Lecture # 02 (intro to mass media research) 8th july 2014

Intro to mass
media research
Prof. Dr. Akhlas Ahmed
Lecture # 02, July 9th 2014
Greenwich University

WHAT IS RESEACH?
 Verb
 The systematic investigation into
 Study of materials and sources in order to
establish facts
 Reach new conclusion
 The systematic, rigorous investigation of a
situation or problem in order to generate new
knowledge or validate existing knowledge.

Some Important Questions
 What is research?
 Why it is so important?
 When will research process commence?
 What is the need of a research?
 Where to do the research?
 How to start the research?
 What types of research are there?
 What ethical considerations are there when conducting
research?
 How might research findings be used?

TYPES OF RESEACH
 Qualitative Research
 Descriptive in nature
 Paradigm usually associated with the socially
constructed nature of reality. It is about
recording, analyzing and attempting to uncover
the deeper meaning and significance of human
behavior and experience, including contradictory
beliefs, behaviors and emotions.

TYPES OF RESEACH
 Quantitative Research
 Analytical in nature
 Quantitative research is generally associated
with the positivist/post-positivist paradigm. It
usually involves collecting and converting data
into numerical form so that statistical
calculations can be made and conclusions
drawn.

VARIABLES USED IN RESEARCH
 A variable is an object, event, idea, feeling, time period, or
any other type of category you are trying to measure.
Therefore, variables are measurable characteristics or
properties of people or things that can take on different
values.
 A variable is something that can change, such as gender,
which can be either male or female, age which can be 15
years old, 16 years old, 20, 38 or 30 years old and
variables are typically the focus of a study.

TYPES OF VARIABLES
 There are two major types of variables
 Independent variable
 Dependent variable

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE
 An independent variable is one which is manipulated by
the researcher. It is like the knob on a dial that the
researcher turns.
 An independent variable is that stands alone and isn’t
changed by the other variables you are trying to measure.
 Example: someone’s age is an independent variable.
Other factors such as what they eat, how much they go to
school, how much television they watch aren’t going to
change a person’s age. In fact, when you are looking for
some kind of relationship between variables you are trying
to see if the independent variable causes some kind of
change in the other variables, or dependent variables.

DEPENDENT VARIABLE
 A dependent variable is one which changes as a result of
the independent variable being changed. Just like an
independent variable, a dependent variable is exactly what
it sounds like. It is something that depends on other
factors.
 Example, a test score could be a dependent variable
because it could change depending on several factors
such as how much you studied, how much sleep you got
the night before you took the test, or even how hungry you
were when you took it. Usually when you are looking for a
relationship between two things you are trying to find out
what makes the dependent variable change the way it

EXAMPLES OF VARIABLES
 There are two major types of variables
 Independent variable
 Dependent variable

MEDIA RESEARCH
 Media is the most powerful tool of
communication. It helps promoting the right things
on right time. It gives a real exposure to the mass
audience about what is right or wrong. Even though
media is linked with spreading fake news like a fire,
but on the safe side, it helps a lot to inform us about
the realities as well.
 Media research helps the producer know what
kind of his /her audience and their needs at that
time, its better for a Radio presenter to know at
what time he/she can play a certain type of music to
a particular type of age group for example POP
Music to youth and jazz for adults.

TYPES OF
MEDIA RESEARCH
1. Readership
2. Circulation
3. Management
4. Typography-makeup's
5. Readability
6. Online-media use

IMPORTANCE OF
MEDIA RESEARCH
 Media has a constructive role to play for the society. Today
News Channels and even some Newspapers are mouthpiece
of some social issues, which helps us to estimate the realities
of lives.
 Media has played an important role in order to focus on the
social issues in almost every era. It is the fact that in most of
the eras, media were not being given free and fair chances to
explore the issues of society more openly than it is being given
now; but we can't deny this fact that the issues were always
raised in order to provide justice to the people.
 Pakistani Media has expanded it's chain during this era, and
many cases and issues were brought under one umbrella,
which showcase us that even today, we are bounded in the
barriers of loads of problems and issues, which is to be sought
out.
 Now, the time has arrived, when we need to re-think about
our attitudes towards society.

VARIABLE USED IN
MEDIA RESEARCH

HOW DOES MEDIA
RESEARCH DIFFER FROM
THE OTHER FORM OF
RESEARCH?

WHY IS RESEARCH
IMPORTANT IN MEDIA
INDUSTRY?

4W & 1H
Your…
MEDIA Research project !

RESEARCH
PROCESS…
SERIES OF STEPS which make up
research from the development of an
idea to the completed research paper.

Research Process
 Ordered set of activities focused on…
 systematic collection of information
 using accepted methods of analysis
 as a basis for drawing conclusions
 and making recommendations.

There are five basic steps of
any research process
 Research Process…
1. Defining Research Needs
2. Developing a Research Strategy
3. Conducting Research
4. Evaluating Resources
5. Incorporating Resources

 First step in any process is
defining what you need…
1. Describe your research need
through developing any
hypothesis.(an idea that attempts to explain
something but has not yet been tested or proved
to be correct)
2. Distinguish between different
types of resources to decide
which to use.
FIRST STEP
DEFINING RESEARCH NEEDS

 Understand your assignment
 Think different problematic issues
 Identify a real problem
 Pick manageable task
 Suggest suitable title for research
 Turn idea into research questions.
 Discuss your idea with others
 Define research topic explain idea
as project summary
 Distinguish between different types
of resources to decide which to use.
 Make vision for your project
 Develop aims & objectives or goals
for your research project
 Write down project summary
 Find the best resources suitable for
your assignment.
Defining Research Need

 Second step in any research
process is developing research
strategy…
1. Build a key word search
2. Brainstorming search terms to
get the most relevant
information.
SECOND STEP
DEVELOPING RESEARCH STRATEGY

 Visualize what exact information
you need. Find out the ways &
means for the research. Make plan
which kind of resources would you
like to utilize for research project.
 A good search strategy will help
you in writing a research procedure,
formulating research methodology &
research mission statement (action
plan).
Developing
Research Strategy
 Build a list of important keyword
 Discuss these key words, find out
the keyword synonyms , consider
word spellings, forms & structure,
brainstorm the research concept
 The success of a search depends
on the keywords you use in your
research and how you combine
them.

THIRD STEP
CONDUCTING THE SEARCH
 Third step in any process is
conducting the search…
1. Start searching info
2. Review literatures
3. Plan research samples
4. Conduct surveys
5. Keep interviews
6. Link to useful websites

 Visit university library…
 Find books, magazines, journals in
the libraries catalog
 Find articles through newspaper
catalog
 Find any reputable digital library…
 Select valuable search engine
 Choose good web portal or website
 Use online dictionaries, literatures,
encyclopedias, presentations, word
docs for the access of information
 There is no shortage of information sources at your disposal! A
variety of options are available, including books, periodicals, and
web sites. Your job is to sift through the information glut and find
the best resources for your assignments.
 Let's talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the different
types of information sources: books, scholarly journals, popular
magazines, and the Internet. Double check the whole research
concept , design and process

FOURTH STEP
EVALUATING RESOURCES
 Fourth step in any research
process is evaluating resources…
1. Evaluating all info extracted
from database, articles, books,
periodicals, journals etc.
2. Analyze collected info from web

 Sort out relevant info from articles,
books, catalogues, magazines…
 You'll encounter articles that
come from two different
sources: popular magazines
and scholarly journals.
 Select useful information…
 To save time, evaluate the
books, articles, and web sites
you find to be sure they are
relevant to your research topic
 Many students try to "force" resources to fit their assignments
instead of continuing to search until they find resources that really
fit.
 Trying to force quotations and facts that don't fit into a project
outline takes a lot of time. Even if you can stick them in
somewhere, the result is an assignment that seems poorly
planned.

FIFTH STEP
INCORPORATING RESOURCES
 Fifth step of research process is
incorporating resources…
1. First understanding plagiarism
2. Integrating your research data
3. Cite your sources
4. Give references

 Understanding Plagiarism…
 Copying someone else's words
without using quotation marks
 Quoting someone else's words
inaccurately
 Citing the wrong source
 Integrating your Research…
 To integrate the new
information into your written
project thesis presentation and
power point presentation after
analysis and interpreting data.
 Cite your Sources…
 To create in-text citations in
Final Research Report formats.
 Last to create Reference List

Presenting…
a professional presentation at auditorium
in conference / seminar / workshop/ TV
program

KEEP ENJOYING !!!
AFTER NICE WORK
GOOD LUCK!!!

Lecture # 02 (intro to mass media research) 8th july 2014

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Lecture # 02 (intro to mass media research) 8th july 2014