In this book, Arthur Asa Berger combines a practical focus, the use of numerous examples, a step-by-step approach, and humour to examine both qualitative and quantitative research methods in media and communication research.

Table of Contents

Introduction PART ONE: GETTING STARTED What Is Research? Library Searches PART TWO: METHODS OF TEXTUAL ANALYSIS Semiotic Analysis Rhetorical Analysis Ideological Criticism Psychoanalytic Criticism PART THREE: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS Interviews Historical Analysis Ethnomethodological Research Participant Observation PART FOUR: QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS Content Analysis Surveys Experiments A Primer on Descriptive Statistics PART FIVE: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER Nineteen Common Thinking Errors to Avoid Writing Research Reports

Author Biography

Arthur Asa Berger is Professor Emeritus of Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts at San Francisco State University, where he taught between 1965 and 2003.. He has published more than 100 articles, numerous book reviews, and more than 60 books. Among his latest books are The Academic Writer's Toolkit: A User's Manual (2008), What Objects Mean: An Introduction to Material Culture (2009), Bali Tourism (2010), Tourism in Japan: An Ethno-Semiotic Analysis (2010), The Culture Theorist's Book of Quotations (2010) and The Objects of Our Affection: Semiotics and Consumer Culture (2010). He has also written a number of academic mysteries such as Durkheim is Dead: Sherlock Holmes is Introduced to Sociological Theory (2003) and Mistake in Identity: A Cultural Studies Murder Mystery (2005). His books have been translated into nine languages and a dozen of his books have been translated into Chinese . Professor Berger is married, has two children, four grandchildren, and lives in Mill Valley, California. His e-mail address is arthurasaberger@gmail.com