My research findings are drawn from the analysis of TV programmes. Some will be familiar to the examiners, some not. How should I handle this in the thesis?

I had such data in my MA research and, when writing up the methodology part, I briefly introduced some basic info on the corpus (genre, authors, key topics, etc.) and some other aspect relevant to my research questions. I was advised to assume that the person reading will not be familiar with those particular sources.

However, I would suggest you discuss this with your supervisor(s) and/or look for other theses in your field who used similar primary sources.

thanks aelys. did you include any programme transcripts or synopses as appendices? that way an examiner could flick to them rather than watch the programme...

No problem.

I've included in the appendices transcripts of all the dialogues containing the target structures. Relatively few of those were cited in the text body, but my supervisor suggested I provide an exhaustive list in the end. Eventually, one of my examiners asked me to provide background in some cases and then link it to certain theoretical aspects but this was actually a nice chance for me to show off... (and I happen to know he was quite familiar with the corpus).

Maybe sample pieces would work for you, providing detail and contextualizing some key points in your analysis/finding? Of course, this completely depends on the nature of your research topic...

Hi Mancbella,

I also had tv programs as part of a content analysis but that was only for one chapter as the rest of my data was interview based. One thing I did was create a table with information like what channel the shows aired on, genre, brief description, who it stars etc. I also included links or excerpts of particular episodes via youtube in the footnotes so they could watch particular scenes. I did not include scripts or dialogue. However, I was looking for recurring themes and patterns, and I did do small in depth analysis of the shows I was reviewing and categorised them under larger themes (or narratives).

It depends on what your thesis is about and how it's structured?

Thanks again aelys. To clarify, you transcribed only the bits of the programmes that were relevant to your research? I am interested in bits of programmes and am transcribing those, but am also providing a summary of the rest of the programme, so that it can be easily seen where and how the transcribed sections fit in. Still very time-consuming...

Thanks awsoci.
Yes creating hyperlinks to YouTube is one way to go, although there is always the anxiety that the material is removed. I have downloaded what I can, and was wondering whether I should make a compilation of clips and include as an appendix.
But not all of my programmes can be included in this way - some are in specialist libraries, and there are no copies in the public domain.
BoB is a brilliant resource but programmes only go back a few years at the present time.
I have been warned that examiners don't like being told "view this before you read the thesis" so was thinking of going for an approach where I make certain things available and then they can decide what they want to read, access or view. Transcripts are one way round this problem - examiners who don't want to view programmes can flick through a transcript (whether partial or whole).
I suppose my dilemma is how much to provide.

Yes, and each bit was preceded by a sentence or two providing a bit more specific context (the general one was within the text body).

I can imagine how time-consuming it must be... :( I suppose there is some software that might which might help with transcribing the clips you have downloaded and immediately available, but I'm not sure to which extent can these be of use to you. Still, it might be worth looking into it if you're terribly short of time...

Good luck with writing!