natebassett

Hrm, I don't mean to give that impression (at least not too strongly)... that is interesting what you say about using those methods, I think you're right. I'm used to seeing a lot of criticism about self-reporting and critiques about "public opinion doesn't exist," but I think it's also because I haven't really had the chance to learn/work with those methods (outside of a job in market research of all things). I'd be willing to try mixed methods though if I had the chance! but yes, you've read me like a book What sorts of specific phenomenon are you referring to?

anyone else finding the deadlines a total relief? it's like I can put it out of my head now that it's been submitted and there's nothing I can do until I hear an answer.

So this is something that has been bugging me for awhile. I had a conversation with a POI where I was asked if I see myself as a qualitative researcher or a critical one - he said his work focused on empirical methods so he was wondering how that would suit me. I was confused. As an undergrad, most of the communications research I was aware of was quantitative methods - content analysis where researchers would "count" something in a broadcast, surveys of viewership and opinions, and so on. I knew about the early comm theory work of Paul Lazersfeld and others like Lippman and Lasswell. Then I went to an MA program at The New School and I learned about critical theory, and qualitative methodologies like ethnography and participant observation. The interdisciplinary nature of a media studies program brings in perspectives from sociology, literary criticism, art theory and anthropology (mostly because it is relatively new and doesn't have a lot of core work of its own). So I got to learn about the Frankfurt School and critical theorists like Theodore Adorno, Max Horkhiemer, Benjamin, Marcuse and of course Habermas. Back to the conversation, my answer was some sort of compromise - I explained my experience and said I thought that qualitative, emperical methods could compliment critical theory and normative perspectives in research. After the conversation though I looked for a way to answer that question and so I found these two sources which I think will help out anyone who is looking for the right "fit" and unsure of the flavor of a department and it's faculty. The Origins of Empirical Versus Critical Epistemology in American Communication by Dustin W. Supa - this is a short overview of the relationship that Lazersfeld had with Adorno and the rift that's developed in communication research between the two approaches. The Empirical Stance vs. The Critical Attitude by Darrell Patrick Rowbottom this is more a supplementary piece about the philosophy behind those two perspectives and how dogmatic each are so, keep in mind: as an undergrad you may be aware of the difference between quantitative and qualitative methods. BUT there are also epistemological differences ("how true is something we think is true and how do we know it") and very different attitudes between a normative or critical approach, and an empirical approach. If you want to go into Communications to do market research for advertising or political communication (along the lines of polisci stuff), it's likely that you will be using quantitative methods with a post-positivist epistemology. However if you want to work with communities to understand their communication and agenda, for instance, activists and social movement studies, then you may wind up doing qualitative work with a social constructivist mindset. And the critical approach is highly normative and very theory based so you will be using a lot of analyses based on things like class, gender and race. If there's anything wrong with the above feel free to call me out!

Update: Narrowed my list down, been emailing people furiously, made some contacts and about to start the application and write my SOP this week! In reaching out to people, I got some very polite "no this is not a good place for you" for good reasons, which I appreciated, and I got some awesome "you should definitely apply" which was nice too. New List (by preference, weighed by people/location/cost of living): University of Washington University of Wisconsin-Madison (Comm Arts) University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (Comm Studies) MIT (Media Lab) University of Illinois at Chicago Northwestern (Comm Studies) hi theoreo, USC Annenberg is probably one of the best programs IMHO - they have Harry Jenkins and Manuel Castells who are some of the most important thinkers in media studies at the moment, w/r/t your interest in new technologies / media, online communities. I would have loved to apply there (but my wife doesn't want us moving to socal). I don't know much about UCSB but I do know they have the Media Industries Project which looks cool.

Hi all, I'm finishing up my MA and my thesis at The New School and looking to move on, starting my applications this week! My schools are Michigan State, Northwestern, UIC and UIUC, Madison and maybe Pittsburg. Reach picks are MIT, Stanford and Berklee. Probably still need to narrow it down a bit! My wife ruled out Southern California for us, so no USC for me. California and Mass are very unlikely, just because of the cost of living. I was getting excited about UC Boulder because I thought it would be awesome to live in the Rockies, but on further research I found out that their Communication PHD with a media studies focus is probably temporarily defunct - they closed the journalism school recently and are working on making a new college of media. So far my work has been really interdisciplinary, but heavy on the cultural studies and ethnography. I'm willing to do more qualitative work although I don't have much experience with it and my math gre scores were pretty weak. Interests are network theory, digital media, participatory culture, civic media and public sphere. I made contact awhile back with someone at UIC who is great and someone at Northwestern who was totally unhelpful, as well as one or two others, but sort of lost track after I got bogged down in thesis work. However since I have some good experience and a decent CV, I'm not too worried about making a good impression or finding a good fit.

I'm currently doing my masters at The New School - I commute into the city during the semester on one or two days a week, as needed for classes. I take a mixture of online and physical classes, and I have about 18 credits to go. I also want to do a thesis option, because after I graduate I want to apply to a PhD program with funding, and keep studying/researching/teaching in my field (Media Studies/Digital Humanities) The thing is, I might be getting a job offer from WashU in a position that's applicable to my field - but that would mean moving to STL, and finishing my MA online. I'm wondering if that would totally mess up my chances of a strong admission into another grad school, because I wouldn't be around my thesis advisors (they do apparently do that online, but I haven't really settled on anyone quite yet), or would it be no big deal to finish the MA online, work for a year, then apply? Schools I'm thinking of: Northwestern, MSU, UIC, UIUC, University of Chicago

Hi future candidates: I was wondering if I could glean some general knowledge from those of you with similar interests: I'm currently in The New School's Media Studies MA program, which I really like, and I choose as sort of a middle ground before (possibly) going onto a PhD program. Now I'm a little more sure of what I want, and I'm interested in a lot of the schools which have been mentioned here, but I thought I'd ask a little more directly: I'm really interested in the intersection of political communications and media studies, specifically critical approaches to ideology and new media, propaganda and that sort of thing... remediation and the transformation of rhetoric through digital networks, which I know is sorta new stuff, but perhaps if someone else is into this, I can find out where you've looked at? If so, thanks!