Experimental Methods in Media Research

A final version of this text will appear as chapter 6 in Van den Bulck, H, Puppis, M., Donders, K. & Van Audenhove, L. (Eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of Methods for Media Policy Research. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Forthcoming

17 Pages Posted: 14 Nov 2017

See all articles by Christian Handke

Christian Handke

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Faculty of History and Arts

Christian Herzog

Leuphana University of Lueneburg

Date Written: November 6, 2017

Abstract

Causal effects are a prime concern in media policy research, and experimental research designs are widely regarded as the most effective way to identify and gauge causality. Nevertheless, explicit applications of experimental methods are rare in media policy research. This chapter discusses experimental research designs in the context of this research area. It covers essential aspects of experimental research and identifies two types of experiments that are particularly suitable for media policy research: quasi-experiments and choice experiments. For each of these experiment types, we present a successful application. We discuss the benefits of experimental empirical work and some do’s and don’ts. Overall, we argue that an experimental mind-set can help to improve a broad range of empirical work on media policy, including qualitative research.

Keywords: media studies; media policy, research methods, research design, experiment, quasi-experiment, choice experiment

JEL Classification: A33, C9, L82, Z18

Suggested Citation

Handke, Christian and Herzog, Christian, Experimental Methods in Media Research (November 6, 2017). A final version of this text will appear as chapter 6 in Van den Bulck, H, Puppis, M., Donders, K. & Van Audenhove, L. (Eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of Methods for Media Policy Research. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3068054 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3068054

Christian Handke (Contact Author)

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Faculty of History and Arts ( email )

P.O. Box 1738
Rotterdam NL-3000 DR
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://www.eshcc.eur.nl/handke/

Christian Herzog

Leuphana University of Lueneburg ( email )

Scharnhorststraße 1
Lüneburg, 21335
Germany

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