Studying ethnic minorities' media uses: comparative conceptual and methodological reflections

Abstract

This paper discusses conceptual and methodological issues in the study of ethnic minorities' media uses. It does so by drawing on research experiences in different national contexts (Israel, Switzerland, and Belgium), looking for similarities but also differences related to the specific national contexts as well as the research designs and the ethnic groups involved. Starting from a broad reflection on ethnicity, the paper subsequently tackles issues such as the operational definition of ethnicity in ethnic labels, qualitative sampling procedures, language use, and problems of translation, as well as personal research experiences. By comparing national contexts and research experiences, we find recurring issues with specific national inflections, making us more aware of the specificity of ethnic matters in different context