Welcome to my course on Mixed Methods in Communication Studies. When I first suggested that this course be opened, I knew I wasn’t doing an easy task; however, when I started taking notes for the 15-week course outline, I realized I was attempting a very difficult task:) Nonetheless, considering the benefits that both the students and I will derive from this course, I am glad I did it.
Mixed Method designs, as we often hear, consist of the combination of quantitative research method and qualitative research method. However, using two methods together in a research does not mean doing a mixed method research.
Within the scope of this course, we will first examine the philosophical underpinnings of quantitative and qualitative research methods separately. It would be incorrect to use a mixed research methodology without first understanding which research method was used from which paradigm, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of both.
Following that, we will discuss the concept of the mixed research technique, process the designs in order, understand which one is used when, and develop a research plan accordingly.
My goal
In the context of this course, my primary goal is to assist students in improving their academic qualifications by combining theory and practice through an applied literature review (which may also be a research proposal) and gaining a philosophical understanding of research methodologies.
When you complete this course successfully
- You will be familiar with the patterns of quantitative and qualitative research methods.
- You’ll be aware of the trends in mixed research methodology.
- You will know which research design, method, and technique you will choose when you want to do a mixed-method study.
- You will be aware of the data collecting and analysis techniques you can use while conducting research using a mixed methodology.
- One of the qualitative research softwares, MaxQDA, will be one you can learn about and assess with its fundamental features. (https://www.maxqda.com/lang/en)
- You will be able to understand the fundamentals of Jamovi, one of the quantitative research softwares, and do analyses. (https://www.jamovi.org/)
- You will be able to create a report based on your research.
It is important to ask the following specific question: Is Prof. Cıngı the right person to teach this course?
During my PhD, I took research techniques courses, but due to our inability to understand the relevance of the subject, possibly my laziness, and the lack of methodologies used by our teachers who teach this course, I completed my PhD thesis by looking at how others did it.
Can you believe it, not a master’s degree, but a doctorate…
When I decided to pursue academic studies, I realized that in order to conduct a high-quality academic study, I would need to be knowledgeable about methodology.
Technique cannot exist in the absence of ontology and epistemology. As a result, I became obsessed with research methods and have spent the last five years reading as many books and papers as possible on the subject.
I spent as much time and effort as I could attending various online and traditional workshops and seminars on the methodology. Professor Aylin Yonca Gençoğlu made significant contributions to my understanding during workshops. Thank you to her. I also benefited a lot from AYEUM online methodology courses (https://ayeum.com/).
As a result, I realized that it was and should not be possible to produce high-quality academic publications without knowing the proper methodology, and I attempted to improve my methodology. I conducted grounded theory and phenomenology research. These studies were well received at symposiums, praised by referees, and published in academic journals. I supervised both qualitative and quantitative dissertations and served as a referee for qualified journals in the SSCI and TRDizin index.
Of course, my activities do not show that I am an excellent academician. I consider myself a method student. Full throttle to student education, but at the very least, I can discuss the mixed research technique with you. Of course, it would be ideal if John Creswell or Vicki Plano Clark came to your class, but I am here, and I have dealt with major mistakes and failures. I assure you that I will do everything in my power to keep you from making the same mistakes I did.
How can we keep in touch?
You can contact me via email during our course, social media, or one of the methods listed on the “Contact” page above. Also, I make some announcements on my Instagram profile, which you should keep an eye on.
How will I teach the course and which studies will we read?
I’ll ask you to read extensively starting with our first lesson. I will always be the one who teaches the lessons. I will never assign you a topic and then ask you to present it. However, before each class, we will review the books/sections you have read.
We will finish our lesson during class. I’ll ask that you write a research proposal. You will have to work hard outside of class hours to accomplish this. Then we’re going to make the plan as a research in the field and write down as a report.
As we mentioned above, we will need MaxQDA and Jamovi softwares to do the analysis and a computer to run them.
You can download the softwares via the links below:
MaxQDA
(https://www.maxqda.com/) (This software is paid, so we can only install a one-month trial version.)
Jamovi
https://www.jamovi.org/ (In my opinion, this software is the best alternative of SPSS because it’s user interface is totally simple and moreover, it is completely free :D)
To sum it up, you are sure to spend a lot of energy in this lesson. Keep the energy part in mind when choosing this course, if you are not sure about your energy, I definitely do not recommend you to choose this course!
What does our course contain?
You can see the course outline here.
What do we have in our reference list to read?
You may see the studies that will be read for the course here.
For the study proposal, we will take the Erciyes University Social Sciences Institute thesis writing guide as a basis. You can download and review the guide here.
How will we do the exam and score it?
Good news, there are no exams:) Bad news: difficult research awaits you. You will only receive the final grade. The quality of your study proposal and research paper will determine your final score. If your work is a potential recommendation for any of the following indexes, you will receive the index’s score:
- SSCI: 100
- ESCI: 90
- TRDizin: 85
- Other peer reviewed journals: 75
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