Working on the fundamentals of journalism and mass communication research: Advancing methods in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 2007-2016

This special virtual theme issue presents eight articles on “methods” selected from Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (JMCQ) issues published between 2007 and 2016. This collection was selected from articles that focused on developing and assessing the quality of a (new) research method or technique, or articles that examined methodological innovations as part of a study on a substantive issue. A scan of the articles in JMCQ over the 10-year period under study revealed that about 7% (n = 28) focused on advancing research methods or data analysis techniques. The articles selected are prime examples of JMCQ’s method articles and deserve renewed attention because of their inspiring approach and the insights they provide. We introduce them briefly below under three categories: methodological issues in content analysis; methodological issues in surveys, interviews, and focus groups; and measurement and scale development.