Abstract
This fully updated second edition offers an advanced introduction to quantitative methods that focuses on why and how to conduct research that contributes to social justice.
Providing both inspiration and step-by-step guidance on how to conceive, design, and carry out a quantitative study, the book shows how research can be used to work toward a more just and equitable world. The authors provide a detailed guide to quantitative methods and statistical analysis, showing how researchers can engage with social justice issues in systematic, rigorous, ethical, and meaningful ways. This new edition includes a new chapter on writing literature reviews and better aligns with the stages of quantitative research as well as the changing technologies that are available for researchers to both study and use in their work. It includes updated real-world case studies, interviews with scholar-activists, and definitions of key concepts as well as a deeper focus on ethics, social media, computational social sciences, data analytics, and data visualization techniques.
Attuned to questions of access, equity, justice, diversity, and inclusion, this textbook is ideal for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in research methods for communication and the social sciences. It will also be of interest to researchers who wish to engage with the transformation of structures, practices, and understandings in society through community and civic engagement and policy formation.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Foundations and Definitions
Chapter 2. Reading and Writing about the Research Literature
Chapter 3. Ethical Considerations
Chapter 4. Meaning in/and Measurement
Chapter 5. Sampling and Representation
Chapter 6. Soliciting Opinions through Survey Research
Chapter 7. Studying Responses through Experimental Methods
Chapter 8. Examining Communication Content in Content Analysis Research
Chapter 9. Calculations and Complexity
Chapter 10. Mixed Methods: Triangulating with Qualitative Research
Chapter 11. Community Partnerships and Participatory Research
Chapter 12. Using Research in Action: Publication, Public Engagement, and Policymaking
Appendix Statistical Analysis Guide: Introduction to SPSS and R
Meet the Authors
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Bio
Erica Scharrer (PhD, Syracuse University) is Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is co-author of three additional books, including Media and the American Child, and editor of the Media Effects/Media Psychology volume of the International Encyclopedia of Media Studies. Her research on the topics of media content, opinions of media, media effects, and media literacy has appeared in a number of journals.
Bio
Srividya Ramasubramanian (PhD, Penn State University) is Presidential Impact Fellow, Professor of Communication, Affiliated Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, and Director of the Difficult Dialogues Project at Texas A&M University. Her research focuses on critical media effects, diversity, anti-racism, prejudice reduction, media literacy, and social justice and has been published in several journals, books, and popular press outlets. She is also Executive Director of Media Rise, a nonprofit for meaningful media for social justice.
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