HiT619 Welcome to my course on Mixed Methods in Communication Studies. When I first suggested that this course be opened, I was aware that I was not doing an easy task; however, when I started taking notes for the 15-week course outline, I realized that I was attempting a very difficult task:) Nevertheless, considering the advantages that both the students and myself will gain from this course, I am glad that I did such a thing.
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.
We will first look at the philosophical underpinnings of the quantitative and qualitative research methods independently within the context of this course. Without properly comprehending which research method was taken from either paradigm and the benefits and drawbacks of each, it would be incorrect to use a mixed research methodology.
Following that, we will discuss the concept of the mixed research technique, process the designs in order, understand which one is utilized when, and build a research plan accordingly.
My goal
In the context of this course, my primary goal is to help students boost their academic qualifications by combining theory and practice through an applied literature review (which may also be a research proposal) and having a philosophical understanding of research methodology.
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 crucial to pose the following specific question: Is Prof. Cıngı the suitable person to teach this course?
During my graduate school, I completed research techniques courses, but largely owing to our inability to grasp the relevance of the subject, our laziness, and the absence of methodologies used by our teachers who teach this course, I concluded my PhD thesis by looking at it and saying how others accomplished it.
Can you believe it, not a master’s degree, but a doctorate…
When I decided to pursue academic studies, I recognized that in order to conduct a high-quality academic study, I needed to be well-versed in methodology.
Without ontology and epistemology, there can be no technique. I consequently developed an obsession with research methods and have spent the last five years trying to study as many books and papers as I can find on the topic.
I spent as much time and effort as I could attending numerous online and old-school workshops and seminars about the methodology. In these workshops, Professor Aylin Yonca Gençoğlu contributed a lot to me. Thanks her.
Consequently, I personally saw that it was not possible and should not be possible to produce quality academic publications without knowing the right method, and I tried to improve myself in methodology. I conducted grounded theory and phenomenology studies. These studies were applauded at symposiums, appreciated by referees and published in academic journals. I supervised both qualitative and quantitative dissertations and acted as referees in qualified journals in the SSCI and TRDizin index.
Of certainly, my activities do not demonstrate that I am an excellent academician. I regard myself as a method student. Full throttle to student education, but at least I can talk about the mixed research technique, and we can talk about it together. Of course, it would be ideal if John Creswell or Vicki Plano Clark attended your class, but I’m here, and I’ve dealt with big blunders and failures. I tell you that I will do all in my power to prevent you from making the same mistakes that I did.
How can we keep in touch?
You can contact me by sending an e-mail during our course process, via social media or by using one of the most convenient ways on the “Contact” page above. Also, I make some announcements on my Instagram profile, so you should keep an eye on that.
How will I teach the course and which studies will we read?
I will ask you to read extensively beginning with our first lesson. I will always be the one to teach the lessons. I will never assign you a topic and then expect you to present it. However, before each class, we will go over the books/sections you read.
We will complete our lesson throughout class. I will request that you write a thesis proposal. You will need to work hard outside of class hours to do this. Then I’ll ask you to defend that plan in the form of a presentation.
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, no exams 🙂 Bad news, tough research awaits you. You will only get the final grade. The score will be determined by the quality of your study proposal. If the nature of your work is a potential recommendation for any of the following indexes, you will receive the score of that index:
- SSCI: 100
- ESCI: 90
- TRDizin: 85
- Other peer reviewed journals: 75
