UNS – The Doctoral Program (S-3) in Cultural Studies at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB) of Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta held an expert lecture on Wednesday (24/4/2024). The topic discussed was ‘Critical Study Methodology’. The event took place in a hybrid format via Zoom Cloud Meeting and in person at the Seminar Room, 2nd Floor of Suharno Building, FIB UNS.

On this occasion, the Doctoral Program in Cultural Studies at FIB UNS brought in two speakers, namely the Chairman of the Indonesian Cultural Studies Association (AKBI), Dr. Yuliawan Kasmahidayat, and the Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kenyon College, Ohio, USA, Prof. Sam Pack. This expert lecture is a regular agenda item held annually.

The event was opened with remarks from the Chair of the Doctoral Program in Cultural Studies at FIB UNS, Dra. Sri Kusumo Habsari. In her remarks, she explained that this expert lecture workshop is held annually to enhance the quality of the program. She hoped that contributions would emerge to improve education and research development.

As the first speaker, Dr. Yuliawan Kasmahidayat explained how to determine research methodology.

“To determine the research methodology of cultural studies, we need to consider several things, including fundamental aspects such as preparing oneself with basic understanding with the aim of making research and data collection more structured,” Dr. Yuliawan said.

Dr. Yuliawan stated that cultural studies is a sturdy theoretical tree that is then used to shelter studies from other disciplines. Therefore, the most appropriate research methodology for cultural studies is qualitative.

“Cultural Studies research is most suited to qualitative methods rather than quantitative methods. This is because cultural studies research methods require three general stages, namely classification, problem determination, and determining the framework of thinking and research objectives,” he continued.

The next session was continued by Prof. Sam Pack, who provided additional material on the data collection process from the speaker through direct interviews. When conducting interviews, Prof. Sam Pack provided tips for asking questions starting from general questions to specific ones that are personal in nature.

“It is crucial for researchers to establish an approach with the speaker before conducting research. If depicted like an inverted triangle, where questions begin with introductions and general questions that then narrow down to more personal questions,” Prof. Sam Pack said.

In addition, Prof. Sam Pack also explained the research steps that he had previously applied, such as how to establish an approach with the speaker and then how to determine the research timeline to facilitate the data collection process.

“During the interview, we may provide non-verbal signals to prompt the speaker to provide more information. And don’t forget to consider the comfort of the speaker during the interview process. Record all important aspects of the interview or you can record it, and then immediately transcribe the interview recording,” Prof. Sam Pack concluded.

Humas UNS