want to look at it as anything but power, act weak
● Content consumed tells us who’s in power
● Decie what dominant consent looks like
● Has philosophy to challenge the administrative branch
● Ex. Demographic questions;
○ How are media institutions structured?
○ In what ways do media institutions promote dominant ideologies?
○ How are media messages accepted, challenged and resisted by audiences?
○ What stories are prioritized in media coverage?
○ What stories are ignored in media coverage?
○ How are texts constructed for audience consumption?
○ What’re dominant representations of reality in mediated texts?
What is a text?
● Anything our senses are aware of
○ Eg. smartphones, bodies, articles, songs
○ Anything you can take a reading of
● Lewis (2009) what we do in critical analysis has value
○ Embrace content of text bc they all have values and matters
○ Analyzing and being attentive to text and worthy of practice
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
■ Reveals identity of our culture bc reveals power and opportunities of
resistance
○ Sometimes are explicitly political - understanding power
■ When we think texts are not political is when it is more political
Descriptive and Explanatory Research Questions
Descriptive
● Aims for accuracy - “what” or “how”
● Research question created must be answerable by consuming chosen text
● Accurate picture of something being created of group/population
○ Questions;
■ What are the differences and similarities between nightly news
programming on the CBC and CTV television networks?
■ How are the demographics for CBC Radio 1 and CBC Radio 2 different
and similar?
■ What are dominant images associated with Canadian news media
coverage of Syrian refugee resettlement in Canada?
Explanatory
● Aims to explain - “why”, the reasons for social phenomena
○ Questions;
■ Why is the programming on CBC and CTV networks different?
■ How do news producers and decisions influence the types of news
available on television?
■ Why are responses to the recent minimum wage increase different when
major Canadian newspapers’ editorial content is compared?
■ Why do people use the dating app Tinder? What explains the app’s
popularity?
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Two major schools of thought in communication research. Paul lazarsfeld (194) how do ideas in mass media. Mass meda - something that does something to the audience - influence. To prove a theory, must be able to see it or doesn"t count. If want to test/observe something, prove it exists in physical world. Numeris reasoning list of programs - top 30 on the list and their statistics. Tv broadcasters - ctv and global, start new relatively at 8pm. Frankfurt school (1930s and 40s) challenged media determined interpretation. Focused on media institutions, culture and interpretation. All use a piece of marxist analysis of the cultural industry. Anything that includes mass media and linked to art and culture industry. Didn"t want to look at it as anything but power, act weak. Content consumed tells us who"s in power. Has philosophy to challenge the administrative branch. Anything you can take a reading of. Lewis (2009) what we do in critical analysis has value.
