COMS 604: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSES

The course is aimed at familiarising students with the basic techniques for analysing results of social research with particular emphasis on communication issues. The focus of the course is on the research design process: conceptualisation and measurement, modes of observation for data collection, and types of analytical tools used in both quantitative and qualitative research. It examines quantitative and qualitative research as the two broad methodologies employed by social scientists in discovering the forces behind social phenomena. The quantitative approach, which is based on methodological principles of positivism, is distinguished from the qualitative approach of analysis, which is largely interpretive.