Tracking Public Connection: Methodological Issues

Abstract

So far we have reviewed a range of arguments (both empirical and theoretical) about the uncertain future of democratic participation (Chapter 1) and media’s role in democratic systems (Chapter 2). We use the term ‘(mediated) public connection’ heuristically to cut beneath that complexity and suggest an underlying precondition for democratic legitimacy. Our wider aim is to trace this precondition in everyday practice in contemporary Britain. In this chapter we detail our multi-method strategy, explaining in particular our diary methodology.