Class Research Methodologies in Communication and Media Arts

The CU's main goal  is to offer competences that enable students to successfully develop a research proposal and subsequent scientific research work in the fields of communication sciences and media arts.The unit will present different approaches for the development of research work, guiding students to define clear research proposals for their future work. By the end of the semesters students should be able to: Define their research interests; explain and apply research terms to specific research objects; Describe the process of research in communication sciences and media arts, as well as its main stages and activities; Be familiarized with the main methods of qualitative research in communication sciences and media arts; Design/Plan the different stages of a doctoral research project and justify the chosen methodological approaches; Write an effective doctoral research proposal, which can serve as the starting point for the work that will be developed in the student's dissertation.

Not applicable

- Introducing the curricular unit and the practices of scientific research in communication sciences and media arts; - Disciplinary research traditions, epistemologies and methodologies; - Stages of research, defining research questions, problems, and models of analysis; - Literature review, state of the art, and methods of citation and referencing (APA and others); - Content analysis; - Ethnographic methods and participant observation; - Creative research methods and art-based research; - Writing research projects and proposals; - Writing a research article: steps and approaches; - Science communication and dissemination.

Given the aims of this curricular unit, it will adopt a theoretical-practical format, alternating between expositive, demonstrative, and participative methods. Students are expected to read and discuss recommended texts, as well as engage in critical debate about the research projects the intend to develop.   The evaluation will consist of two moments: evaluation of the research proposal for the dissertation/final project, in written format (90%) and oral presentation of the proposal (10%).

•    Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. S. (2005). The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks: SAGE. •    Flick, U. (2020). Introducing Research Methodology: Thinking Your Way Through Your Research Project. SAGE. •    Jensen, K. B. (Ed.). (2021). A handbook of media and communication research: Qualitative and quantitative methodologies (3rd edition). Routledge. •    Leavy, P. (2020). Method Meets Art: Arts-Based Research Practice. New York: The Guilford Press. •    Bertrand, I., & Hughes, P. (2017). Media Research Methods: Audiences, Institutions, Texts (2nd ed). Springer. •    Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2022). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (Sixth edition). SAGE •    Kumar, R. (2018). Research Methodology: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners. SAGE. •    Lindlof, T. R., & Taylor, B. C. (2019). Qualitative communication research methods (4th ed). SAGE. Outras referências, a disponibilizar no Moodle Other references, to be shared on Moodle