Research Methods Fall 2011 Instructor: 陳 憶 寧,Dr. Yi-Ning Katherine Chen (kynchen@nccu.edu.tw, TEL: 67214) Class Time: Monday, 2-5 p.m. Classroom: 310309, Communication Building Office: Rm 414, Communication Building Office Hours: Thursday 1-3pm, or by appointment Introduction and Objectives This course aims to introduce communication graduate students to the social science research process, particularly the methods used by applied communication researchers. The first part of this course is structured as a series of discussion-oriented lectures on topics relevant to the research process as well as discussion of research methods that communication researchers use in their work. The second part will involve hands-on work collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data. As students of communication, understanding how social science works is essential to understanding how we know what we know about society. The course is designed to provide an introduction to the following skills: 1. Understanding the importance of recognizing context and diversity in research design and execution. 2. Understanding mass communication theories and their application in research. 3. Analyzing data and statistics in qualitative and quantitative research. 4. Producing correct and clearly written social science analyses. Course Text and Readings Required: Wimmer, R. D., & Dominick, J. R. (2005). Mass media research: An introduction, 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Thompson Wadsworth. Please read the assigned chapters before class. APA Publication Manual, 5th ed. Suggested: 1
Salkind, N. J. (2004). Statistics for people who think they hate statistics. 2 nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Reinard, J. C. (2006). Introduction to communication research (3rd edition). Singapore: McGraw-Hill. Class Participation. In graduate seminars like this course, your input is very important. Please read, reflect and contribute to the discussion. Exams. There will be two major exams. These exams will test your comprehension of the materials in the text, lectures, discussion, and handouts. The exams will contain essay, short answer, and discussion components. Quizzes. Prepare for a quiz at the start of each class over the assigned readings. Journal Article Reports. Each student will locate three mass communication journal articles illustrative of the particular methods we are studying. Choose articles from journals that report academic research, e.g., Communication Research Journal of Advertising Journal of Advertising Research Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media Journal of Communication Journal of Public Relations Research Management Communication Quarterly Mass Communication and Society Public Relations Review Public Relations Quarterly Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly Newspaper Research Journal The first article should report the results of a survey; the second, the results of a content analysis; and the third, an experiment. For each article write a report showing that you understand the basic concepts of the method. You will want to focus on the research design. Consider what the author(s) looked for and how they 2
got the answer. Please tell me whether it stands up to the standards you studied under that design. Attach a copy of the article to your critique. You will get it back. Research Paper. The paper will be your proposal for some type of communication research. This is your opportunity to choose a topic (and appropriate method) that interests you and develop some sophistication in an area of research. This paper could be a preliminary thesis proposal or project proposal. This paper should be between 7 and 12 double-spaced, typed pages (not including the cover page, references or attachments, e.g., draft surveys).pretest any survey instrument you might propose. You won t actually be carrying out the research in this class. The paper will consist of: Cover page (Use APA journal style) Introduction Literature review: what other studies have found about the issue or problem Hypotheses or research questions Methods: including research questions or hypotheses. Include your instrument, code sheet and SPSS spreadsheet with variables at the top of the columns. References (Use APA style) Appendices, e.g., surveys, cover letter for survey, instructions to participants in an experiment, interviewers guide, moderators guide for a focus group, draft code book for content analysis. Class Participation. An education is more than taking tests and getting a grade. In graduate seminars, your informed input is important. Please read, reflect and contribute to the discussion. At the end of the semester, you will present your research proposal to the class: what research questions you will address and how you will address them. EMAIL: You must have your NCCU email account activated. If you are using another provider such as gmail, you are required to have your NCCU email forwarded to that account. You are required to check your email daily. You are responsible for complying with any email sent to you by your professor or the university. 3
CELLPHONES: Must be turned off during class. ATTENDANCE: Class attendance is mandatory. You may be assigned a failing grade for the semester for nonattendance, or habitual late arrival. No late work will be accepted without prior arrangements, which are acceptable to your professor. Students may not be permitted to make up any missing work unless it is for an absence due to illness or other catastrophic emergency. Your Grade First exam 25% Second exam 10% Quizzes 10% Research proposal paper 35% Journal article reports (3 reports) 15% Literature Review assignment 5% Number grades on tests and papers translate into these letter grades: A 90.0-100 B+ 85.0-89.9 B 80.0-84.9 C+ 75.0-79.9 C 70.0-74.9 F below 70 Research Methods Calendar Sep. 19 Welcome. Introduction to the course Syllabus Sep. 26 Introduction to mass communication research. Science and research. Quiz Using the library. Readings: Wimmer & Dominick, chap 1 Salkind chaps 1 & 3 4
APA chap 1 Content and Org. Oct. 3 Literature review Readings: Reinard, 86-126. Assignments: Present a research question and explain why it is worthy of your effort (the why and so what)* Oct. 10 No Class Oct. 17 Elements of research. Ethics. Quiz Readings: Wimmer & Dominick, chaps 2 & 3 Salkind chap 16 APA chap 2 Writing Visit: Human subjects research Web site: www.people.memphis.edu/~irb Turn in: Literature Review Assignment Oct. 24 Qualitative methods. Focus group simulation. Quiz Focus group simulation. Readings: Wimmer & Dominick, chap 5 Salkind chaps 4 & 5 APA chap 3 Style Oct. 31 Sampling and surveys. Quiz Readings: Wimmer & Dominick chaps 4 & 7 Salkind chap 7 APA chap 4 References Nov. 7 Surveys, cont. Longitudinal research. Quiz Survey simulation. Bring notes from focus group. Readings: Wimmer & Dominick chap 8 APA chap 5 Manuscript Nov. 14 Midterm Exam Nov. 21 Content Analysis. Content analysis simulation. Quiz Writing research reports (by e-mail) Code book sample (by e-mail) 5
Readings: Wimmer & Dominick chap 6 Turn in: Survey research article critique Nov. 28 Experiments / Field Experiments. Quiz Readings: Wimmer & Dominick chap 9 Salkind chaps 8, 11, &13 Dec. 5 Hypothesis testing. Readings: Wimmer & Dominick chaps 10 & 12. Salkindchaps 6 & 14 Turn in: Content analysis research article critique Dec. 12 Statistics workshop Coding sheets. Using SPSS. Data entry from a survey. Readings: Salkind chaps 15, 20, App. A Dec. 19 Statistics workshop Using SPSS. Exercises with SPSS. Practice survey and data set. Readings: Salkind chaps 17-19 Turn in: Experiment research article critique Dec. 26 Discourse Analysis Jan. 2 Students present papers. Turn in: Project Proposal Jan. 9 Final Exam Notes: You should look at the present syllabus as a first draft. In order to ensure the class meets all of our needs, it should be expected that we will need to make changes to as we going along. That is, we may change the syllabus by mutual agreement. 6