While qualitative data are common in social research, their systematic analysis has been largely neglected. Recent developments have facilitated the use of qualitative data as a source of insights. The use of information theory as a vehicle for exploration is particularly appealing to communication researchers in search of new theoretical perspectives. Semantics of Communication . An introduction to the qualitative analysis of textual and verbal matter.
Many empirical inquiries rely on data cast in language.
As the sole reason for such data is their meanings, the course reviews various theories of meaning in view of analyzing texts and talk in the context of how people use, interpret, and accomplish things with them. The course moves from notions of code, reference, sense and vocabulary usage, through how metaphors frame cognition, how narratives establish identities, how speech acts create facts, conventions, and institutions, to the politics of meaning making and maintenance. Content Analysis . It demonstrates these with studies of mass media content, interview or panel data, and systematic efforts to provide legal evidence or draw valid inferences from personal documents. Students learn to design a content analysis and do the preliminary work on it.