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COMMUNICATION RESEARCH METHODS

COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS
CRITICAL RESEARCH AND ADMINISTRATIVE RESEARCH

Few debates have been as dominant in communication studies as those related to

administrative and critical research orientations within the field. With the emergence of
the study of communication as an academic discipline in the United States in the 20th
century, both orientations have developed rather binary approaches to the scholarly
study of mass communication. The conflict that arose between administrative and
critical research has, due to its dichotomous nature, been so pervasive that it has been
described as the major conflict in mass communication theory history (Peters, 1999, p.
223). While mass communication scholars like Paul Lazarsfeld have tried to build a
bridge between both research orientations, all attempts have ultimately failed (Rogers,
1994, p. 284). The question can then be asked, what made these two orientations so
incompatible with each other?
The goal of this essay is to give a descriptive and analytical overview of the
administrative as well as critical research orientations and their relevance, importance,
and significance in the study of communication by examining key scholars, methods,
and the ideological premises of each orientation. While Paul Lazarsfeld, who is
considered to be one of the founding fathers of communication as an academic
discipline, defined his research as administrative research, the critics of the Frankfurt

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school can be described as the first scholars who committed themselves to critical
research. Many scholars chose one orientation over the other; among the most famous
ones is Harold Lasswell, who fell primarily under the administrative research
orientation, as well as C. Wright Mills, whose work can be classified as following the
critical research orientation.

Administrative Research
Understanding of Administrative Research
The terms administrative research was coined by the founder of mass communication
research, Paul Lazarsfeld. In his groundbreaking essay Remarks on Administrative
and Critical Communication Research, Lazarsfeld (1941) bases administrative
research on the notion that modern media of communication are tolls handled by
people or agencies for given purposes (p. 2). Lazarsfeld argued that administrative
research is conducted to serve some kind of sponsoring or administrative agency (1941,
p. 8). These sponsors had a public (e.g. governmental or mass media institutions) or
private (e.g. marketing and advertising companies) character. As a result,
administrative research primarily dealt with questions related to the structure and
operation of the mass media industries as well as to how both can be used in the
service of the sometimes opposing interests of media professionals, investors, and the
public. Because government or mass media institutions funded their research, Simpson
described leading scholars in the administrative research orientation, including
Lazarsfeld and Lasswell, as government contractors (1996, p. 50).

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Administrative scholars were thus often criticized for conducting research that
benefits the powerful people in a society such as the government, the military, or mass
media institutions; administrative research was research done for the good of the
powerful. Because governmental or marketing institutions sponsored administrative
research and the role of these institutions was so central in the ideological work of the
administrative researchers, administrative research was not theory-oriented but rather
grounded in practice and empiricism. Because most sponsors were interested in the
short-term effects of persuasion (as they could use the results to their advantage), the
scholars of the administrative research orientation examined these short-term effects in
order to satisfy and secure the sponsors (Davis & Baron, 1981, p. 32).
The dependence of the administrative researchers on their sponsors is also
reflected in their assumptions about the status quo in society. Scholars from the
administrative research orientation saw the status quo as fundamentally adequate
(Davis & Baron, 1981, p. 33). As a result, they did not want to make major changes to
the status quo; instead, they saw the status quo as something that can be improved step
by step in order to minimize the problems of society (Davis & Baron, 1981, p. 33).
This approach to status quo reflects the assumption of administrative research that the
future will be improved if the developments of the present continue (Davis & Baron,
1981, p. 33). The role of communication and media research was a central one in this
process, as the media are considered conduits for messages whose uses and effects
needed to be evaluated and scrutinized so that the needs of both the public and the
sponsoring institutions can be satisfied. Scholars of administrative research

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orientations thus used the empirical generalizations in their findings to improve service
and increase profits of mass media and governmental institutions.

The Founder of Administrative Research: Paul Lazarsfeld

The centrality of Paul Lazarsfeld in the formation as well as promotion of the
administrative research orientation has become obvious in my general overview of the
premise and scholarly nature of the orientation by now. Paul F. Lazarsfeld influenced
communication scholars for generations. He was flexible and used a variety of research
methods in his studies. Rogers described him as an academic entrepreneur who can
cross the boundary between the research in the university setting and the private
industry applied as well as the government (Rogers, 1994, p. 312). As such, he
crucially shaped the field of mass communication research for years and decades to
come, pushing it in a direction that focused on empirical data acquired through the
study of media effects on audiences.

Status Quo in Society Assumption

Lazarsfelds administrative research assumed that the status quo in a society
could be taken for granted. As a result of this assumption, Lazarsfelds research aimed
at making the social order of his time function more effectively by scrutinizing the
structure and operation of the mass media industries so that the needs of both
sponsoring institution, government, and the public can be served. As such, Lazarsfeld
hoped that his research was going to serve the needs of all parties involved (Davis &

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Baron, 1981, p. 27). Lazarsfelds earliest studies in advertising research exemplify this
approach: His research was based on a practical problem in the business world, and the
problems solution aimed serve the interests of both business people (increased profit)
and the public (served interests and needs) at the same time (Davis & Baron, 1981, p.
28). This example does not only show that Lazarsfelds research was grounded in the
acknowledgement of the status quo as an inherently adequate frame for society, but
also illustrates that Lazarsfelds research (like all administrative research) considered
the present as its main concern (Davis & Baron, 1981, p. 27). It further reflects the
notion of the Lazarsfeld administrative research tradition that the status quo can be
moderately improved by facilitating minor changes that minimize major societal
problems (Davis & Baron, 1981, p. 33).

Research Problems Selection

Lazarsfeld was mentioned his interested question as to someone who uses a
medium for something, it is the task of research to make the tool better known, and
thus to facilitate its use (Lazarsfeld, 1941, p. 2-3). He took the given status quo for
granted, the primary objective of Lazarsfelds administrative research was to advance
the status quo by making societal processes and governmental work more efficient. To
put it in his own words, Lazarsfeld was convinced that to someone who uses a
medium for something, it is the task of research to make the tool better known, and
thus to facilitate its use (Lazarsfeld, 1941, pp. 2-3). Lazarsfelds administrative
research probed the links between the power structures in a society and the mass media

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(Stevenson, 1996, p. 184). His research primarily focused on media effects on

individual members (and their opinions and attitudes) of an audience. For instance, in
one of his most famous studies, his Radio Research Project, Lazarsfeld examined the
radio and its psychological effects on individuals. In another study, summarized in his
work The Peoples Choice, Lazarsfeld measured mass media influences on voters
during the presidential campaign of 1940; he found that the media had minimal effects
on the voters. These examples show that his choice of research problems accurately
reflected the primary objective of Lazarfelds research on mass media which aimed to
unravel how public opinion is developed, formatted, and changed through media use
(Lazarsfeld, 1941).

Research Framework and Methodologies

Lazarsfelds background and work was interdisciplinary, and he approached his
research problems with mixed methods. He successfully used his background in
mathematics for his involvement in the social sciences to advance social research. He
is considered the founder of modern empirical social research, he using various
techniques, such as questionnaires, field observations, existing records, and generally
giving priority to quantitative data, though without excluding case studies and other
qualitative material (Rogers, 1994, p. 283)
He was a great research method and tool creator, he developed several innovative
methodologies that allowed him to achieve his research objectives. Such as his famous
Stanton Program Analyzer, a data-gathering apparatus that allowed researcher to

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analyze media content in relation to its effect on the consumer, whereas the latter
method focused on the experience of a respondent. Lazarsfeld also often used focus
groups to generate hypotheses for his study of media effects (Rogers, 1994, p. 279).

The Role for Communication/Media They Saw

Many empirical scholars attributed the ability to the media to improve the social
problems of a society and to lead gradual social change (Rogers, 1994, p. 122). To
Lazarsfeld, the mass media herewith fulfilled three functions for society: conferral of
status, social norm enforcement, and the narcotizing of dysfunction. However, while
many scholars (including Harold Lasswell) attributed a powerful role to the media,
Lazarsfeld was the first one to question the idea of the powerful mass media. He
thought that media simply conveys and transmit meaning (Davis & Baron, 1981, p. 33),
and doubted the power of the media in the creation of its consumers attitudes and
opinions. In The Peoples Choice, Lazarsfeld argued that the media only persuaded a
few individuals, the opinion leaders, who then influenced other individuals. This
two-step communication flow suggests that ideas often flow from radio or print [the
media] to the opinion leaders and from them to the less active sections of the
population (Lazarsfeld, Berelson & Gaudet, 1965, p. 151). Lazarsfeld concluded that
the media is rather ineffective in changing peoples opinions and can only reinforce
existing beliefs.

Administrative Scholar Harold Lasswell

The notion of the media as a powerful means to shape the masses opinions

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came from another scholar who can be classified as belonging to the administrative
research orientation: Harold Lasswell. He had a background in political science and
pioneered the scientific method of content analysis. Lasswell focused his work on the
analysis of propaganda.

Status Quo in Society Assumption

Lasswell was trained as a political scientist. He used psychology to analysis
political phenomenon and discussed political leaders and how they affect other people.
As well as, he used psychopathology to analyze the characteristics of political leaders,
and tried to explain their political ideas and actions.
Lasswell can be look as a spokesperson for elites class, because he advanced
social elites class could get greater benefits than others. All of the policies should
service for those elites class as well. So his research is service for keeping current
social construction, which is protect current good of leader class as well. That is why
Lasswell could get support from U.S. Department of Justice as well as other
governmental institutions and administrative sponsors. His propaganda research is not
only to analysis and study it, more important is learn how to create it.(Rogers, 1994, p.
224).

Research Problems Selection

Lasswells research interests focused on the study of propaganda, the roles of
leaders and power in the political arena, and the relation of both to public opinion

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formation. Based on his analysis of the use of propaganda during World War I,
Lasswell identified propaganda as a socially important problem of his time (Rogers,
1994, p. 215).
Lasswell assumed that if propaganda is used powerfully, the mass media would
be able to persuade anyone (Davis & Baron, 1981, p. 36). This led Lasswell to the
conclusion that propaganda had very powerful effects that need to be examined. By
evaluating the effects of propaganda and media uses, Lasswell hoped that his research
could better serve the existing needs of the social order. One of his primary objectives
was therefore to improve the services of the administrative institutions he was serving:
to help the government to create more effective propaganda.

Research Framework and Methodologies

Lasswells propaganda research is for know symbols were utilized in World War I
propaganda making use primarily of interpretive, empirical, and qualitative methods
during this time in order to unravel different propaganda techniques used during the
war. The propaganda research is belongs to content analysis, the main research method
he used as below:

Qualitative and critical research method

In Lasswells early study of propaganda and content analysis in World War I, he
mainly used qualitative and critical research methods, such as newspapers content
analysis of propaganda in U.S. Library of Congress

Quantitative

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As quantitative research developed, he started using quantitative methods in his

study of propaganda in World War II.

Content analysis
Lasswell invented a new methodology, content analysis, which is combining
qualitative and quantitative methods to study communication messages, such as
propaganda messages analysis.

The Role for Communication/Media They Saw

Lasswell was a political scientist more than a communication and media scholar,
he still made great contributions to the development of mass communication. He
believes mass media not only played a very important role for society, but also media
messages is powerful effect on its audience, like his hypodermic-needle model, and it
could be effective tools for governments as well, it is tool of U.S. governments battle
for peoples minds (Rogers, 1994, p. 9).
He is the first scholar who developed a model of the process in which society
communicates. His fivequestions model of communication, which is Who says what
to whom in what channel with what effect, is the dominating paradigm defining the
scope and problem of American communication research. And, at the same time, his
five-question model defined five different communication research fields: Control
Analysis, Content Analysis, Media Analysis, Audience Analysis and Effects Analysis.
His communication effect study did influence Paul F. Lazarsfelds research of
communication effect.
Lasswell is the first scholar to highlight the foundation for communication effects.

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His study of communication not only studied communication itself, he also

emphasized foundation of communication in society development. He summarized
three functions of communication in society: surveillance of the environment,
correlation of societys response to events in the environment and transmission. A
fourth foundation, entertainment, was added later by communication scholars
(Rogers,1994, p. 232). This fourth foundation too is still widely accepted.

Critical Research
Understanding of Critical Research
The word critical stems from Karl Marx. Marxism aims at revealing mechanisms
of oppression and thus contributes to the liberation of oppressed groups.
Critical research is not a clearly defined category of research but represents many
different types of research. It can be used in many different types of social scientific
research, beyond social scientific research. As well as can be attached as an adjective
to any number of existing disciplines or methodologies, such as critical sociology,
critical discourse analysis, critical anthropology, critical psychiatry, critical
criminology, critical ethnography and so on. But in communication study, scholars
mainly use critical research methods if they belong to the Marxist, Feminist or
Poststructuralist schools of thought.
Although the research climate of the emergence of communication studies as an
academic discipline was one that had been dominated by scholars who often directed
the study of mass media to the study of media effects, other orientations of research

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emerged nonetheless. Most notably, scholars of the critical research orientation saw a
stark contrast between their work and the work of administrative researchers. One of
the biggest ideological differences between administrative research and critical
research traditions lies in the purpose that both orientations attribute to their research
activities; both view the role of the researcher in fundamentally different, opposing
ways. While administrative scholars were sponsored by governmental or mass media
institutions and their research was thus carried out in the interest of those institutions
(hence, the ones in power) who gained power through social research, critical scholars
saw the role of media research in the interest of the ones who, according to the critical
school, had no power at all: the ordinary people. In stark contrast to that of
administrative research, the critical tradition saw the primary role of social research as
empowering the powerless and as encouraging emancipation (Rogers, 1994, p. 123).
Critical scholars viewed the mass media as a means of the powerful elite to control
society. Because they were economically independent from the institutions they
criticized so heavily (unlike the administrative researchers), critical theorists saw
themselves as a kind of conscience of society, to champion unpopular causes, and to
oppose powerful establishments forces (Rogers, 1994, p. 112).
This self-perception indicated the critical research orientations perception of
status quo in society: They viewed the status quo as inadequate (Davis & Baron, 1981,
p. 33). They argued that it is the status quo and its reinforcement through the mass
media that alienates people. As such, the critical scholars were convinced that the
status quo has to be changed radically in order for humans to fulfill their full potential

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(Davis & Baron, 1981, p. 33). While administrative research assumed that the future
improved if the status quo is maintained, the critical research orientation feared that the
future is going to be worse than the present if the status quo is not changed (Davis &
Baron, 1981, p. 33). It is no surprise then that critical researcher highly criticized the
system as well as the very same powerful institutions that were served by
administrative researchers. The critical scholars were more concerned with the future
of society than with its present.
Another major difference between the administrative and critical research
orientations lay in the different functions they attributed to social research. While
administrative researchers focused their studies on short-term effects because they
could make the institutions preserving the status quo more effective, the critical
scholars were more interested in the long-term effects of the media. While
administrative scholars wanted their research to be practical in the first place, critical
scholars therefore put high emphasis on theory in their work. For the critical school,
theory provided the framework that would allow the scholars to show the masses that
they are being exploited by the powerful institutions in society and that the mass media
is used by these powerful forces to distract the masses from their true, unfree state of
being that was fostered by the capitalist system.
Frankfurt School
Frankfurt school is a great successor to Freud and Marx. In philosophy, the term
critical theory describes the neo-Marxist approach of the Frankfurt School, which was
developed in Germany in the 1930s. The Frankfurt School was a group of critical

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scholars that was influenced by both Marxist and Freudian thought. Among the
members were some of the biggest critics of the capitalist system and mass culture:
Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Herbert Marcuse, Walter Benjamin, Erich Fromm,
and Leo Lwenthal. The school initially consisted of dissident Marxists (Rogers, 1994)
who believed that some of Marx's followers had come to parrot a narrow selection of
Marx's ideas, usually in defense of orthodox Communist parties.

Status Quo in Society Assumption

The critics of the Frankfurt School viewed the status quo as fundamentally
inadequate (Davis & Baron, 1981, p. 32). While administrative scholars wanted to
preserve the existing social order and accepted the status quo, the Frankfurt School
critics condemned the status quo and did not accept it because, in their opinion, it only
benefitted the wealthy business people (the ones in power) and attributed all control to
the wealthy and no control to the ordinary people. The original aim of Frankfurt
School was to analyze the true significance of the ruling understandings (Rogers,
1994, p.111) generated in bourgeois society, through a Marxist paradigm, in order to
show how they misrepresented actual human interaction in the real world. Frankfurt
School scholars critiqued the inequity society status of one small social class own the
power, then lulling other social members into falsely accepting their conditions
(Rogers, 1994, p. 113). Comparing with administrative research scholars, Frankfurt
School critics condemned the status quo as fundamentally inadequate and cannot be
accepted. They observed the parts of society that they were critiquing and drew heavily

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on the history of their objects of study (Rogers, 1994, p. 112). They are insist social
status quo have to change, for an ideal society with true equality, emancipation, and
the fulfillment of humans full potential, and no exploitation.

Research Problems Selection

The Frankfurt School saw scholarship and mass media theory as an important
instrument to gain knowledge and provide insight into who controls the mass media
industry and into how the construction of mass culture misleads the people. Frankfurt
School focused on emancipation of the proletariat. Their applied approaches to studies
were: who gains and who loses from social research? (Rogers, 1994, p. 123) Their
study involved different fields of society, but their fundamental critique of the existing
society and academic approaches was in three aspects:

Frankfurt School critiqued Positivism for claiming that social science is a form of

false consciousness, which endorses the status quo under a misleading veil of
value-neutrality. (Rogers, 1994, p. 123)

Frankfurt School critiqued Marxism for insufficient emancipation from positivism

and for thinking that the proletariat will inevitably bring about a revolution that will
eliminate alienation and dominance. (Rogers, 1994, p. 124)

Frankfurt School critiqued society for its irrationality in lulling individuals into a

false acceptance of their conditions.

The critical school scholars sought to bring the basic contradictions of capitalistic
society to mass consciousness. Thus, the activities of critical theorists were intended to

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lead to an ideal society without human exploitation. In this they reflected the normative
position of Marxist theory. (Rogers, 1994, p. 124)
In communication study field, Frankfurt School focuses on criticize that, who
controls the mass media industry and how it is construct mass culture then can
misleads public. They believe mass media can creative a long-term and unobservable
effects to mass culture, then they can use those knowledge of mass media effect to help
and push social change, and achieve their aim of ideal society.

Research Method Selection

Most scholars of Frankfurt School had philosophy backgrounds, meanwhilethey
had heavily influenced from Freud and Marxs philosophy thoughts. So they inherited
research orientation of framework and methodologies of critical school, such as
Horkheimer, Adorno, Benjamin, they current unfair society for its allurement of the
people, they criticize positivism were the critical of empirical data as well. They saw
the social sciences as a form of false consciousness (Rogers, 1994, p. 113). Frankfurt
School did not emphasize empirical data, so they mainly uses qualitative research
method, such as content analysis, textual analysis, and literary criticism. Some specific
methods they used, were:

Observation: they observed some part of a social phenomenonwhich they

were critiquing.

Survey: they used survey research method for studying of working-class

family authority attitudes in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in the early

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1930s.

Interview: in some individual cases, such as Adorno and others who were
studying Authoritarian Personality, they used quantitative-type scale research
methods. For example one study interviewed 2,099 respondents including
Berkeley students, psychiatric patients in San Francisco, prison inmates at San
Quentin, Lions and Rotary members and variety of other groups.

The Frankfurt School critics followed an interpretive paradigm and, although

some of their most prominent members had used quantitative methods before, they
primarily used qualitative methods in their work to look at society as a whole. The
methods that were used most commonly were qualitative content analysis, textual
analysis, and literary criticism.

Mass Media as Tool for Deception, Exploitation, and Alienation

Frankfurt School holds idea of mass media has big power not only could influence
the society consciousness, but also played a very important role to connect individual
to mass, but the key point is who owner the mass media. They think the current mass
media system under capitalism is undemocratic essentially, because capitalist leaders
can use their ownership of mass media to transfer the uniformed social value then
creative a untrue needs. Frankfurt School thinks capitalist leaders final goal is use mass
media to control social consciousness and individual consciousness, then to alienate
individuals from achieving their true potential.

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C. Wright Mills and His Studies

C.Wright Mills as known as a radical sociologist (Rogers, 1994, p. 297). The
Frankfurt School critics were not the only ones who opposed the work of Lazarsfeld
and Lasswell as well as who criticized the nature of administrative research. C. Wright
Mills was known as a radical sociologist (Rogers, 1994, p. 297). As such, he was a one
of the most persistent critics of the unequal distribution of power in society and of the
dominant trends in the social sciences. Like the critics of the Frankfurt School, Mills
can therefore be classified as belonging to the critical research orientation.

Mills and the Inadequacy of Status Quo

Mills study was focus on the power relations that defined the lives of individuals
in the United States of the 20th century. Mills criticized the social class he called
power elite, he criticized status quo that society power in the hands of a small group
of people who exercised control over society as a whole in a way that served their own
best (economic and ideological) interests as well. His study more focus on criticized
US current society then, as same as Frankfurt School, he believes the best solution is
change current unfair structure thoroughly.
Media Research as Social Engineering
As a critical sociologist, his studies focused on criticizing the construction of
social class, politics and power in America of that period. Mills saw the analysis,
examination, and evaluation of the nature of power relations in society as the primary

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objective of media research (Gattone, 2006, p. 88-89). He believed power elite have
the right decision-making people in society, who he termed were creating a status quo
that maintained inequality at the expense of the ordinary individual. So he thinked if
the status quo was changed radically, equality social will never be realize. In C. Wright
Mills book The Sociological Imagination he describes a mindset for studying
sociology. Mills asserted that a critical task for social scientists is to "translate private
troubles into public issues," (Jackson, 2012, p. 89) which is something that it is very
difficult for ordinary citizens to do.

Research Problems Selection

As a critical sociologist, his studies focused on criticizing the construction of
social class, politics and power in America of that period. Because he realized the
problem and risk between power elite and ordinary individual, he tried to critical
those problems then could change it, the final goal is improve the lived experience of
the ordinary people if their findings were made part of the public discourse. Mills
primarily examined research problems related to the power structures of society as well,
this research place individuals to examine their own experiences in a wider social and
historical context, uninterested observation: public accept the current society quo status,
political controllers they can get some benefits from current polity system.

Research Framework and Methodologies

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In the latter work, Mills identified what he viewed as right and wrong with the
field of sociology, and he criticized administrative social scientists like Lazarsfeld for
the abstract empiricism that their work was based on (Eid, 2004, p. 222). As a
scholar who was interested in society as a whole, Mills was of the belief that empirical
work failed at studying society effectively. In his research, he tried to inquire social
problems and to located ideas in their social and historical contexts. Mills thinks
empirical work failed at studying society effectively, because the only way to solve the
current social problem. Mills who often used qualitative methods on his studies
developed his concept of the sociological imagination that became his research
framework and main methodology.
Miller criticized Lazasfelds research is abstracted empiricism it is not
characterized by any substantive propositions to theories, he also critical Lazasfelds
research full of political (Rogers, 1994, p. 311)

The Role for Communication/Media They Saw

Like the critics of the Frankfurt School, Mills saw the media as a means of the
power elite to exercise control over the people by exploiting, alienating, and thus
ultimately manipulating them. He believed mass media could analyze, exanimate, and
evaluate the social power relation, then decision-makers can persuade ideologically the
ordinary people. So he thinks his critical research work is to get some knowledge, and
made that knowledge are parts of the public discourse, then used to improve ordinary
peoples life if their findings were.

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Conclusion
My analysis shows that the administrative and critical research orientations have
opposing premises for their study of mass media and public opinion. The ideological
rivalry between administrative scholars like Lazarsfeld and Lasswell and critical
scholars like the critics of the Frankfurt School and sociologist C. Wright Mills were
considered as the key conflict in social scientific research in the 20th century. Because
they had fundamentally different attitudes regarding status quo in society, opposing
research objectives as well as different opinions about the role of the media in society,
all attempts to unite the two research orientations into fruitful, collaborative research
endeavors were ultimately doomed to fail.

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