Recent media scholars have taken, as their focus, relationships between qualitative research methods and examinations of contemporary media texts (e.g., Fox, 2013; Manning, Dunn, & Stern, 2012; Meyer, 2012). The purpose of this panel is to further examine these relationships. Participants will demonstrate how a qualitative research method (e.g., ethnography, autoethnography, narrative analysis, textual or discourse analysis, audience studies) can be used to study contemporary television and film texts (e.g. Coronation Street, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, Orange is the New Black, Mad Men, Cabin in the Woods, The Butler). Participants will first discuss their particular method and then provide an exemplar of that method as they examine their chosen media text(s). To assist with the audience discussion of these methods and texts, participants will also include a brief clip/excerpt of their chosen texts.