25 Jan Write a discussion post over the readings assigned for this week. Your discussion post should contain at least two paragraphs:
Weekly discussions (50 points). Write a discussion post over the readings assigned for this week. Your discussion post should contain at least two paragraphs: the first paragraph (no less than 250 words) summarize all the major points covered in the assigned readings. The second paragraph (no less than 100 words) discusses how your own experience, or stories that you read in other places, can be related to one or more points covered in the assigned readings. The maximal points for your discussion post/assignment each week are 50 (10 points off for each 100 words shorter or major point missing).
Communication Research Overview (https://courses.lumenlearning.com/introductiontocommunication/chapter/chapter-6-overview/)
Doing Communication Research (https://courses.lumenlearning.com/introductiontocommunication/chapter/doing-communication-research/)
Language of Research (http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/language.php)
Introduction to Research Methods
COMM 4360
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Purpose of This Course
What is research in social science & mass communication?
Definition of research
Why research matters?
Methods of knowing
Scientific method
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What
How
Why
What is research?
…an attempt to discover something… (p. 3)
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Communication research?
The systematic investigation, analysis and interpretation of facts about people, their cultures, their societies and their communication behaviors, for the purpose of better understanding and improving their lives (Connolly-Ahern)
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Communication research?
Who says What in what Way to Whom, and with What effect
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Research is a critical tool
The purpose of research is to discover the nature of human actions and interactions
Ad/PR researchers seek to describe and interpret social reality of consumers and publics
How do people interact with products, brands, and organizations?
How do clients’ actions affect others?
What do people know? Think? Do?
What can be done to improve people’s lives?
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Do these ads really work to persuade people to use the product advertised?
Ways to Test
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You may ask people around in person, whether these ads make them want to download chrome.
You may send people a set of questions to find out whether the ads make them want to download chrome.
You may show these ads to one group and not show to the other group, then see which group shows positive attitudes and higher intentions toward using chrome.
Questions?
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Why scientific research?
How do you acquire knowledge?
How do you know if we can trust the acquired knowledge?
Four Methods of Knowing (Kerlinger & Lee, 2000)
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Method of Authority
Logical, source-driven
“I believe it because someone important says so”
Method of Tenacity
Always been that way/true
“I believe it because it’s always been that way”
Method of Intuition
Self-evident
“I believe it is the truth because I feel it is true (probably based on my observation)”
Scientific Method
Systematic and objective analyses
“I believe it because I can prove it, at least 95% of the time”
Kerlinger & Lee describes 4 ways of knowing/answering/acquiring knowledge about a situation/question
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What kind of advertisements would attract people to adopt cats and dogs at animal shelter?
Let’s take an example that explains four ways of knowing proposed by Kerlinger & Lee –
If you want to know what type of ads would attract people to adopt cats and dogs at animal shelter, there are four ways that you can get your answer
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Authority
“Let me ask the animal shelter supervisor what kind of advertisement they think would work!”
Obtaining knowledge from some respected or trusted source.
*Authorities do not guarantee a correct answer ….
Method of authority
Relying on answer from an expert or relying on knowledge of some respected or trusted source.
Problems
The information provided could be only as good as the technique they used to obtain that information.
Answers from an expert may represent subjective opinion rather than true expert knowledge
relying on authorities do not guarantee a correct answer …
Intuition
“My guts tell me that men will like a cat-featured advertisement and women a dog-featured advertisement!”
Relying on one’s instincts, guts, emotions
No further effort to collect information
Method of intuition
People think something is true because it “feels right.” Relying on his or her intuition
“I think he is a nice person”
With intuition, the conclusions are based upon the instinctive understanding of the question.
Problem
Can be inaccurate
Knowledge based on guesswork, not on reasoning
There is no systematic mechanism for separating accurate from inaccurate knowledge
Tenacity
“I know that men like cats and women like dog! Thus … men should like cat-featured advertisement while women should like dog-featured advertisement”
Relying on faith or personal beliefs
With no particular evidence to support the views
Method of tenacity
A user of the method of tenacity follows the logic that something is true because it has always been true. Knowledge mostly based on superstition, tradition, belief, or habit
“Black cat crossing the road is bad”
“You are too young to be a good researcher”
They are essentially relying on faith or confidence in personal beliefs, with no particular evidence to support their views.
Problem
Even when proved wrong, such beliefs are hard to overcome
Science
“Let’s conduct a survey to understand the factors that attract people to advertisement!”
Knowledge gained through empirical and systematic research …
The three methods- authority, intuition and tenacity are not objective and systematic; they are the unscientific ways of knowing. It is ideal to use scientific method of knowing
Method of science
– Based on Systematic and objective analyses
– To provide an objective, unbiased evaluation of data
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What
How
Why
Scientific method
Systematic and objective analyses
Observe behavior or other phenomena
Form a tentative answer to explain the phenomena
Test a tentative answer by making systematic, planned observation
Make a decision whether a tentative answer is supported or not through data analysis.
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Scientific Research is…
Empirical
it involves structured or systematic observation
Objective
Has explicit rules and procedure
Based on facts, not opinion and interpretation.
Public
Scientific research makes its results available for evaluation by others (especially other researchers) by publishing them in scientific journals
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Characteristics of scientific research
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Scientific Research is…
Cumulative
Most of the time it uses previous studies to build on a present study.
Predictive
Theories are build so that it could predict behavior.
Self Correcting
It is evolving
Theories change when errors in previous research are uncovered.
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Characteristics of scientific research
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Basic Steps of How-to-research
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Selection of problem
Review of existing research and theory
Statement of hypothesis or research question
Determination of methodology and design
Data collection
Analysis and interpretation of data
Presentation of results
Replication
Research process- Science
What scientific researchers do:
1. Unguided observation
2. Identify the concepts (e.g., TV violence, aggressive behavior)
3. Ask a question
4. Unpack the question- How? Why?
5. Operationalize the variables (measure the concept, define in observable ways)
6. Measure
7. Organize and analyze your observations
8. Report results
9. Look at the question again (return to step 3)
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Review: Stages of Research Process
Identify a problem.
Review existing research and theory (when relevant).
Formulate an expectation, usually about the causes of the problem.
Select a design or plan for conducting the research.
Collect data.
Analyzing the data.
Interpret the data with reference to the hypothesis and modify the hypothesis in light of the data or generalize from the data.
Replicate the findings (when necessary).
Review: Stages of Research Process
Example:
Observe violence in society.
Review the extensive literature on the topic.
Speculate that TV is a cause.
Decide to show some violence to children to see if it produces an effect. Decide how to measure violence in TV and when to make observations.
Bobo doll film is example. Measure attacks on bobo doll. Supports hypothesis.
Table data: Film – violence vs. No film – no violence.
Conclude there is some evidence at least with this film and these types of kids of effect.
Replicate.
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Sample Research Topics!
Does remembering negative political ads lead people not to vote?
Are newspaper stories better remembered when accompanied by news photographs or when presented alone?
Do adolescents think that social media content posted by their peers are more trustworthy and credible than professionally produced news stories?
What kind of superbowl ads (emotional or humorous) increases consumers purchase intention?
What kinds of people watch TV online?
Why do some people prefer internet radio stations to broadcast radio stations?
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Hypothesis
Student social media use
GPA
There is a negative relationship between student social media use and GPA
Hypothesis
“a formal statement regarding the relationship between variables ”
A hypothesis is a formal statement about the relationship between at least two variables.
Can be generated inductively.
Can be generated deductively from theory and work of others.
An hypothesis is a specific statement of prediction. It describes in concrete (rather than theoretical) terms what you expect will happen in your study. Not all studies have hypotheses
Ex: Freshmen skip more classes than older adults
Ex: More social media students use, lower is their GPA
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Research Question
Is there a significant relationship between student social media use and GPA?
Student social media use
GPA
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Research Question
“a formally stated question intended to provide indication about something…”
A research question is a formally stated question intended to provide indications about something. It is not limited to investigating relationships between variables.
Appropriate when a researcher is unsure about the nature of the problem under investigation.
Example:
Does Communications students watch more television than the average person?
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Activity
Are these hypothesis or RQ’s?
What is the relationship between media modalities, nationalities, and perception of television content?
RQ
Training in mindfulness decreases the amount of cortisol levels during a stressful situation.
Hypothesis
Is there a relationship between perceived interactivity and source credibility?
RQ
As exposure to television increases, body satisfaction decreases.
Hypothesis
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Types of Hypotheses
Directional Hypothesis: Goes one way (increases) or the other (decreases).
As attractiveness of the model in the ad increases, liking toward the ad increases.
As exam anxiety decreases, grades on the exam will increase.
Non-directional Hypothesis: Do not know which way the relationship will go.
Source attractiveness and attitudes toward the ad will be significantly related.
Anxiety levels and test performance is significantly related.
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Types of Hypotheses
Comparative Hypothesis: There IS a difference.
Males will be more aggressive after the exposure of violent movies, when compared to females.
Females will report greater enjoyment of sad films than will males.
Null Hypothesis: There is NO relationship/ difference.
There will be no relationship between independent variable and dependent variable.
Gender has no relationship in the level of aggression.
There is no relationship between media exposure and body satisfaction.
About Null hypothesis
Let’s say that you predict that there will be a relationship between two variables (ex: student’s social media use and GPA score) in your study.
Your prediction is that variable A (student social media use) and variable B (GPA score) will be related (you don’t care whether it’s a positive or negative relationship). Then the only other possible outcome would be that variable A and variable B are not related. Usually, we call the hypothesis that you support (your prediction) the alternative hypothesis, and we call the hypothesis that describes the remaining possible outcomes the null hypothesis
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Activity
What type of hypothesis are the following:
Training in mindfulness decreases the amount of cortisol levels during a stressful situation.
Directional hypothesis as we predict which direction the DV is headed toward
People who like to watch romantic movies will report a higher score on enjoyment for comedy movies than people who like to watch horror movies.
Comparative hypothesis – as we are trying to compare the enjoyment of the movie across two different genres.
There is a significant relationship between exposure to television exposure and body satisfaction.
Non-directional hypothesis as we clearly don’t know which direction the DV is headed toward
There is no relationship between television exposure and body satisfaction.
Null hypothesis as there is no difference
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More examples
| Research question | Hypothesis | Null hypothesis |
| What are the health benefits of eating an apple a day? | Increasing apple consumption in over-60s will result in decreasing frequency of doctor’s visits. | Increasing apple consumption in over-60s will have no effect on frequency of doctor’s visits. |
| Which airlines have the most delays? | Low-cost airlines are more likely to have delays than premium airlines. | Low-cost and premium airlines are equally likely to have delays. |
| Can flexible work arrangements improve job satisfaction? | Employees who have flexible working hours will report greater job satisfaction than employees who work fixed hours. | There is no relationship between working hour flexibility and job satisfaction. |
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Source: https://www.scribbr.com/research-process/hypotheses/
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3 Types of research questions?
1. Descriptive. When a study is designed primarily to describe what is going on or what exists.
Public opinion polls that seek only to describe the proportion of people who hold various opinions are primarily descriptive in nature.
For instance, if we want to know what percent of the population would vote for a Democratic or a Republican in the next presidential election, we are simply interested in describing something.
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Descriptive research questions ask :
“how often?”, “how much?”, or “what is the change over time or in a different situation?” questions.
What percentage? What proportion? To what extent? What is? What are?
For example: “How often do college students need to use the bathroom during a test?” (Obviously the research site is implied here – at college).
Example: What are the most important factors that influence the career choices of Lamar university students?
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3 Types of research questions?
2. Relational. When a study is designed to look at the relationships between two or more variables.
A public opinion poll that compares what proportion of males and females say they would vote for a Democratic or a Republican candidate in the next presidential election is essentially studying the relationship between gender and voting preference.
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More examples:
What is the relationship between gender and attitudes towards music piracy amongst adolescents?
What is the relationship between study time and exam scores amongst university students?
Is there a relationship between ice cream sales and temperature at noon?
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Ex- What is meant by relationship?
Relationship between education and newspaper reading?
Newspaper Reading
Education
Newspaper Reading
Education
Newspaper Reading
Education
Positive Relationship
No Relationship
Negative Relationship
Positive relationship
the values of two variables move in the same direction—as the value of one variable goes up (or down), so does the other
E.g., time spent studying & academic performance
Negative relationship
the two variables move in opposite directions—the value of one variable decreases as the value of the other increases
E.g., time spent on studying & time spent on Internet
Both positive and negative relationships make sense only when the variables are measured in such a way that talking about how they “increase” or “decrease” is logical.
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3 Types of research questions?
3. Causal. When a study is designed to determine whether one or more variables (e.g., a program or treatment variable) causes or affects one or more outcome variables. (more on this in week 3)
If we did a public opinion poll to try to determine whether a recent political advertising campaign changed voter preferences, we would essentially be studying whether the campaign (cause) changed the proportion of voters who would vote Democratic or Republican (effect).
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Causal questions often try to predict whether one or more variables can be used to predict an outcome.
For example:
Does the time spent on social media lead to lower grades in school?
Are people more likely to buy a product after a celebrity promotes it?
Do age, gender, and education predict income?
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Start with your research topic
Based on the various types of research questions we talked about, develop 1-2 research topics that you would like to study for your own research project
Develop 2 potential research questions or hypotheses for your research project
Tell me about your general research idea
Find 2-3 articles that speaks broadly about the idea
Explain how this article can help you develop your idea further
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Start with your research topic
A good topic selection plan begins with a general orientation into the subject you are interested in pursuing in more depth. Here are some suggestions when choosing a topic area:
Pick an area of interest or experience, or an area where you know there is a need for more research.
It may be easier to start with “what” and “why” questions and expand on those.
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Few ideas for research topic
It may be easier to start with “what” and “why” questions and expand on those. For example,
What are public attitudes towards green companies?
Why do people purchase products from companies with higher reputation?
Why are superbowl ads engaging?
What type of filters on Instagram are most frequently used?
What are attitudes of Lamar students about how the university handled covid-19?
What makes people donate to nonprofits?
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