PAPER X: COMMUNICATION RESEARCH METHODS

UNIT I LESSON 1 INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH

NATURE OF SCIENTIFIC ENQUIRY

NEED FOR METHODOLOGY IN COMMUNICATION RESEARCH

SCIENCES AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

RESEARCH METHODS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Structure
1.1. Introduction to Research
1.2. Objectives
1.3. Definition
1.4 What is Research?
1.5 Purpose of Research
1.6 Research Process
1.7 Definition for Communication Research
1.8 Types and elements of Communication research
1.9 Summary
1.10Suggested readings

1.1 INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH

This unit discusses about the concepts and definitions of research. Research is a
careful and detailed study into a specific problem, concern, or issue using the scientific
method. In this unit introduces the meaning, definition and various aspects of Communication
Research. It will also discuss the importance of communication research and mass media
research. Elements of communication research are also included in our discussion in this unit.
Research can be about anything, and we hear about all different types of research in the
news.

1.2 OBJECTIVES

 To learn about the research

 To discuss how the concept of research used in communication
 To learn about the research importance and reason

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  To discuss about various research process

1.3 DEFINITION FOR RESEARCH

Research has been defined in a number of different ways.

 The systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to
establish facts and reach new conclusions.
 In the broadest sense of the word, the definition of research includes any gathering of
data, information and facts for the advancement of knowledge.

 A broad definition of research is given by Godwin Colibao: "In the broadest sense of
the word, the definition of research includes any gathering of data, information, and
facts for the advancement of knowledge."
 Another definition of research is given by John W. Creswell, who states that "research
is a process of steps used to collect and analyze information to increase our
understanding of a topic or issue". It consists of three steps: pose a question, collect
data to answer the question, and present an answer to the question.
 The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines research in more detail as "a
studious inquiry or examination; especially investigation or experimentation aimed at
the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the
light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws".

1.4 WHAT IS RESEARCH?

Research is a systematic inquiry that investigates hypotheses, suggests new
interpretations of data or texts, and poses new questions for future research to explore.

Research consists of:

 Asking a question that nobody has asked before;

 Doing the necessary work to find the answer; and
 Communicating the knowledge you have acquired to a larger audience.

Research is a systematic inquiry to describe, explain, predict and control the observed
phenomenon. Research involves inductive and deductive methods (Babbie, 1998). Inductive
methods analyze the observed phenomenon and identify the general principles, structures, or

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processes underlying the phenomenon observed; deductive methods verify the hypothesized
principles through observations. The purposes are different: one is to develop explanations,
and the other is to test the validity of the explanations.

One thing that we have to pay attention to research is that the heart of the research is not
on statistics, but the thinking behind the research. How we really want to find out, how we
build arguments about ideas and concepts, and what evidence that we can support to persuade
people to accept our arguments.

Gall, Borg and Gall (1996) proposed four types of knowledge that research contributed to
education as follows:

1. Description: Results of research can describe natural or social phenomenon, such as

its form, structure, activity, change over time, relationship to other phenomena. The
descriptive function of research relies on instrumentation for measurement and
observations. The descriptive research results in our understanding of what happened.
It sometimes produces statistical information about aspects of education.
2. Prediction: Prediction research is intended to predict a phenomenon that will occur at
time Y from information at an earlier time X. In educational research, researchers
have been engaged in:
o Acquiring knowledge about factors that predict students' success in school and
in the world of work
o Identifying students who are likely to be unsuccessful so that prevention
programs can be instituted.

3. Improvement: This type of research is mainly concerned with the effectiveness of

intervention. The research approach includes experimental design and evaluation
research.
4. Explanation: This type research subsumes the other three: if the researchers are able
to explain an educational phenomenon, it means that they can describe, can predict its
consequences, and know how to intervene to change those consequences.

Need for Research

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 Research is the systematic investigation and study of materials and sources to
establish facts and reach new conclusions, so it shapes people’s understanding of the world
around them. Through research findings, psychologists are able to explain individuals’
behaviors, including how people think and act in certain ways. This helps to determine
disorders and their impact on the person and society, thus developing appropriate treatments
to improve the individual’s quality of life.
Reasons
There are seven reason mentioned the need of research is important. There are the
following reasons
 A Tool for Building Knowledge and Efficient Learning

 Means to Understand Various Issues

 An Aid to Business Success

 A Way to Prove Lies and to Support Truths

 Means to Find, Gauge, and Seize Opportunities

 A Seed to Love Reading, Writing, Analyzing, and Sharing Valuable Information

 Nourishment and Exercise for the Mind

1.5 PURPOSE OF RESEARCH

Patton (1990) pointed out the importance of identifying the purpose in a research process.
He classified four types of research based on different purposes:

1. Basic Research: The purpose of this research is to understand and explain, i.e. the
research is interested in formulating and testing theoretical construct and propositions
that ideally generalize across time and space. This type of research takes the form of a
theory that explains the phenomenon under investigation to give its contribution to
knowledge. This research is more descriptive in nature exploring what, why and how
questions.
2. Applied Research: The purpose of this research is to help people understand the
nature of human problems so that human beings can more effectively control their
environment. In other words, this type of research pursues potential solutions to

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 human and societal problems. This research is more prescriptive in nature, focusing
on how questions.
3. Evaluation Research (summative and formative): Evaluation research studies the
processes and outcomes aimed at attempted solution. The purpose of formative
research is to improve human intervention within specific conditions, such as
activities, time, and groups of people; the purpose of summative evaluation is to judge
the effectiveness of a program, policy, or product.
4. Action Research: Action research aims at solving specific problems within a
program, organization, or community. Patton (1990) described that design and data
collections in action research tend to be more informal, and the people in the situation
are directly involved in gathering information and studying themselves.

1.6 RESEARCH PROCESS

Gall, Borg, and Gall (1996) described the following stages of conducting a research
study:

1. Identify a significant research problem: in this stage, find out the research questions
that are significant and feasible to study.
2. Prepare a research proposal: a research proposal usually consists of the sections
including introductory, literature review, research design, research method, data
analysis and protection of human subject section, and timeline.
3. Conduct a pilot study: the purpose is to develop and try out data-collection methods
and other procedures.
4. Conduct a main study
5. Prepare a report

Gall, Borg, and Gall (1996) also explained that these five stages may overlap or occur in a
different order to depending the nature of the study. Qualitative studies which involve
emergent research design may gather and analyze some data before developing the proposal,
or a pilot study can be done before writing a research proposal or not at all. Anglin, Ross, and
Morrison (1995) took a closer look at the stages of identifying a research problem and
preparing the research proposal. They advised a sequence of planning steps:

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Select a Topic

Research requires commitment. As a researcher, you want to make sure you are doing something
that you have a great interest in doing.

Identify the Research Problem

Based on your own understanding and interest of the topic, think about what issues can be explored?
Sometimes, a research problem cannot be immediately identified. But, through reviewing the
existing literature and having continuous discourse with peers and scholars, the research problem
will start take its shape.

Conduct a Literature Search

Reviewing literature has two major purposes: one is to build up the researcher's knowledge base of
the topic under exploration for a deeper understanding, and the other is to ensure the significance of
the research. The researcher needs to make sure how the research will be able to contribute to the
knowledge in the related field compared with the existing research literature.

State the Research Question

The research problem will evolve during your pursuing knowledge base through reviewing literature
and discourse with peers and scholars. To specify what questions your research study want to
answer helps to provide the basis of planning other parts of your study, e.g. the research design, the
methods for data collection and analysis.

Determine the Research Design

In the intention of the research study is to verify a causal relationship between certain variables, use
an experimental design; if the intention of the research study is to find out how variables relate to
one another, use a correlation design; if the intention of the research study is to describe and
understand a particular social condition/pattern and meaning of a social experience, conduct a
qualitative study.

Determine Methods
Three major elements in the research study need to be considered: participants, materials,
and instruments.

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  Participants: It concerns whom to study. For experimental studies, the researcher needs to
consider statistical sampling to make sure that sample is representative of the population, e.g.
techniques of random sampling and stratified sampling. For qualitative research, purposeful
sampling is the major principle. The selection of individuals, groups, or cases depends on
how the characteristics, or properties of the individuals, groups, or cases will best inform the
researcher with the focus of what is under investigation.
 Materials and Instrumentation: For experimental research, operationalization of the
variables is the focus, i.e. what are different treatment conditions, and how to measure the
dependent variables. The researcher has to consider issues about the reliability (the
consistency of the test), and validity (whether the test is testing what is meant to test) of the
measurement. The design of the experimental conditions has taken the threats of the internal
and external validity into account. The researcher wants to make sure that the establishing of
the causal relationship is not influenced by other factors than the controlling factors, and the
researcher needs to consider to what extent the results of the research can be generalized to
the population beyond the sample under study.

For qualitative research, the issues are the sources of data, where the researcher can find the
information and what methods the researcher can use to get the information. Qualitative
research usually focuses on the verbal information gathered from the interviews,
observations, documents or cultural artifacts. The very distinctive feature about the
qualitative research is that the researcher is part of the instrument. The recognition of this
researcher's subjective interpretation of the information yields the process of triangulation,
which emphasizes use of multiple sources, methods, investigators, and theories to ensure the
credibility of the research.

 Procedures: A procedural planning of how to get approval from IRB, how to get entry to
research participants or to the field, how to implement the experimental treatment or to
schedule observations and interviews, and how to prepare for write-up. A general outline of
the process and a timeline will facilitate the research progress.

Identify Analysis Procedures

Different research questions and different research designs entail different analysis method to take.
Experimental design employs statistical analysis to give statistical descriptions of the groups in

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terms of different independent variables and dependent variables, and to determine the significance
of the differences whether the dependent variables are caused by the independent variables. On the
other hand, qualitative design employs semantic analysis to identify themes, categories, processes,
and patterns of an observed phenomenon, and provides rich descriptions of the phenomenon in order
to develop a deeper understanding of human systems.

1.7 DEFINITION FOR COMMUNICATION RESEARCH

Communication research generally refers to the attempt to discover trends or facts in the
field of communication and mass media. According to Wimmer and Dominick, researchers should
learn what they can do with research methods, instead of how they work.

Meaning of Communication Research

Mass communication research was started during the first two decades of the twentieth
century. During the 1920’s and 1930’s researchers concluded that mass media had powerful effect
on individual human behavior. From the 1940’s through the 1960’s, in the United States the
researchers took the opposite track and argued that the effects of mass media on people were limited.
During that time, researchers also began to explore the factors that influence media content. After
the 1970’s, research into the content influence grew enormously. Two strains of critical studies
developed in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century. To show the
communication as the foundation for developing a sense of community in a post industrial world,
three great scholars Sharles Cooliy, Robert Park and John Dewey studied at Michigan and
Mimesota. They explored the positive possibilities of modern communication. The second group of
communication scholars came to the United States from Frankfurt of Germany. These scholars did
not believe that modern media had the potential to improve the society.
Let us now discuss the meaning of the communication research. ZeamFolkerts and Stephen
Lacy in their book “The Media in your Life- An Introduction to Mass Communication” has defined
the mass communication research in these words : “Mass communication research involve the
systematic study of media content, the forces that shape its creation, how and why people use media,
and the impact of media content and media institutions on individuals and society”. The researchers
of the discipline have developed a systematic study of media contents. The reason for conducting
communication research varies with the researcher and the funding organization of the research.

Mass communication research basically is an art of scientific investigation or an in-depth

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academic activity that lays stress on the various aspects of mass communication. It includes not only
an in-depth investigation of theoretical aspects of mass communication but also a wide ranging
inter-disciplines such as television, radio, newspaper, folk and traditional communication forms,
advertising, public relations campaign, effectiveness of programmes, audience behavior and so on.

Mass media and the media research organizations need such research findings for shaping the
news products to be launched, programmes or software to be introduced, so that the popularity can
be gauged effectively to make it a profitable proposition. Now-a-days a new trend has come into
mass media, especially TV news bulletins. That is, the same person is required to perform as a
newscaster or newsreader, researcher, correspondent or reporter etc. on a continuously changing
basis.

1.8 TYPES OF COMMUNICATION RESEARCH

Folkerts and Lacy state that the communication research begins with a paradigm, which is a
set of assumptions about the nature of human behaviour. A variety of paradigms are available for
scholars to use. Two paradigms dominate mass communication research. One is social science
approach, which emphasizes on the use of theories building and empirical measurement to learn
about human behaviors. The other approach is the critical approach that seeks an understanding of
issues that are raised by connections between media and society.

The communication research can be broadly divided into two types. One is basic research and
the other is the practical research.

(a) Basic Communication Research: As its name indicates it is the basic communication research
that deals with the development of a theory. This type of research is carried out by the
communication scholars or the researcher to develop theories and to examine various phenomena,
exploring the relationship between the people and the media. For example, we can mention some
research on conflict reporting and the impact of the community based reports on the general
civilians. Another example, we can mention here is the impact or the effectiveness of some good
programmes on children.

(b) Practical research: We know that applied research aims at finding a solution for an immediate
problem facing a society or an organization. Practical communication research can be compared
with the concept of applied research. Media organizations conduct practical research in an effort to

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understand what content and services their audiences want and need. The goal of this types of
research is to predict the consumer behavior for the media organizations to increase their audience.
The film industry conducts research to determine the popularity of heroes and heroines. Folberts and
Lacy stated that the same research topic can be examined by the basic and practical research. To
determine how advertising affects voting can be considered as a basic research when it is done by
political scientist or can be considered as a practical research when it is done by campaign
consultants.

They said that mass communication research begins with a paradigm, which is a set of
assumptions about the nature of human behavior. We can divide the approach of communication
research into two.

(i) Social science approach: For building an empirical measurement to learn about human behavior,
we can use the social science approach in the communication research. This approach involves
studies such as experiments and surveys.

(ii) Critical approach: This approach seeks an understanding of issues that are raised by the
connections between media and society. To achieve the goals by using this critical approach the
scholars and the researchers use a variety of techniques and have different economic and cultural
perspectives.

Different types of research methods have been employed by the communication

scientists. Both the qualitative and quantitative methods are used. Scholar Ronald Taylor defines
qualitative research as “any systematic investigation that attempts to understand the meaning that
things have for individuals from their own perspective”. Quantitative research, on the contrary,
involves the use of statistical analysis with units of content or observations about individual
behavior or attitudes. In the academic research both qualitative and quantitative methods are used to
understand human behavior.

Qualitative research concentrates on real life settings and content. Examples of

qualitative method include participatory observation, textual analysis and in-depth interviewing. On
the other hand quantitative research is based on the measurement of the quantity. It helps researchers
to make general statement as about larger groups such as the voter behavior of a country. In
communication research content analysis is also used in a wide manner. We will discuss in detail the

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content analysis in the later stage.

Elements of Communication Research

Winner and Dominic in their book Mass Media Research said that there are four basic elements of
communication research. These are -

1. Concept and constructs: A concept is an abstract idea found by generalizing from particulars
and summarizing related observations. Concepts are important in a communication research,
because they simplify the research process by combining particular characteristics, objects or people
into more general categories. Secondly, it simplifies communication among those who have a shared
understanding of them.

A construct has three basic characteristics. First of all, it is an abstract idea that is usually
broken down into dimensions represented by lower level concepts. We can say that construct is a
combination of concept. Secondly, a construct cannot be observed directly. Lastly, a construct is
designed for some particular research purpose so that its exact meaning relates to the context in
which it is found.

2. Measurement: Measurements are everywhere if a researcher assigns numerals to objects, events

or properties according to certain rules. Numerals have no implicit quantitative meaning. In mass
media research the researchers usually measure indicators of the properties of individuals or objects.

3. Variables: Variables are classified in terms of their relationship with one another. Independent
variable and dependent variable are two major types of variables. Dependent variables are what the
researcher wishes to explain. The researcher systematically varies the independent variables.

4. Scale: According to Wimmer and Dominic, measurement scale is the last basic element of
communication research. A scale represents a composite measure of the variable. It is based on more
than one item. Rating scales are common in mass media research. Some other scales such as
Thurston scale, Guttmann scale, Likert scale, Cementic differential scales etc are commonly used in
media research.

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 Here, we want to acquaint you with some other important elements which are popular
among the communication researchers. Feedback and feed forward are commonly used for
communication researches.

We know that in a communication process feedback plays an important role. When a

sender encodes a message to the receiver and when the receiver does not send any response or
feedback to the sender, then it is not counted that the communication process is complete. Feedback
is needed to know how the communication processes or efforts are influencing the persons or parties
that have been targeted; feed back is also needed to determine if any improvements or changes are
required to be effective for smooth flow of the process. Audience feedback is always required for all
the media houses. Therefore, many media houses, conduct audience feedback surveys to improve
the quality of their programmes.

Feed forward: Feed forward is a effective tool that provides individuals or organizations
with suggestions for the future and helps them achieve a positive change in behaviour, output,
quality of production etc. For example, suppose, a television channel or a newspaper is going to
launched within a short period. Then the media organization may conduct a survey as to what kind
of programmes the target audience want to watch or what types of news they want to read in a
newspaper. After analyzing the collected data from the survey, the media organization prepares the
programmes or the news sections depending on the feed forward. It is widely used to determine the
nature of programmes/news. Basically, feed forward means the response about a certain event or
activity being carried out which is acquired in advance by utilizing different methods.

Role of Computer in Communication Research

Though a computer is nothing but a device that computes, now it can do anything.
Computer technology has undergone a significant change over the period of last five decades. The
present day microcomputer is far more powerful and cost effective compared to the world’s first
computers.

The following are the important characteristics–

1. Speed: Computers can perform calculations in just a few seconds for which human beings

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 would need a few days to do by hand.

2. Storage: We can store cores of phases and other programmes in a computer storage
device.

3. The accuracy of a computer is consistently high.

The above three are only the main characteristics of a computer. In a research process,
now-a-days, we cannot imagine to analyse quantitative data without the help of computer. In the
information gathering stage now we are in a position that we can collect thousands of pages from
digital libraries to internet. The internet has had a dramatic effect on the way people communicate
dissemination of information. It has also affected the mass media research. Internet has-

 Created new method for gathering the data in mass media research.
 Changed the way researchers search for and disseminate information.
 Simplified collaboration and interaction among researchers.

Internet based research is now popular for the all categories of research. The following
are the main advantages and disadvantages given by Wimmer and Dominic in their book.

1.9 SUMMARY

Research is a systematic inquiry that investigates hypotheses, suggests new interpretations of data or
texts, and poses new questions for future research to explore.

Patton (1990) pointed out the importance of identifying the purpose in a research process. He
classified four types of research based on different purposes: there are basic research, applied
research, evaluation research and action research. Three major elements in the research study need
to be considered: participants, materials, and instruments.

Mass communication research basically is an art of scientific investigation or an in-depth academic

activity that lays stress on the various aspects of mass communication. It includes not only an in-
depth investigation of the theoretical aspects of mass communication but also a wide ranging inter-
discipline. It involves the systematic study of the media content, the forces that shape its creation,
how and why people use media, and the impact of the media content and media institutions on
individuals and society.

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The communication research can be broadly divided into two types. One is basic research and the
other is the practical research. The internet has had a dramatic affect on the way people
communicate dissemination of information and also it has also affected the mass media research.

Winner and Dominic in their book Mass Media Research said that there are four basic elements of
communication research. These are –concept and construct, measurement, variables and scale. Here,
we want to acquaint you with some other important elements which are popular among the
communication researchers. Feedback and feed forward are commonly used for communication
researches.

Questions for discussion

1. Define Research
2. Why we need research? Explain with examples.
3. Write a note on research Process.
4. Discuss the steps involved in preparing research.
5. What are the four basic elements of communication research?
6. What is the meaning of ‘feed forward’?

1.10 SUGGESTED READINGS

 http://www.kkhsou.in/main/masscom/communication_researce.html
 Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/scientific-research.html
 http://wecommunication.blogspot.in/2016/07/characteristics-of-scientific-method-
of.html
 http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=oa_textbooks
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_research

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