Verbal-, Textual-, Image- Traditional and New Media- based methodologies adopted for the study of social representations: The Integrative Perspective of the “Modelling Paradigmatic Approach”

Introduction: The communicative process through interaction and media has been one of the genetic dimensions of the Social Representation theory (Moscovici, 1961/1976, 2000) and it remains its core element after more than 50 years of the literature development (de Rosa, 2011a, 2011b, 2013a, 2016; Jodelet, 1989; Sammut & Andreouli, Gaskell & Valsiner, 2015; Lo Monaco, Delouvée & Rateaux, 2016). However the focus on communication remains in the majority of the studies mainly anchored to the micro-genetic interaction among people and groups and to the traditional media (basically the press, as in the seminal study of Moscovici). The new media scenario developed after the revolution of the digital area (Castells, 2006) is still less considered. Aim: First, we present the international panorama of the worldwide scientific community through geo-mapping by Tableau software. Second, we identify the most common methodological profiles through cluster analysis by Iramuteq software to detect the relevance of methodologies according to their communicative channels and type of media. Finally we present the integration of verbal, textual, image and traditional new media based methodologies in the paradigmatic option inspired by the modelling approach applied to various thematic areas. Data sources and Method: Extracted from more than 10,000 texts - filed in the SoReCom “A.S. de Rosa” @-library (de Rosa, 2015, 2016) - we analyze sources related to multiple methodologies adopted for the study of social representations and communication through the lens of a systematic meta-theoretical analysis using the Grid designed by de Rosa (v. 2014).