How do young audiences play with the cultural spectacle offered by reality shows like Big Brother? How does interactive media influence learning the process in educational and everyday settings? How can corporate communicators address their ethical commitment more effectively to the general public? And is there a link between television viewing and violent behaviour? This text is a practical, hands-on guide to the main types of empirical fieldwork that have established themselves in academic, policy and commercial research. It should help media and communication students explore what audience members do with the media, how they make sense of the media, and how the media may influence social affairs from the micro to the macro level. The book introduces and discusses four complementary key approaches to empirical research: media ethnography, reception research, survey research and experimental research. Each section includes a full-scale presentation of a best-practice example of the approach; the key concepts used by its practitioners and an overview of its scholarly history; and a comprehensive toolbox that equips students with the methodological prequisites needed in order to embark on the kind of fieldwork that is often required in practice-orientated courses.