Research Methods on Communication Questionnaire

Intro to Communication Research Professor Hashash Social Sciences vs. Natural Sciences ◉ SS is the study of human and social behaviour ○ Political Science, Communication, Sociology, etc. ◉ NS is the study of the physical world ○ Physics, Chemistry, Biology, etc. 2 ? What would the study of COVID-19 fall under? 3 ? So why research? 4 To challenge our flawed perceptions of reality ◉ Biased Questions ◉ Limited Sampling ◉ Selective Attention, Perception, and Retention ◉ Inaccurate Generalizations 5 “Natural Laws” guide the Natural Sciences while social researchers still have trouble creating “laws” or “rules” for understanding human behavior. 6 The reality dilemma ◉ ◉ ◉ Social behavior is complex Requires: ○ Systematic and Deliberate methods ○ Objective, Intersubjective, Replicable procedures Consequences of perceived knowledge: ○ Our health and well-being ○ Ineffective social, government, and economic policy, etc. 7 Science, Perception, and Emotion 8 Understanding Phenomena i. ◉ Human communication is: ○ The process of making sense out of the world and sharing that sense with others. ◉ So, communication research tries to understand, describe or explain this process. 9 Understanding Phenomena ii. ◉ Epistemology ◉ Induction (particular to general) vs. Deduction (general to particular) ◉ Causation vs. Prediction vs. Correlation ◉ Micro vs. Macro approaches 10 Course highlights 11 Validity and Reliability ◉ Validity = Accuracy ◉ Reliability = Consistency 12 Research Designs ◉ ◉ ◉ ◉ ◉ ◉ Qualitative Quantitative Historical-Comparative Unobtrusive Experimental Content Analysis 13 Data Collection Methods ◉ ◉ ◉ ◉ ◉ Surveys Media Content Analysis Participant Observation In-Depth Interviews Focus Group discussions 14 Sampling Strategies ◉ Population size ○ Total number of elements that a researcher wants to understand within the universe 15 Data Analysis Qualitative Analysis Quantitative Analysis ◉ Textual analysis ◉ Statistically based (i.e. numbers) ◉ NVivo software ◉ Descriptive stats ◉ Inferential stats ◉ SPSS software 16 Report Writing and Presenting Findings ◉ ◉ ◉ ◉ Know your audience Present the information ethically Divide report into sections Intro, Lit Review, etc… 17 Merci! Any questions ? 18 Science and Experts 19 Experimental Research Design Professor Hashash Tuesday January 26, 2021 Experimental research ◉ Experimental research allows the researcher to observe causation ○ Does using social media ( ________ var) increase depression ( ________ var)? ◉ Experimental research controls more accurately for internal validity 2 Customer service & tips GOAL /decrease as e e r c ic e n v i r s e s p i r t e if m o t s u c To see l of e v e l n o based 3 Tipping experiment variables ve tips ser f o t n amou s receive ◉ Dependent Variable (DV): ○ The variable we seek to understand ◉ Independent Variable (IV): ○ The force we manipulate ◉ Control Variable: ○ A constant variable or set of variables you control r ion with t c a r e t in rs custome le servers, a m e f / le a m room, ambiance in g food pricin 4 Back to our first example: ◉ Does using social media ( ___________ var) increase depression ( ____________ var)? ◉ A better way of saying it: ○ Does the degree of social media use increase depression among Gen Z ? 5 Causation hinders on 3 conditions #1. Temporal Order ◉ Change in the IV must occur before the DV #2. Association #3. Zero Alternative Explanations ◉ As values in the ◉ Nothing but the treatment is IV change, the influencing the DV DV measures vary systematically 6 Steps in classical experimental design i ◉ Generate Hypothesis ◉ Find a Sampling Frame à Select a Sample Size ◉ Random Assignment ◉ Control Group ◉ Experimental Group 7 Steps in classical experimental design ii ◉ ◉ ◉ ◉ ◉ Pretest Treatment Control Post-test Analysis and Findings 8 Internal validity: “the ability to eliminate alternative explanations of the dependent variable.” External validity: “the ability to generalize results across groups, settings, and time.” 9 Threats to internal validity i ◉ #1. How the research is conducted ○ Measurement (i.e elastic to measure distance vs. slab of wood) ○ Procedures (i.e. Selection Bias / Sampling) ○ Data Analysis 10 In the server experiment, can you name the measurement technique used? 11 Threats to internal validity ii ◉ #2. Unwanted effects due to research participants ○ Maturation ○ History Effects ○ Mortality ○ Inter-subject Diffusion 12 Threats to internal validity iii ◉ #3. Unwanted effects due to researcher (that’s you!) ○ Researcher presence ■ Hawthorne Effect ● When research subjects perform differently because they know they are being observed ○ Researcher bias 13 Threats to external validity ◉ Ecological Isomorphism ○ Did the procedures mirror real life? ◉ Population ○ Is the sample representative of the population? 14 Field / Quasi / Natural Experiments 15 Field experiments ◉ ◉ ◉ ◉ Take place in natural setting Harder to control for other variables Greater external validity Low internal validity ○ WHY? 16 Quasi-experiments ◉ Lack random assignment due to nature of study ◉ More difficult to assess impact of independent variable on the dependent variable 17 Natural experiments ◉ Convenient for researchers because of their natural occurrence ○ i.e. a new policy implementation by the government ◉ Increase in validity due to lack of researcher presence 18 Thanks! Any questions ? 19 Causation and Experimental Design 20 Marshmallow experiment 21 Research Ethics Professor Hashash Tuesday February 2, 2021 2 Research Ethics are … A set of principles that assist the community of researchers in deciding how to conduct ethical research – Christensen, Johnson & Turner, 2011: 15 “ In Ethics, We’re Concerned with 3 Areas #1. Relationship between society and science #2. Professional Issues #3. Treatment of Research Subjects ◉ Partially dictated by ◉ Researcher ◉ Psychological harms ◉ Physical Harm ◉ Release of Personal Info GOVs and CORPs misconduct ○ Fabrication Falsification Plagiarism 3 Ethical standards of research adopted following the: Nuremberg Trials 4 Research ethics institutions ◉ uOttawa Research Ethics Boards (REB) ◉ Commercial Institutional Review Boards (IRB Services) ◉ Animal care The Canadian Council on Animal Care in Science uOttawa – Using animals for research 5 Seeking ethical approval ◉ Purpose ◉ Relevant background and rationale ○ Contribution to knowledge ◉ Population ◉ Design and methodology ◉ Incentives ◉ Risks and benefits to participants ◉ Privacy (confidentiality or anonymity) 6 Treatment of Research Subjects – Traditional concerns 7 Treatment of research subjects i. Orphan, Hazel Dornbush ◉ Ethical Dilemma (costs & benefits) ◉ Freedom from Harm (physical & psychological) The Monster Experiment 8 Treatment of research subjects ii. ◉ Freedom to Leave/Decline Participation ◉ Coercion (incentives as persuasion) ◉ Informed Consent 9 Treatment of research subjects iii. ◉ Active and Passive Deception ◉ Debriefing / Dehoaxing 10 Treatment of research subjects iv. ◉ Desensitizing ◉ Privacy ○ Confidentiality ○ Anonymity 11 Treatment of Research Subjects – Online concerns 12 13 Ethical online as offline Every participant should be able to make their own decisions to participate in research and the persons who are unable to make these decisions should be protected – Kitchin, 2007, cited in Gupta, 2017: 4 “ huh ? Recruiting, retaining, and tracing research participants online i. ◉ ◉ Ambiguity with engaging participants via social media ○ Ethical guidelines unclear ○ Private vs. public data ○ Anonymity, Confidentiality, Informed Consent ○ Technology constantly evolving = difficult to keep up Recruit ○ Identifying and collecting your sample ■ Targeted Facebook ads ■ Emails 14 Recruiting, retaining, and tracing research participants online ii. ◉ ◉ Retaining ○ To ensure ongoing involvement ■ Emails / “friending” participants ○ Issues ■ confidentiality / researcher-subject relationship / access to more info then initially consented to Tracing ○ “[S]trategies to find and re-connect with participants who have been lost to follow-up.” – Hokke et al. ○ Issues ■ Creep factor – “How did u find me?” 15 ? Thanks! Any questions ? 16 Famous controversial experiments i. Milgram’s Study on Obedience (1961) A case of ethical controversy x “Could it be that Eichmann x x and his million accomplices x x in the Holocaust were just x x following orders?” x 17 Milgram ad 18 Famous controversial experiments ii. Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment (1971) “Inherently Evil?” Desensitization 19