Abstract
This chapter discusses emerging methodological trends in media policy research. Setting out from several weaknesses of research to date, it identifies the use of digital methods and participatory approaches as two areas of ongoing renewal. Digital methods concern both digitized existing methods such as document analysis and digitally native methods such as scraping. The chapter highlights the value of new techniques to tackle issues such as fake news, data protection, further ownership concentration, etc.
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Further Reading
Felt, M. (2016). Social media and the social sciences: How researchers employ big data analytics. Big Data & Society, 3(1). http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2053951716645828.
Hand, M., & Hillyard, S. (2014). Big data? Qualitative approaches to digital research. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing.
Hearn, G. N., Tacchi, J. A., Foth, M., & Lennie, J. (2008). Action research and new media: Concepts, methods and cases. New York: Hampton Press.
Kennedy, H., Moss, G., Birchall, C., & Moshonas, S. (2015). Balancing the potential and problems of digital methods through action research: Methodological reflections. Information, Communication & Society, 18(2), 172–186.
Rogers, R. (2013). Digital methods. Cambridge, UK: MIT Press.
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Donders, K., Van Audenhove, L. (2019). Digitization and Media Policy Research. In: Van den Bulck, H., Puppis, M., Donders, K., Van Audenhove, L. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Methods for Media Policy Research. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16065-4_3
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