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MMC 9002 (500)
Researching Communication I
Fall 2007 Lombard
CLASS 3. Process of research; communication
The Process of Research
Types of research
•Idiographic(concerned with discrete or unique facts or events, e.g., history)vs. nomothetic (study or discovery of general scientific laws)
•Inductive vs. deductive
•Basic(‘pure’ ‘because it’s there’) vs. applied (‘real world’; often proprietary)
•Primary(first report) vs. secondary (re-report, as in textbook)
•Quantitative vs. qualitative
•Research with different purposes
–To describe - What is out there?
–To relate - Which variables affect which other variables?
–To explain - Why is this happening?
–To evaluate - How well did something work?
Research steps (short summary! See Course Notes and readings for variations)
- Select a topic/problem of interest
- Develop a general research question
- Review relevant literature
- Formulate more specific research questions and/or hypotheses
- Design/plan methods
- Conduct study
- Analyze results
- Present results
- Use knowledge to inform next study
Developing a research topic and question (detailed notes on this step follow summary of research process)
•Must be specified up front
•What am I going to study?
–What entities are to be studied?
–What aspects of the entities are of interest?
–What relationships?
Review relevant literature
•Where does this question fit in with past research/theory?
•Conceptualization and explication
–How have my concepts/variables been defined (abstract)?
–How will I define them?
–How have my concepts been operationalized, i.e., measured (concrete)?
•Review research critically
–What a study revealed
–How a study was conducted
–No “perfect” study so look for trade-offs, gaps
Design/plan methods
•Must be planned ahead of time
•Select method/tool to study this question
--Surveys
--Experiments
--Field research
--Available data (content analysis, legal, historical, etc.)
Most researchers already have selected a paradigm, which then leads to a subset of choices for methods.
PARADIGMS, FORMATS, METHODS
ScientismHumanism
Rationalism (not nec. vs.
structuralism though!)
Empiricism
Positivism
Social scienceHumanities
Objective truthSubjective truth
QuantitativeQualitative
[Plus NO DATA: Critical analysis,
interpretive analysis, aesthetics]
DeductiveInductive
Explanation, prediction, descriptionExploration, description
ReliabilityValidity
External validity (generalizability,Internal validity
representativeness)
Experiments, surveys,Field observation, interviews,
content analysis discourse analysis, focus groups,
historical
Quick, cheapSlow, expensive
Other choices to make
•Design re: time
–Cross-sectional(measure at one time) vs. longitudinal(multiple times) studies
–Trend(different people over time) vs. panelorcohort(same people over time) studies
•Sampling design
–Units of analysis
–How many? Who?
•Ethics
–What impact could this study have on participants?
•Procedures
–Details of questionnaire/code book
–Stimuli to use
•Time-table and costs
Final steps
•Conduct study (gather data)
•Analyze results
–What analysis techniques do I need? Plan before data gathering
•Present results
–What does all this mean?
•Use knowledge to inform next study
Form of the standard research report
•Introduction
–What is the question?
–Type of research?
–So what?
•Lit. Review
–Relevant theory
–Don’t ignore important studies, scholarship
–Clear definitions of concepts
–Must be organized synthesis, not list of studies
•Research questions and/or hypotheses
–Must flow from literature review – don’t surprise reader
–Include clear definitions of operationalizations
•Methods
–Start with very short overview
–Give sample details
–Clearly describe procedures
–Address reliability issues
–Address validity issues
•Results
–Give appropriate data for answering questions
–Report appropriate statistics
–Present results as clearly as humanly possible
•Discussion
–What does this mean?
–Significance (implications, not statistical significance)
–Conclusions should flow logically from results
–Applications/uses of results
–Limitations
–Future research
Detail re: Developing a research topic and question
•Pick topic you care about and others will care about (it should be important to you but not just to you)
•Where will I look?
–Observe the world
–Review past research
–Consider current events/issues
–Look at your own values/interests
–Consider funding possibilities/limitations
Forming questions
•Who does the behavior?
–How do people who are high and low in the behavior differ?
•What precisely is the behavior?
•When is the behavior most likely to occur?
–What events occur before the behavior?
•Why do people engage in the behavior?
•What are long- and short-term effects of the behavior?
Identifying the units of analysis
•What entities need to be studied?
–What or who is to be described or analyzed?
–It could be people, groups, articles, TV shows, characters, etc.
•Avoid the ecological fallacy, using relationships between groups to make inferences about individuals
Identify the types of variables (concepts) involved in the phenomenon
•Variables are characteristics of units that vary
–Extraneous vs. explanatory
–Independent(cause, antecedent) vs. dependent (effect, result, consequence)
–Antecedent(prior to effect) and intervening (mediating or moderating)
–Mediator(increases effect) andmoderator (decreases effect)
–Control (variables with impact you’re not interested in; have to be considered for logical inference)
–Qualitativeandquantitative (different ways of measuring a variable)
Consider nature of relationships among variables
•Relationships
–Number of variables (2 or more)
–How do they change together?
•For 2 qualitative (nominal level) variables,consider frequency association
•For 2 quantitative (ordinal, interval or ratio level) variables,consider value association
•For 1 of each consider difference scores
Questions most central to the study of mass communication are about what effects they are having - in the broadest sense.
What do you need to have an effect?
•Content - what’s there (remember message sent is not equal to message received)
•Use, exposure - who, when, how much
•Impact - what is happening
•Mechanism - how and why
To show an effect or any causality
•Association (causal implies direction)
•Time order
•No other explanations (nonspuriousness)
Kinds of effects
•Micro vs. macro
•Long term vs. short term
•Cumulative vs. noncumulative
•Content vs. form/activity
•Alteration vs. stabilization
•Intentional vs. unintentional
•Information vs. persuasion vs. entertainment
•Size (big effects are not always better, depends on the question)
Tools/exercises to aid in developing a research question or hypothesis
Exercise: Lateral thinking (see handout) - helps to think ‘outside the box’
Exercise: Observing things, developing research interests, and identifying concepts (see handout)
21 Ways of Generating Research Ideas from Previous Research
1. Find gaping omissions.
2. Repeat studies.
3. Do a study suggested by the journal article's author(s).
4. Repeat the study with a different group of participants.
5. Look for situational factors that may moderate the effect.
6. Look for factors that were not controlled.
7. Reduce the effects of expectancies.
8. Use more realistic amounts of the treatment factor.
9. Uncover the functional relationship.
10. Use more realistic stimulus materials.
11. See if another factor would have the same effect.
12. Bridge fields and try to find a practical implication of the research.
13. Look at the studies from a different level of analysis.
14. Look for patterns in conflicting studies.
15. Look for a factor's immediate relationship to other variables.
16. Look at long-term effects.
17. Look for "down the road" effects.
18. Repeat the study using a different measure of the same construct.
19. Repeat the study with a more sensitive way of detecting the effect.
20. Take advantage of "component" measures.
21. Take advantage of measures of entirely new concepts.
Ten Ways to Use Theory to Obtain Research Ideas
1. Apply it to solve a practical problem.
2. Use it to understand a real-life situation.
3. Apply it to a different subfield of [communication].
4. Apply it to fields related to [communication].
5. Look for moderator variables.
6. Apply it to a different subject population.
7. Take it "to the limit."
8. Improve its accuracy.
9. "Go for the jugular."
10. Pit two theories against each other.
Six Idea Generation Techniques Applicable to Common Sense, Theory, and Literature Searches
1. See if the results would generalize to different participants or settings.
2. Look for moderating variables that would strengthen, weaken, or reverse the observed/proposed relationship between the variables.Asking “When does the opposite occur?” may help you think of moderating variables.
3. See if you can apply it to a practical problem.
4. Reconcile contradictions between conflicting studies, theories, or clichés.
5. See if you can more precisely state the relationship between the variables.
6. Examine variables that may mediate the relationship. What is the physiological or cognitive mechanism that accounts for the relationship? Can we measure those mediating processes to see if they really do occur when the stimulus is introduced? Can we manipulate these processes and see if manipulating with these underlying processes affects the stimulus-response relationship?
Communication Research
What is communication? (one definition)
•Communication is the process of sharing meaning
–Ongoing and dynamic
–A process so involves components
–Goal-oriented
Linear model of communication
Circular model of communication
Types of communication
•Intrapersonal: With self
•Interpersonal: Between people
•Group: One to many
•Organizational: Within a social system of interdependent groups
•Mass: Organizations to large numbers of people via mass media channel
Intra Inter Group Org Mass
Sender/Receiver Sender/Receiver
Known Unknown
Multidimensional Unidimensional
Interpersonal Comm. Mass Comm.
Sender:Individual or group of individualsInstitutional
Messsage:Personal, casually structuredImpersonal, highly structured
Channel:Air or paperMass Medium
Receiver:One or few peopleLarge, heterogeneous audience; little
contact between members
Feedback:Immediate and directLittle and delayed
Why study communication?
•Implications for public policy
•Implications for producers
•Implications for consumers
•To develop and refine theory
Why mass communication?
•Mass media are everywhere
–Define us, tell us who we are
–We experience most of world through mass media
3 Eras of Mass Comm. Research
•Powerful Effects (late 19th cent to 1940s)
•Limited Effects Era (1940s to 70s)
•Modern Era (60s on)
–Cultural/critical
–Moderate effects
•Commonalties across all eras
–Social concerns lead to research questions
–New media cause concern and fear
Powerful Effects Era
•Propaganda campaigns of W.W.I.
•Need to identify and describe audiences of radio and newspapers
•Literary Digest poll of 1936
•War of the Worlds
•Payne Fund studies of movie effects
•Comic Book studies
•Marketplace of ideas
•Big result: Must understand consequences or impact of technologies on society/people
Assumptions
•Media can reach out and directly influence minds of people (magic bullet, hypodermic needle)
•Media are a malignant force (must be controlled - FCC, etc.)
–Negative, long-term consequences
•People are irrational and easily swayed
–Average people are vulnerable
–Mass media debase higher forms of culture
Limitations
–Exaggerated media’s ability to undermine social values
–Very paternalistic and elitist
–People aren’t passive in media use
–Over-reliance on anecdotal evidence
Limited Effects Era
•Grew out of failure of national development programs, elections studies, WW II propaganda movie studies - little change in attitudes or behavior
•New refinements in methods and statistics, more systematic studies
•Criticized the lack of rigor in earlier studies.
Assumptions
•Role of mass media is limited
–Reinforces existing trends, beliefs
–Most adults have strongly held beliefs
–People affected are exceptions
•2-step flow model developed
–Opinion leaders really influence people
–Selective exposure and perception (people only take in what the agree with already)
Limitations
–Findings underestimate influence of mass media
–Only immediate, powerful effects were considered
Modern Era
•Cultural/critical
–Media help shape culture which shapes our social world
–Media are primary means by which people learn about and participate in larger world
–Media are part of elite power structure
–Powerful elite groups use media to advance and reinforce dominant cultures
–Started in European schools, which weren’t that interested in quantitative research or limited effects
–influenced by literary critics of the 60s, McLuhan, Marx, Innis
–Agenda setting, cultivation, mainstreaming
•Moderate effects or contingent conditions
–Media effects occur, but must look at individual differences.
–More subtle effect (fine tuning of effects research) - less direct effects, affecting certain people at times
–Long-term effects
–People are active in processing media
Communication as a field
Things to know about the academic field of communication
•Interdisciplinary (examples: history, political science, anthropology, psychology, sociology, computer science ...)
•Multi-level (individual/psychological, dyads, small groups, organizations, cultures, international)
•New (back to Greeks, but mass media 100 years, as academic area <50 years)
•Small (2001 data: NCA - 7,100, ICA - 3,400, AEJMC - 3,250, BEA - 1,300 are biggest organizations in field; compare to APA in Psychology is 155,000!)
•All of this is good: Open (choose any topic), relaxed, intimate
•And bad: Anarchy (lack of rigor, standards, resources, programmatic or systematic research), too intimate (small town gossip)
•Inferiority complex relative to other fields
•Diverse topic or sub-areas (political, health, psychological processing, interpersonal, group, organization, international/comparative/developmental,...)
To see diversity consider what you vs. others in field tell parents, family, friends, that you’re studying.
To see diversity, look at divisions of major communication associations:
International Communication Association (ICA) divisions (n=17):
Information Systems
Interpersonal Communication
Mass Communication
Organizational Communication
Intercultural and Development Comm.
Political Communication
Instructional and Developmental Comm.
Health Communication
Philosophy of Communication
Communication and Technology
Popular Communication
Public Relations
Feminist Scholarship
Communication Law and Policy
Language and Social Interaction
Visual Communication
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies
National Communication Association (NCA) units and affiliate organizations (n=76):
African American Communication and Culture Division
American Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology
American Forensic Association
American Society for the History of Rhetoric
American Studies Commission
Argumentation and Forensics Division
Asian/Pacific American Caucus
Applied Communication Division
Asian/Pacific American Communication Studies Division
Association for Chinese Communication Studies
Association for Communication Administration
Association for Rhetoric and Communication in Southern Africa
Basic Course Division
Black Caucus
Chinese Communication Association
Commission on American Parliamentary Practice
Communication and Aging Commission
Communication Apprehension and Avoidance Commission
Communication Assessment Commission
Communication Ethics Commission
Commission on Communication and the Future
Commission on Communication and the Law
Communication Needs of Students at Risk Commission
Community College Section
Critical and Cultural Studies Division
Cross Examination Debate Association
Disability Issues Caucus
Elementary and Secondary Section
Emeriti/Retired Section
Environmental Communication Commission
Ethnography Division
Experiential Learning in Communication Commission
Family Communication Division
Feminist and Women’s Studies Division
Freedom of Expression Commission
Gay and Lesbian Concerns Caucus
Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Communication Studies Division
Group Communication Division
Health Communication Division
Human Communication and Technology Commission
Instructional Development Division
International Forensics Association
International and Intercultural Communication Division
Interpersonal Communication Division
Intrapersonal Communication and Social Cognition
Kenneth Burke Society
Korean American Communication Association
La Raza Caucus
Lambda Pi Eta
Language and Social Interaction Division
Latina/Latino Communication Studies Division
Mass Communication Division
National Federation Interscholastic Speech and Debate Association
National Forensic Association
Organizational Communication Division
Peace and Conflict Communication Commission
Performance Studies Division
Phi Rho Pi
Pi Kappa Delta
Political Communication Division
Public Address Division
Public Relations Division
Religious Communication Association
Rhetorical and Communication Theory Division
Semiotics and Communication Commission
Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction
Spiritual Communication Commission
States Advisory Council
Student Section
The Media Ecology Association
Theatre Division
Training and Development Commission
UndergraduateCollege and University Section
Vietnamese Communication Commission
Visual Communication Commission
Women’s Caucus