MPhil Media Studies: RMS236 Research Methods in Media Studies Course Plan

Course Introduction: This course will hone the reading, writing and analytical skills of the participants. Teaching methods would include lectures, presentations, and workshops. The course will also involve intensive reading and writing exercises.

Course Objectives
• To introduce the participants to the various research methods in media studies.
• To equip students with the skill of analysis
• To hone research writing skills

Session 1: Notions of Research
Session 2: Visual Methodologies
Session 3: Ethnographic Methods
Session 4: Interviewing
Session 5: Proposal Writing
Session 6: Proposal Analysis
Session 7: Proposal Analysis
Session 8: Exposition, Compare and Contrast
Session 9: Cause and Effect; Argument
Session 10: Discourse Analysis
Session 11: Oral History as a Research Method
Session 12: Archival Methods
Session 13: Research on Audiences
Session 14: Research on Institutions
Session 15: Quantitative Methods
Session 16: Designing Quantitative Research
Session 17: Research on Texts
Session 18: Researching Messages: Rhetorical, Cultural,
Session 19: : Researching Messages: Psychoanalytic, Feminist, Queer
Session 20: Researching Media Industries

Note:
• Each session is of two hours duration.
• Writing sessions will draw upon the work of MAR Habib in research writing. The sessions will follow workshop methodology

CIA I – A short research paper of about five pages on a topic of your choice.
CIA II - Presentation and report based on sessions
CIA III – Presentation and report based on sessions

Note: The reports should summarise the presentation and discussion in respective seminars. The reports should strictly adhere to standard academic writing formats.

Bibliography
Bertrand, Ina and Peter Hughes. Media Research Methods: Audiences, Institutions, and Texts. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2005.
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New Delhi: East-West Press. 2004.
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. 3rd ed. New York: Modern Language Association, 2008.
Griffin, Gabriele. ed. Research Methods for English Studies. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005.
Ott, Brian L. and Robert L. Mack. Critical Media Studies: An Introduction. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2010.
Priest, Susanna Horning. Doing Media Research: An Introduction. 2 ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2010.
Somekh, Bridget and Cathy Lewin. eds. Research Methods in Social Sciences. New Delhi: Sage/Vistaar, 2005.
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 5th ed. New York: American Psychological Association. 2001.