Capturing methodological trends in mobile communication studies

Abstract

This study investigates methodological trends in mobile communication studies. The articles published over the past 20 years in five journals (Communication Research, Journal of Communication, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, New Media & Society, and Information, Communication & Society) are analysed. The results show that the quantitative and qualitative studies have increased while theoretical accounts have remained few. The quantitative approach is the most applied. The studied articles reflect a structural problem of science communication that stems from the lack of cumulativity of scientific results and cross-national analyses and from the standard length of articles that poses limitations for scientific communication.

Keywords:

• mobile communication
• methodology
• trends
• theory

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Academy of Finland under Grant 137466, the University of Jyväskylä, and the University of Udine. An early version of the article was presented by the first author in the seminar of Mobile Media and Communication Network in Copenhagen, Denmark, 2 February, 2013. The authors are grateful to two anonymous reviewers, seminar organisers and seminar participants for their valuable comments and feedback.

Notes on contributors

Sakari Taipale is an Academy of Finland Research Fellow at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. His is also an adjunct professor at the University of Eastern Finland. Dr Taipale has published numerous articles on new media, the Internet, mobile communication, and mobilities in high-ranking international journals such as British Journal of Sociology, Telecommunications Policy, European Journal of Communication, Mobilities, and Social Science Research. [email: [email protected]]

Leopoldina Fortunati is the Director of the doctoral program in Multimedia Communication at the University of Udine, where she teaches Sociology of Communication and Culture. She has conducted several studies in the field of gender studies, cultural processes, journalism, and communication and information technologies. Her work has been published in 12 languages. [email: [email protected]]

Notes

1. In this and other graphs, figures are presented in two-year intervals in order to guarantee a sufficient number of articles in each category.

2. The additional analysis of citations, based on data obtained by 27 March 2013 from the Google Scholar service, was executed. Results show that although the average number of citations for quantitative articles (Mean (M)=42.5, Median (Mnd.)=22) is higher when compared with qualitative (M = 42.5, Mnd. = 22), theoretical (M = 22.2, Mnd. = 7), and mixed-method (M = 15, Mnd. = 13) studies, the Kruskall–Wallis test (p=.331) applied to the medians of the citations confirms that these differences are statistically not significant.

3. The citation analysis also shows no significant differences between the male (M = 33.1, Mnd. = 17) and female (M = 33.0, Mnd. = 11) first authors with regard to the received citations (p=.794, Mann–Withney).

4. The citation analysis did not reveal cross-continental differences between North America (M = 36.0, Mnd. = 16), Europe (M = 25.1, Mnd. = 12), and Asia (M = 53.0, Mnd. = 24) with regard to the received citations either (p = .539, Kruskall–Wallis).