Graduate Courses

How do social scientists create new knowledge? What are the qualitative processes and philosophies of knowing for communication scholars? This course provides students with a range of theories and frameworks for gathering data and developing claims, as well as understanding the limits of social science inquiry. Key areas of focus are identifying research questions, research ethics, understanding evidence, making causal claims and scholarly writing. COMM 5230 is required of all degree candidates and open only to graduate communication students.

This course will focus on applying principles and best practices in designing and conducting mixed methods research to address communication research questions and develop communication interventions. Through this course, students will 1) learn how rigorous qualitative and quantitative methods can be integrated to answer complex research questions, 2) appreciate the relative strengths and limitations of qualitative and quantitative data, 3) understand the rationale, benefits, and tradeoffs of commonly utilized mixed methods study designs, and 4) practice designing a mixed methods investigation. We will learn different aspects developing, conducting, reporting, and evaluating mixed methods studies, and read examples of communication research studies that utilized mixed methods. We will review the best practices, strengths, and challenges of utilizing mixed methods to answer communication research questions drawing from these examples. This course requires prior completion of introductory coursework in quantitative and qualitative research methods. Prerequisites: COMM 5220 Introduction to Communication Research and COMM 5230 Qualitative Ways of Knowing, or similar coursework.