09/01/2017

To create a solid foundation into the area research I began with Berger’s 2014 ‘Media and Communication Research Methods: An Introduction into Qualitative and Quantitative approaches’. I hoped to gain a strong understanding of the principles needed to understand different branches of research as well as things to consider when conducting research.

16/01/2017

In preparation for lecture next week on ‘Researching Culture’ I read Hemmersley and Atkinson’s book; Ethnography: Principles In Practice, the chapter on ‘What is ethnography?’. Having a little understanding on what ethnography is from the book ‘Doing Research in Cultural Studies’ by Saukko, I was interested to look more deeply into the topic, to broaden my understanding and help prepare myself for the up-coming weekly research task. 

23/01/2017

Having previously studied a little about discourse I was excited to read Discourse Analysis by Rosalind Gill, a section from Qualitative Researching by Martin W. and Gaskell (2000). In the past I have analysed the use of language in one of Nigella Lawson’s cookery shows and compared it to the language used by the Hairy Bakers, however this was only through deconstructing techniques and language they used. I hoped that this reading would increase my understanding of how to conduct my own more formal discourse analysis, as I understand how important language is. 

30/01/2017

Chapter eight, Analysis of ‘Reality’ and ‘Space’ in Doing Research in Cultural Studies by Saukko, discusses critical geographic works into the subject of ‘space’ and how to use it to make sense of macro-processes of globalisation as well as the everyday implications. Having no understanding of what space is or the theoretical beliefs around it I was excited to do this reading, as it was completely new. 

06/02/2017

To prepare myself for researching people, I read Hermanowicz 2002 The Great Interview: 25 Strategies for Studying People in Bed. This was a topic I felt quite confident about, as I have previously conducted interviews for research purposes during my A-Levels. However, I was interested to learn tips for making a good interview into a great interview, because I feel that interviews are a vital part of social science research.

13/02/2017

In preparation for exploring researching the visual, I read Making Photography As Part Of A Research Project from the book Visual Methodologies (2007) by Rose. I find photography an interesting topic and looked forward to discovering how a creative method could be used as part of important research, as this was not a link I had considered. 

20/02/2017

I examined two readings which explored the ideas of digital ethnography: ‘Digital Ethnography: Principles and Practice’ by Pink, Horst, Postill and others, and ‘Social Media Ethnography: The Digital Researcher in a Messy Web’ by Postill and Pink. These two readings were similar in many aspects discussing the same theorists and the same basic ideas, therefore in this entry I will discuss both writings simultaneously.