ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses interdisciplinarity and method as it relates to policy research and media industry studies. Historically, policy scholarship has been largely dominated by methods linked to the law and social sciences, mirroring the perspectives and methods embraced by policymakers. In this chapter, we argue that there is a need to move beyond these limitations and embrace a plurality of methodologies in order to illuminate how policies around media technologies, distribution, content, and industry behavior are evolving in ways that are not always immediately obvious or beneficial to most citizens. Policy analysis demands interdisciplinary approaches in order to access its true spectrum of cultural concerns, its historical lessons, and create work that is legible across disciplinary divides. As such, we examine the contributions of historical, discursive, and ethnographic methods to the study of policy. Specifically, we consider the ways in which these methods facilitate the interrogation of power as it operates in media industries, the defending of public values, and expand the range of perspective and voices represented in such debates. Such a multiplicity of sources and methods also allows industry scholars to most effectively articulate the public stakes of media policy so that its critical importance might resonate more widely with industry scholars, students, and ultimately all citizens seeking change.
