ABSTRACT
With such a diverse range of theoretical approaches to media research, it is not surprising that there is so little agreement on methodology. Whereas experiments and quantitative surveys have ruled the roost in North America, European scholars have tended to study media texts themselves. As two leading figures in media research put it, “Some of us are studying the texts of popular culture while others are studying their effects on audiences . . . the former don’t know anything about the audience, and the latter don’t know anything about the texts” (Katz & Liebes, 1986, cited in Gunter, 2000a, p. 9).
