This course will introduce students to quantitative, qualitative, and interpretive methods for doing research on digital media (online media, mobile media, and social media) and ethical ways of employing those methods. Students will learn about how to apply quantitative, qualitative, and interpretive methods to studies of digital media creation, content, and use, and students will also learn about how digital media companies use research and analytics. At the end of this course, students should have a basic understanding of several general research methods used by digital media scholars and have gained an appreciation for the ethical considerations in conducting human subjects research.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Apply a basic vocabulary of concepts about digital media research.
• Identify strong and problematic research.
• Discover and present considerations for ethical practice in digital media research.
• Identify the basic considerations in designing and conducting questionnaire studies, interviews and examinations of content.
• Develop a plan for a research study.