Instructor’s manual

1. Instructor’s manual Mass Media Research: An Introduction, 7th Edition Roger Wimmer & Joseph Dominick

2. Part One. The Research Process

3. Chapter 1: Science and Research • What is Research? • Getting Started • The Development of Mass Media Research • Media Research and the Scientific Method • The Methods of Knowing

4. Characteristics of the Scientific Method • 1) Scientific research is public • 2) Science is objective • 3) Science is empirical • 4) Science is systematic and cumulative • 5) Science is predictive

5. Two Sectors of Research: Academic and Private • Research Procedures • 1) Selecting a Research Topic • 2) Professional Journals • 3) Magazine and Periodicals • 4) Research Summaries • 5) The Internet

6. 6) Everyday situations • 7) Archive Data • 8) Advantages of Secondary Analysis • 9) Disadvantages of Secondary Analysis

7. Determining Topic Relevance • 1) Is the Topic Too Broad? • 2) Can the Problem Really be Investigated? • 3) Can the Data Be Analyzed? • 4) Is the Problem Significant? • 5) Can the Results of the Study Be Generalized? • 6) What Costs and Time Are Involved in the Analysis?

8. 7) Is the Planned Approach Appropriate to the Project? • 8) Is There Any Potential Harm to the Subjects?

9. Stating a hypothesis or Research Question • Data Analysis and Interpretation • Internal Validity • 1) History • 2) Maturation • 3) Testing • 4) Instrumentation • 5) Statistical regression

10. 6) Experimental mortality • 7) Sample selection • 8) Demand characteristics • 9) Experimenter bias • 10) Evaluation apprehension • 11) Causal time order • 12) Diffusion or imitation of treatments • 13) Compensation • 14) Compensatory rivalry • 15) Demoralization

11. External Validity • Presenting Results • Research Suppliers and Field Services • Incidence Rates and CPI

12. Chapter 2: Elements of Research • Concepts and Constructs • Independent and Dependent Variables • Other Types of Variables • Defining Variables Operationally • Qualitative and Quantitative Research • The Nature of Measurement

13. Levels of Measurement • Nominal level • Ordinal level • Interval level • Ratio level • Measurement Scales • Transforming Scales

14. Specialized Rating Scales • Thurstone Scales • Guttman Scaling • Likert Scales • Semantic Differential Scales • Reliability and Validity

15. Chapter 3: Research Ethics • Ethics and the Research Process • General Ethical Theories • Specific Ethical Problems -Voluntary Participation and Informed Consent -Concealment and Deception -Protection of Privacy -Federal Regulations Concerning Research

16. Ethics in Data Analysis and Reporting • Ethics in the Publication Process • A Professional Code of Ethics

17. Chapter 4: Sampling • Population and Sample • Probability and Nonprobability Samples • Types of Nonprobability samples • Conveniece sample • Volunteer sample • Purposive sample

18. Types of Probability Samples • Simple random sampling • Systematic sampling • Stratified Sampling • Cluster Sampling • Snowball sampling

19. Sample Size • Sampling Error • Confidence Level and Confidence Interval • Computing Sampling Error • Finite Population Correction Factor • Sampling Weighting