Mary Jackson Pitts, Ph.D.

mpitts@astate.edu

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Communication Research

Mary Jackson Pitts

Introduction

n     Ways to conduct research

n     How you have conducted research in the past

n     Questioning the validity and reliability of the information you retrieve.

Secondary forms of research

n     Books, census data,  newspapers, magazines, journals,  information agencies

n     Secondary forms of information can be used to build argumentation for a person’s given position on a variety of topics

 Primary research

n      Primary research means you are collecting information, at a given time and place, from a sample of a population, to answer proposed questions about a problem in society.

n     Here we consider a problem and try to determine a way to examine a problem.

  Primary research

n      Primary research can take two forms:

u   Applied and theoretical.

n       Applied research or administrative research..

u   Media managers are looking for answers to specific questions often related to media content and audience participation.   

n              Theoretical 

u    is aimed at understanding and predicting communication behaviors rather than at business issues. 

 Theoretical research

n      is aimed at understanding communication behaviors.  And, consumer behavior is something every media manager needs to be interested in. 

Media Problems

n     Radio

n     Television

n     Newspaper

n     Internet

n     Magazine

n     Advertising

n     Public Relations

Research is important to us at three different levels

n      personal , economic and institutional levels. 

u     We use the media on a daily basis, what that media is doing is important to how we function on a day to day basis.  We get information about all sorts of things from the media.

u     At the economic level we find research can be used to make business decisions based upon data collected.

u      At the institutional level, we can use research to better understand the interactive behaviors of our businesses, families, and society as a whole.   Whether it be the institution of church, state, family, business, or education.

n              Research provdies a mirror with which we can see ourselves, and understand behaviros and events, and with which we can test the assumptions that drive society.

n              Some will suggest that mass media is all powerful at setting the agenda of the public.  The media do this with the content of their broadcasts, their news print, their net publishing, their ad campaign, their pr presentations and their interactive media presentations.  To understand these things, we can do research. Add a strong statement that summarizes how you feel or think about this topic

n      Summarize key points you want your audience to remember

Research is important to us at three different levels

n     personal , economic and institutional levels. 

u  At the institutional level, we can use research to better understand the interactive behaviors of our businesses, families, and society as a whole.   Whether it be the institution of church, state, family, business, or education

Methods of Research   

n     Surveys

n     Secondary analyses

n     Experiments

n     Content Analysis

n     Qualitative means of discovery

Methods of Research   

n     The Proposal

n     A research proposal is designed to help guide you in producing a valid study about mass communication, or any other topic.

Methods of Research   

n     What should be included in the research proposal?

u  A statement of purpose

u  Several research questions or hypotheses

u  Justification for the study

u  Methodology

u  List of 20 references (APA)