Transcript Communication Research Project

Communication Research Project
http://http://school.hca.uws.edu.au/units/wp_101930/
Lecture 1: What is Research?
Feb, 2015
Ray Archee
[email protected]
This unit is about understanding research
• We are concerned with doing research
• We are concerned with planning, designing, and
critiquing others’ research
• We are interested in examining methods for doing
research
• We are interested in
debunking myths
surrounding all
kinds of research
Some definitions
• Research is a scientific undertaking which, by means of logical and
systematized techniques aims to:
 discover new facts, or verify and test old facts
 analyse their sequence, interrelationships and causal explanations (found on Web)
• Research is defined as the creation of new knowledge and/or the use of
existing knowledge in a new and creative way so as to generate new
concepts, methodologies and understandings. This could include synthesis
and analysis of previous research to the extent that it leads to new and
creative outcomes
(Dept Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education, UWS
website)
Definitions cont. (from UWS)
This definition of research is consistent with a broad notion of research and
experimental development (R&D) as comprising of creative work undertaken on
a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including
knowledge of humanity, culture and society, and the use of this stock of
knowledge to devise new applications.
This definition of research encompasses pure and strategic basic research,
applied research and experimental development. Applied research is original
investigation undertaken to acquire new knowledge but directed towards a
specific, practical aim or objective (including a client-driven purpose).
What is missing here?
Is writing a book, research? What about a newspaper article?
Is devising a PR campaign? Or an advertisement? Or a video?
Is playing a musical instrument, research?
Is ordinary experience, research?
E.g. What is the difference between going to a party and having a good time,
and a researcher who studies Australian parties?
Well, it depends…
• Yes, if you are an academic and you publish an article in an academic
journal about Australian parties
http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=11772
• Yes, if you are a journalist writing about Aussie barbecues
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/blogs/the-backpacker/worlds-best-barbecuers-not-inaustralia-mate-20110830-1jj7j.html
• Yes, if you work for the government and are a part of the Federal Drugs
Campaign http://www.drugs.health.gov.au/
• No, if you simply attend parties, barbecues and take drugs. (Unless you are
a participant observer wanting to write a paper.)
The definition would say:
• You really need to have a specified aim or question in mind in order to do
research
• You need to have a particular method/s for doing your research
• You probably need to write something down, or at least record your
research in some way (words, photos, video)
• You need an audience that you are attempting to communicate with
• You need to have some understanding of other research in the same area,
or else you risk repeating mistakes, or coming up with the same
conclusions
• You need to be aware of the ethical risks involved with human beings
• You probably should be researching something worthwhile
researching
We all do research in our daily lives
• However some of us are better than others
• Crossing a busy street is the epitome of doing action research. If you do
not do good research here, you get hit by a bus! Crossing a busy road:
+ Observations are compiled, speed calculations are made, vehicle
predictions, driver attitudes are assessed, self-experience relied
upon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLwhOP7Jv20 and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I9T3DR0w5s&spfreload=1
• Ebay research – how do you lose an ebay auction? How do you win?
• YouTube research – working out how to fix anything
• Google…
We are all researchers because we all perform everyday research!
Research as Socratic Method
• The earliest example of a method for gaining knowledge is that attributed
to Socrates and is called the Socratic Method
• The Socratic Method consists of an interlocutor (or antagonist) who poses
a thesis or question, which is then answered by Socrates with a series of
other questions, which eventually throw light on the original thesis as
being flawed, and thus refuted, yielding a higher order thesis.
• The Method was used to discuss concepts which had no concrete
certainties, such as wisdom, piety, temperance and justice.
• Strangely, Socratic Method is widely used in law schools, in USA and AU,
and still used in psychotherapy, training, mentoring, and education.
• Some people see the Platonic Dialogues as the beginnings of the scientific
method. That is, we start from a position of half knowing, we posit a null
hypothesis, and by disproving it, end up with the correct answer.
For example:
• Role of mobile phones in motor vehicle accidents resulting in hospital
attendance: a case-crossover study
http://www.bmj.com/content/331/7514/428
• The null hypothesis here was that mobile phones do not cause accidents
Mobile phone study
Objectives: To explore the effect of drivers' use of mobile (cell) phones on road safety.
Design: A case-crossover study.
Setting: Perth, Western Australia.
Participants 456 drivers aged ≥ 17 years who owned or used mobile phones and had been involved in
road crashes necessitating hospital attendance between April 2002 and July 2004.
Main outcome measure Driver's use of mobile phone at estimated time of crash and on trips at the
same time of day in the week before the crash. Interviews with drivers in hospital and phone company's
records of phone use.
Results Driver's use of a mobile phone up to 10 minutes before a crash was associated with a fourfold
increased likelihood of crashing (odds ratio 4.1, 95% confidence interval 2.2 to 7.7, P < 0.001). Risk was
raised irrespective of whether or not a hands-free device was used (hands-free: 3.8, 1.8 to 8.0, P <
0.001; hand held: 4.9, 1.6 to 15.5, P = 0.003). Increased risk was similar in men and women and in
drivers aged ≥ 30 and < 30 years. A third (n = 21) of calls before crashes and on trips during the previous
week were reportedly on hand held phones.
Conclusions When drivers use a mobile phone there is an increased likelihood of a crash resulting in
injury. Using a hands-free phone is not any safer.
Another kind of mobile phone study
Images of Men and Women in Mobile Phone Advertisements: A Content
Analysis of Advertisements for Mobile Communication Systems in Selected
Popular Magazines http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-0069071-6
ABSTRACT
The present study was designed to analyze gender stereotypes in print advertisements for
mobile communication systems in German popular magazines intended for men, women,
and general readership. Depictions of both women and men are addressed. A total of 288
depictions were examined using Goffman’s (Gender advertisements, Harvard University
Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1979) framework for content analysis. Other variables
studied were the setting in which men and women are depicted and the different types of
magazines in which the advertisements appeared. It is shown that certain means of
emphasizing stereotypes (such as Feminine Touch) are still widely used, at least in mobile
phone advertising, whereas others have decreased in frequency since Goffman’s time (for
example, Function Ranking).
Yet another
approach (book)
Mobile Phone Cultures
(Goggin, 2013)
Research as Imitation or Emulation
• Research is (almost) never totally original
• It usually uses other people’s work as a starting
point
• Research cannot simply replicate another
person’s work, or can it?
• There is a tradition of checking ground breaking
research by simply doing the same research over
and over again
• You can copy other people’s methods, in fact it is
recommended you do so.
Reproducibility
• The whole idea of exactly specifying your
research Method, including your instruments,
participants, and procedures is to ensure
reproducibility
• If someone cannot reproduce your results
using your exact Method, then something is
wrong
• This is why many research disasters have
come about
Problems with research findings
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In medicine: most research findings are more likely to be false, than true
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.00
20124#s7
In science, the “streetlight effect” has led some to believe that 2/3 of all published
research in medicine is false
http://discovermagazine.com/2010/jul-aug/29-why-scientific-studies-oftenwrong-streetlight-effect#.Uwk9EvR7h-N
In 1995, Alan Sokal, a physicist, published an article in Social Text called
Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of
Quantum Gravity (link1) (link2). The paper was a hoax set out to test the editors of
a prestigious post-modern journal and caused a furore at the time.
SCIgen is a computer program created by MIT students. In 2005, a SCIgen
generated article was accepted for a World IT Congress. It was called: Rooter: A
Methodology for the Typical Unification of Access Points and Redundancy.
The last two examples were not peer-reviewed by experts in their field.
Other research hoaxes are abundant and easily found online.
Healthy Skepticism
• Some may think that I am saying that all research
publications are rubbish
• I am not saying this – I am giving you my viewpoint of how
to read other people’s research findings, or newspaper
articles, blogs, any information you come across
• Approach the research paper or online post with a healthy
amount of skepticism.
• Do not believe everything a researcher is saying.
• Be critical of their methods, be aware that any sample can
be biased, and any results can be changed to suit the
author.
• Communication research is not a science, in fact science is
not really all that scientific.
Research as Creativity
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There are many genres of research papers: experiments, surveys, critical analyses,
meta-analyses, and “news”.
The one genre that is rarely spoken about is the creative paper that talks about
something new and innovative that no other academics had thought about.
It is similar to “show and tell” in a classroom.
Vitamin D research has been one such discovery:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-12-05/sunlight-may-save-kids-sight/978450
New human species discovered in South Africa:
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2010/s2868149.htm
Lost Da Vinci painting discovered in a bank vault
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/10356401/Leonardoda-Vinci-painting-lost-for-centuries-found-in-Swiss-bank-vault.html
Research reporting needs graphics
• Writing about technology is a
common occurrence in this day
and age
• All kinds of technology are
reported in the media, journals,
newspapers and online
• It has always been necessary to
use graphs, diagrams, photos, and
more recently, videos to explain
new technologies
• This will become more and more
important as cameras and video
becomes easier to create
• Video is no longer the province of
specialists
Thus, we have a video assessment item for the unit
Major Assignment Part 1:
Some various examples of using video to demonstrate ideas and methods
•How to read a Learning Guide (Sara Knox, UWS)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYJEZyzPH_0&list=UUS1ri9N33Oj1Xxs4VJy1Xw
•How NOT to produce a video on research methods (boring)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dSCERgIpN4&list=PL66A6C45130CF728C
•Student role play on racial discrimination (needs work)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iRAS6R5P_c
•Video on the value of higher education (note use of text)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
Next Week: Leximancer
• The lecture next week is not
to be missed
• Navin Doloswala will be
talking to us about a piece of
software called Leximancer
• Leximancer is a fantastic way
to analyse any kind of text,
including academic papers,
newspaper articles, emails
• It is useful for marketing,
advertising, and
communication research
• Make sure to be here next
week!