Aims

This course expands on the methodological approaches developed in the BAC 1 (Statistics and Elements of Probability) and BAC 2 courses (Qualitative Data Analysis). The teaching in this course is intended specifically to integrate the methodological thinking and practices from these courses into the Information and Communication Sciences. It aims to achieve this by introducing and developing research methods and techniques focused on different approaches within communication production, usage, practices, effects and processes.

Main themes

The course objectives are:
1. to situate (rapidly) the production and analysis of qualitative data (interviews and questionnaires etc) within the Information and Communication Sciences.
2. to demonstrate the interest and relevance of qualitative approaches in the Information and Communication Sciences. To embark on quantitative data analysis (inter-variable relations, sampling distributions, hypothesis-testing etc)
3. to discuss methods and techniques relating to : content analysis (qualitative and quantitative), text and discourse analysis, image analysis, empirical observation and description of communicative situations, setting up quasi-experimental mechanisms.
4. to draw up the outlines of an epistemological method of thinking

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Evaluation: A written examination on the topics covered in the course and continuous assessment (exercises)
Course materials: course handout, web site
Supervision: an assistant lecturer