Course : Research Methods II (Qualitative)

Fall 2003

Room : GAB 207

Professor : Dr. Mitch Land

Phone/office : 940.565-4564; GAB 207

Email :

Texts Required: Qualitative Researching with Text, Image & Sound, Bauer

& Gaskell (editors), 2000, Sage.

Supplementary: Dictionary of Qualitative Inquiry, Schwandt

Doing a Literature Review, Hart

Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design, Creswell

Publication Manual of the APA (5th edition)

Description This course is both theoretical and practical in its approach to qualitative research. In other words, we will look both “at” qualitative research and “through” it, in order to analyze its place in the academy. The course’s scope will cover: the history of academic research and philosophy; the present state of qualitative research (and cultural and critical studies in mass media); the comparison of qualitative research with other methods; its tools and its methods; and an overview of qualitative mass media studies in current journals and books. We will study the qualitative work of others in the mass communication discipline and we will use methods in group work and final projects.

Course goals include:

§ Attainment of a qualitative vocabulary

§ Understanding of the differences between quantitative and qualitative research

§ Knowledge of various qualitative traditions, methods, and objects of research

§ Ability to design a research study and to construct a corpus

§ Comprehension of the standards of the qualitative research community, its writing forms, and APA style, as demonstrated in a final project

Office Hours As director of the Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism, I am usually available throughout the day, Monday through Thursday. Please make appointments through Sandy McKnight, my administrative assistant (940) 565-4564. By appointment only, I can be available just before classes on Monday afternoon before 3:30 p.m. and Tuesday evening before 6:30 p.m.

Evaluation Your grade for this course will be based on the following:

4 Abstracts (10%) : Four one-page summaries of media articles based on qualitative research methods

2 mini-research studies (5% each)

1 Team Research Project (20%)

Final project Proposal (20%)

Final Project (40%)

Academic When you submit work for this class, that is the same as making a

Honesty statement that you have produced the work yourself, in its entirety.

Plagiarism, copyright infringement, and similar uses of other people’s

work are unacceptable.

Plagiarism, in a nutshell, is using other people’s written words as your own. Some people consider the use of 7-10 words in a row, copied from another source, as plagiarism. Be sure to include citations when using other people’s writing, because plagiarism is a serious offense in any discipline, especially in journalism. It’s a firing offense in the professional world. In this department, students face a range of penalties for plagiarism (depending on the importance of the assignment): a grade of “F” on a minor assignment; a request that the student drop the class; withdrawal of the student from the class, initiated by the professor; an “F” in the course; a referral to the UNT Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities; a notation on the student’s transcript; and expulsion from the university. A combination of these penalties may also be used.

Attendance Two absences in the course are the limit without penalty toward your final grade, unless you have communicated with me from the beginning about an extraordinary problem. If you are absent, you will still be expected to meet a 6:30 p.m. deadline on those days.

Special If you require an accommodation based on disability, I would like to

Needs meet with you in the privacy of my office during the first week of the semester to ensure that you are properly accommodated.

Structure What follows is a tentative outline that will be filled in by other assignments. If you miss class, it is your responsibility to keep up with changes in this syllabus and additional assignments.

Week 1 Aug. 26: Course introduction: “Why do qualitative research?”

Week 2 Sept. 2: Meet in Willis Library 136 with Stacy Anderson. Prepare your first Abstract. Submit Abstract in Word Attachment to . Read chapter 1 from main text.

Week 3 Sept. 9: More discussion of chapter 1, handout; also chapter 2 on corpus construction. Intro to chapters on rhetorical and semiotic analysis.

Week 4 Sept. 16: Discuss chapter 12, rhetorical analysis, and chapter 13, semiotics; sample articles.

Week 5 Sept. 23: Mini-research assignment on either rhetorical or semiotic analysis due; Introduction to depth interviewing and focus groups.

Week 6 Sept. 30: Discuss chapters 3, 4 , 5, interviewing (textbook); sample article(s); 2nd Abstract due. It must cover an article that uses interviewing techniques.

Week 7 Oct. 7: Mini-research assignment on either interviewing or focus groups due; reports. Introduction to group project on focus groups.

Week 8 Oct. 14: Discussion of chapters 6, 14, 15, photographs, video, sound; and chapter 8, content analysis. 3rd Abstract is due. It must address content analysis.

Week 9 Oct. 21: Discussion of chapters 10, 11, discourse analysis smf conversation analysis. 4th abstract is due. It must address discourse analysis.

Week 10 Oct. 28: Writing abstracts, narrowing topics, construction a corpus; handouts; preliminary proposals and discussion.

Week 11 Nov. 4: Focus group week; group work as project demands.

Week 12 Nov. 11: Research proposal due, with no extensions. No class.

Week 13 Nov. 18: Discuss chapters 16, 17, computer assistance (textbook).

Report Focus Group results.

Week 14 Nov. 25: Discussion chapters 18, 19, issues of good practice.

Week 15 Dec. 2: Presentations of Final Research Project.

Week 16 Dec. 9: Presentations (due date for all projects).