Preconference: How to Quantify the Unquantifiable: The Methodology of Gender and Intersecting Dimensions of Identity

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

In the field of media and communication studies the methods we apply are informed by the theoretical paradigms of our investigations. Mass communication research on media users in long-running national surveys or media effects experiments are often tasked with reducing complex theoretical constructs to quantifiable categories. Similarly, research on representations in media applies categorical systematics to assess how gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, disability, class, age, and other dimensions of identity are depicted across media outlets.

On the one hand, research applying standardized methods usually falls short in acknowledging the social construction and blurring boundaries of these categories. On the other hand, scholarship informed by deconstructivist theories has aimed to identify examples and patterns of media realities, but are sometimes criticized for including far-reaching conclusions without generalizable evidence.

Our keynote speaker, Prof. Dr. Susanne Kinnebrock (University of Augsburg, Germany) will open the pre-conference with an overview of how the concepts of gender and sex have historically evolved within our research traditions and how closely related our methodological approaches to these developments have been. This will set the stage to elaborate and think about ways to critically appraise gender and its intersecting dimensions within the quantitative paradigm.

Overall, the pre-conference aims to bring together scholars with different approaches to the same issues with the intention of informing as well as inspiring collaborative approaches across disciplines and paradigms. We invite innovative thinking on what methodologies are open to us, both when we ask questions concerning large populations or when we seek to quantify complex ideas. What methodological approaches can we productively employ while assessing matters of gender, sex, race, ethnicity, and class in a thoughtful manner?

Sub Unit

• Sponsored Sessions

Chairs

• Sabine Reich, Hanover U of Music, Drama and Media

• Stine Eckert, Wayne State U

• Natalia Rybas, Indiana U East

• Daniela M. Schluetz, U of Muenster

Participant

• Susanne Kinnebrock, U of Augsburg