ALC 208 Week 4- Topic 3

1. ALC 208Week 4- Topic 3 From Choosing a Topic to Writing a Scholarly Research Report

2. Doing Social Research Steps followed in doing a research project and reporting its findings: i) Select and narrow the topic ii) Conduct the literature review iii) Develop the research design / plan Iv) Choose suitable methodologies and data collection methods v) Collect the data and analyse them vi) Write the research report on the findings (or proposal)

3. i) Select and narrow the topic • Select an issue / problem /phenomenon • Look at newspapers, other journal articles • Focus by making the topic area narrow enough and the project manageable within time available • Rationale (Why is it important? What is its purpose?

4. ii) Conduct the literature review • Comprehensive examination of existing research of your topic area. • Primary Sources- Journal articles, books. Authors had done the research study they are reporting • Secondary sources (commentaries, analysis, opinion, literature reviews) • (Note: Not the same as in journalism.) • Non-scholarly sources (magazines, newspaper, trade journals, websites)

5. Searching databases for the Literature Review • Search via Cloud Deakin -‘Student Support Links’, then ‘Library Resources Guide’ . Look under ‘Communication’ and then ‘Journalism and media’ • Click ‘Get Started’ then search under ‘Books’, Multimedia Resources’, Databases Containing scholarly Articles’ and ‘News’ (papers) • Click ‘…scholarly articles’ - select ‘Communication & Mass Media Complete’. Search from EBSCOHostusing up to three keywords. • Abstracts (Communication / Sociological / Psychological) • Indexes • Google Scholar (Regular Google alone not enough) • Reference lists of articles already found/reviewed provide good leads to other sources.

6. What is a Literature review, really? • Examines how your topic area had been studied in the past • Not just a summary of who said what… • Look for similar areas examining same variables as your study. eg. Demographic differences in adopting a new communication technology • Critique exiting literature • Examine commonly used epistemologies, paradigms, covering laws • Strengths and limitations of those studies • Alternative explanations

7. Referencing your sources • Cite sources in body of essay as (Author, year) if paraphrased • Provide page number as well, if ‘directly quoted’(Author, year page number/s) • Reference list at end • Use Harvard Style - See Cloud site for documentwww.deakin.edu.au/referencing Look for ‘Author-date (Harvard) Style’

8. iii) Develop the research design / plan • Purpose of research- Explore, describe, explain (causal-functional) or understand • Exploration – inductive or deductive Preliminary only. Does not answer research questions well enough • Description: of systematic observations • Causal (Why?) Explain the ‘Why?’ of the phenomenon- Strange man in a new society • Functional (How? -to improve) • Understanding- Reason -based

9. Unit of Analysis • The ‘Who and what’ under study • Provides a focus to the study • Composite picture or Aggregate e.g. X% of men prefer Product A

10. Common Units of Analysis • Individuals • Groups • Organisations • Social Artifacts (Non-reactive or unobtrusive research) – Physical Traces • A) Erosion B) Accretion traces • C) Archival records • D) Messages

11. Fallacies (wrong assumptions) • Ecological fallacy- Making conclusions about individuals based on observations of groups. e.g. Profiling, stereotypes etc e.g. teens as selfish • Individual fallacy- Taking an exception to a general rule as cancelling the rule. e.g. The ‘Short’ basket ball player.

12. Orientation of Time and Space • Time Dimension- Considering how time effects a phenomenon. Study it on off or at different times. • Cross-sectional study- One off only • Longitudinal- Repeated at different times. More useful but more expensive • - Trend Studies- Phenomenon re-studied at different times using different groups of people • Cohort Studies- Different samples taken from same population to study at different times • -Panel Studies- Same set of people studied at different times. ( Affected by panel attrition)

13. The Space Dimension • If the physical setting of study matters to the project. • Field Dependent Research- Has to be conducted at a specific location e.g. Field studies. • Evaluation Research- used often in PR. Examine the issues at different times to see if a campaign has been effective. • Field Independent Research- Data collection can be done anywhere. Eg. Surveys, focus groups, interviews etc.

14. v) Writing a Research Report • Quantitative: • Title- 10-25 words • Byline- name, affiliation and contact details of author/s • Abstract- 100-150 words or as specified. • Introduction- research problem, significance, rationale, purpose of study and how it will be studied, Literature review, research questions / hypotheses • Method- Population studied, sampling method/sample size used; how recruited, demographic profile of sample; ethics clearance, operational definitions, data collection instruments used (eg. Questionnaires); procedures followed in collecting, storing, analysing data;

15. Results • Answers to research questions / Hypotheses • Rationalise types of analyses used • Include tables, graphs, charts , figures etc. • Discussion -Draw conclusions, List limitations of study, Directions for future research, Shortcoming of study • References- List of all sources cited in body of report • Bibliography- Sources consulted but not necessarily cited.

16. Writing a Qualitative Research Report • Different to quantitative because it combines data gathering, analysis and interpretation sections. • Similar to Quantitative as it has an introduction, methods, results and a discussion. • Qualitative uses inductive reasoning- i.e. Research questions are used. • Researcher is the primary data collection instrument.

17. Types of Narrative Tales (Reporting Styles) in Qualitative Research 1. The Realist Tale 2. The Confessional Tale 3. The Impressionist Tale Van Maanen (1988)

18. The Realist Tale • The most common style. • Observations narrated in the third person. Of phenomenon observed. • Findings organised as emergent themes found in the data. • Takes research subjects’ point of view

19. The Confessional Tale • Researcher’s point of view presented in the first person narrative e.g. Travel stories ‘Around the world in 80 dates’ • Tells what they saw, experienced etc. • ‘Mystery Shoppers’; Undercover law enforcement officers / journalists

20. The Impressionist Tale • Derived from impressionist art • Narrative captures the world in a special instant or moment of time • Dramatic recall of an event, told chronologically. • Characters constructed, given names, lives and feelings are told in first person • Research presented as a case history, short story, drama, noel, movie etc. Eg. The 2006 Movie The Queen

21. Writing a Multimethod Research Report • Qualitative part written as a Realist tale. Writing A Research Proposal • Same as a report but ends with the method section. • Also includes a proposed schedule and a Budget of estimated costs Writing a non-Scholarly Research Report • Follows the style of a standard Business report

22. Any Questions?