Communication Arts Research
A. Parichart W.
A. Chulamani C.
The Research Process
Objectives
• To introduce the step-by-step guide to the key
stages of any media and communication
research project.
• To demonstrate to the student how to get a
piece of research, with the right research
procedures in general.
• To provide the student with the experience of
the actual research projects.
The steps of the research process
• Step/task
1. Selection o f research
problem/topic
2. Review of relevant literature
3. Statement of research question or
hypothesis
4. Determination of appropriate
methodology and research design
(what method(s)?, population and
sample, research instruments and
variables, research ethics
considerations, piloting)
5. Data Collection
6. Analysis and Interpretation of data
7. Presentation/publication
…involves:
Select a topic for a research
Familiarize yourself with the existing
theory and research relevant to your
topic
Formulate the research question (what
do you intend to find out about?)
Determine how date will be
collected/gathered (methods), which
population (sampling), which
instruments of data collection
Collect record and organize data
Write up the full research
1. Selection of Research
topic/problem
• Ideas about what to research can come from a
broad variety of sources but probably arise from
two main categories: 1) everyday observation,
curiosity and 2) familiarity with scholarly
debates, theory and research in a particular field
• Generally students of media and communication
are assumed to be interested in finding out
about and understanding the roles of media and
communication processes play in the society,
culture and politics around us.
2. Reviewing of relevant literature
• Identifying and reviewing the relevant literature
is possibly the single most important step in any
research. It provides the good overview of what
has already been researched and published in
relation to our chosen topic.
• Literature review helps decide which type of
communication theory is most suitable for the
topic and of deciding how the issue or topic is
best researched.
Literature Review Guideline
• What type of research has been done in the area?
• What has been found in previous studies?
• What suggestions do other researchers make for
further study?
• What has not been investigated?
• How can the proposed study add to our
knowledge of the area?
• What research methods were used in previous
studies?
3. Statement of research question or
hypothesis
• Having established an overview of literature, it is
now to narrow down and focus the research
• The research objective can be formulated as a
hypothesis – a statement about the relationship
between two or more variables.
• It can be formulated as a research questionshould indicate what the key variables or
dimensions to be examined are.
Stating a Hypotheses or
Research Question
A Hypothesis
is a formal statement regarding
the relationship between variables
and is tested directly.
Ex.
• Increasing the flow of news on
a topic leads to greater
acquisition of knowledge
about that topic among the
more highly educated
segments of society
A research
question is a formally
stated question intended to
provide indications about
something; it is not limited to
investigating relationship
between variables.
Ex.
• What are the current strategies
of knowledge management?
• How are knowledge and
knowledge-sharing evaluated
by construction practitioners?
• The amount of time a child
spends in make-believe play is
directly related to the amount
of time spent viewing makebelieve play on TV.
• A child’s level of distortion of
reality is directly related to the
amount and types of TV
programs the child views.
Hypotheses are
testable statements
about relationship(s)
between the
variables
• Does TV content enrich a
child’s imaginative capacities
by offering materials and ideas
for make-believe play?
• Does TV lead to distortions of
reality for children?
Research
questions pose
general areas of
investigation.
4. Determination of appropriate
methodology and research design
• The key to choosing an appropriate research
methodology is, again, the literature review
which it will shows what kinds of methods have
used effectively in previous research.
4.1What Method(s)
• At the most general level, the choice of method
depends broadly on whether the research is
primarily aimed at investigating
communications/media content (text or documents)
or people and their beliefs, actions and behaviors.
• Suitable methods for investigating
communication/media content include content
analysis, semiotics, discourse analysis
• Suitable methods for investigating people include
surveys, individual interviews, focus group
interviewing, observation.
4.2Population and Sample
• Whether qualitative or quantitative research, it is
essential to be clear about what ‘population’ or people
the planned research aims to investigate and,
eventually, to be able to describe.
• It is useful to be as specific as possible about the
population of media or people to be studied.
• Even the population has been defined relatively
narrowly, it is still highly unusual to study every
individual case in that population.
• A representative sample will be used and it is a
smaller version of the population, containing the same
key characteristics and in the same proportions as they
are present in the population.
4.3 Research Instruments and Variables
• The collection of data, must always be focused
on what is relevant to address and answer the
objectives or questions posed for the research.
• Ex. For surveys, the assumption tends to relate
to demographic variables of survey respondents.
4.4 Research Ethics and Approval
• Just as academic research must always be
transparent in terms of design, framework,
methods and procedures used, so too must it
always be ethical.
• That is esp., important where people are the
subjects of research or in other ways involved as
informants/respondents.
4.5 Piloting
• A pilot study consists of simply testing the
research instrument or a small sample of cases
to see whether the codes or questions can be
readily applied without misinterpretation, and
whether they succeed in capturing the kind of
info.that will be relevant to answering the
research questions.
5. Data Collection
• An important key to successful data collection is
careful and realistic time planning and
timetabling.
• Virtually all research is conducted to specified
deadlines. It is essential to construct a realistic
timetable which specifies who is doing what,
where and when.
6. Analysis and Interpretation of Data
• Regardless of whether the research is primarily
quantitative or qualitative, or a combination of the
two, data analysis is essentially about identifying
and summarizing key trends, patterns, and
relationships in the data.
• Quantitative data are subjected to statistical
analysis, showing both the distribution of individual
variables and testing the strength of relationship
between variables.
• Qualitative data is coded, classified or tagged and
explored on what themes, subjects.
Internal and External Validity
Internal Validity: Does the study really
investigate the proposed research question?
VS
- Are the results
internally and
externally valid?
- Are the results
accurate?
External Validity: Can the results be
generalized to the population?
7. Presentation/publication
• The final step in the research process is to write up the
full research for presentation or publication.
• The core structure of the research write-up
• Introduction
• Review of literature and framework
• Method and sample
• Analysis and results
• Conclusion
• References
References
• Hansen, A., & Machin, D. (2013). Media and
Communication Research Methods.
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Wimmer, R. & Dominick, J. (2011). Mass Media
Research: An Introduction (9th ed.). Belmont,
CA: Thompson Wadsworth.
Thank you for your attention
IN-CLASS TASK
• Identify the research topic that you are
interested in the field of media and
communication
• Identify the research objectives/ questions of the
selected topic