Studying (Media) Practices

This chapter addresses how to study media through a practice-theoretical lens, emphasizing reflexivity, methodological pluralism, and attentiveness to situated action. Rather than seeking abstract or detached knowledge, practice-oriented research focuses on the concrete “doings and sayings” through which media are enacted, maintained, and transformed. Researchers are themselves part of the practices they study, requiring an awareness of their epistemic positions and methodological assumptions. Empirical strategies for examining practices must remain flexible and context-sensitive. Ethnographic methods, especially participant observation, are central but not exclusive; interviews, discourse analysis, and digital methods can also reveal the material, symbolic, and emotional dimensions of media use. Studying crises or disruptions, such as platform failures or life transitions, exposes hidden aspects of habitual practices and reveals how people adapt to change. Practice theory advocates methodological pluralism to identify how practices form, persist, and evolve. By integrating reflexivity, situational analysis, and creative methodological adaptation, this chapter positions empirical media research as itself a dynamic and socially embedded practice within the broader landscape of contemporary communication studies.