Week 3 - Breaking Down the Moves: My Research Methodology

Hello again, and welcome back to my blog! Today, I’ll be taking you through my methodology.

As I explained in my first post, my methodology is based off a book called Experiencing Music Video: Aesthetics and Cultural Context, that lists eight categories through which a music video should be analyzed. Those categories are narrative, editing, actors, settings, props and costumes, choreography (which looks at space, color, texture, and time), lyrics, and musical parameters (rhythm, harmony, etc.). I have chosen to look at the choreography (and maybe one other category, but I’m not sure yet). This will give me the most data since it has sub-categories and seems to be the most interesting category out of all of them. I will watch a video once for each sub-category (so four times total) and focus entirely on that sub-category. For example, if I’m looking at space, I will see how the main character uses the space around her (or doesn’t!). Are there any choices that are being repeated over and over again? And what do those choices mean? These are the kinds of questions I am thinking about while watching that video. I will then make a table of common themes and the number of occurrences to see what is prevalent and to make it easier to analyze the themes later. 

However, my method is not foolproof (unfortunately). One limitation is that just by looking at one category, I am limiting my scope, especially in comparison with what the author of the aforementioned book has written. Another limitation is that the same movements or choices can mean different things, which makes the video harder to analyze.

Oral defense question of the week:

How is the method/process you chose aligned with the purpose of your research? What methods did you consider and reject?

What a relevant question for today! My method, coding, is the process that answers my research question best because I am looking for themes and how these themes undermine a certain historical perspective. I also believe the category I have chosen (so far) will show the most of the courtesan’s character and personality, which is what I am looking for. I considered looking at all eight categories as mentioned above, but that would make 72 categories total to analyze, which would be time consuming and a lot to write about (which may be difficult with the word limit).