Roundtable on Underrepresented Methodologies in the Study of Advertising

Abstract: This roundtable explores the underrepresentation of critical methodologies and marginalized perspectives in advertising research. The conversation highlights how personal and professional trajectories shape methodological choices, with the panelists critiquing the dominance of quantitative paradigms and calling for interdisciplinary approaches. Some participants emphasize the need for critical research to interrogate power structures. Others challenge academia’s overreliance on theoretical frameworks and advocate for the legitimacy of grounded, real-world observations. The panel identifies systemic barriers—reviewer biases, curricular gaps, and institutional pressures—that stifle innovation in scholarship, and they stress the need for leadership to amplify marginalized voices and reform graduate education. Concluding with a call to foster a “counter-hegemony” in advertising research, the panelists envision a future where diverse methodologies thrive so the field can address societal issues with greater inclusivity and reflexivity.