THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO

Faculty of Information and Media Studies

MIT 245G: Designing and Critiquing Research in the Digital Age

  Professor Teaching Assistant
  Dr. Jacquelyn Burkell Andrew Johnson
Office 268 Middlesex College 9327 Social Science Centre
Telephone 519-661-2111 ext. 8506 519-661-3070
E-mail jburkell@uwo.ca ajohnson@uwo.ca
Office Hours Tuesday 12:00-1:00, MC 268 Tuesday 3:00-5:00, SSC 9327
Class Mondays, 3:00 - 5:00, UC 84
Wednesday, 11:00 - 12:00, WSC 55

Course Description and Course Objectives:

This course offers an introduction to the range of research methods appropriate for understanding scholarship in the communications, information, and media. The methods addressed in the course will include experimental methods, survey research, polls, interviewing, content analysis, and ethnography. Students will study specific research methods in the context of the media-related research problems that these methods have been used to address.

At the end of the course, you will have a basic understanding of a wide variety of research methods, including both qualitative and quantitative approaches. You will be able to read research articles critically, and to evaluate the strength of the research and the conclusions presented. You will have an understanding of the design of surveys, and you will be introduced to the principles of statistical analysis of quantitative data. You will also be introduced to the ethical issues involved in conducting social science research.

Course Readings:

There is one required text for the course. Additional readings will be on reserve in Weldon library. Details about these readings will be provided as they become relevant.

Required Text:

Palys, T. (1997). Research Decisions: Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives. Second Edition. Toronto, Ontario: Harcourt Brace.

Evaluation:

There will be three components to your evaluation in this course, weighted as follows:

Midterm Exam (March 2nd, Chapters 1-8, 14 p. 320-335) worth 35%

Research Report (Due April 7th) worth 15%

Final Exam (Chapters 9-14, date to be announced) worth 50%

Research Report:

For this assignment, you will read one of the 3 articles on reserve in Weldon Library for this assignment (they will be placed on reserve close to the middle of term). In 3-5 pages, discuss the article. Consider the following:

  1. What was the background thinking that lead to the study? That is, what lead the researchers to ask the question?
  2. What was the purpose of the study? What did the researchers hope to learn?
  3. Who (or in some cases, what) were the ‘subjects’ of the study? That is, who/what was observed, or on whom/what were measurements performed?
  4. What data were collected, and how? Were the methods appropriate?
  5. What conclusions did the authors draw on the basis of their results?
  6. Are these conclusions justified? What questions do you have? Consider subjects, methods, analysis, and interpretation.

Course Outline

Week 1: January 4 Research – What’s it all about? Readings: Palys, Chapters 1, 2
Week 2 January 11 Where do researchers start? Readings: Palys, Chapters 3, 4
Week 3 January 18 The purpose of research and the ethics of getting there. Readings: Palys, Chapters 5, 6
Week 4 January 25 Who do we choose to study? Sampling issues. Readings: Palys, Chapter 7
Week 5 February 1 Finding out by asking: surveys, interviews, and oral histories. Readings: Palys, Chapter 8
Week 6 February 8 Finding out by asking: surveys, interviews, and oral histories. Readings: Palys, Chapter 8
Week 7 February 15 Crunching Numbers I: Descriptive Statistics Readings: Palys, Chapter 14, p 320-335
Conference week: February 22-25
Week 8 March 1 Finding out by looking: observation, and ethnography. Readings: Palys, Chapter 9
******* Mid-term exam, March 2nd *********
Week 9 March 8 Finding out by looking: unobtrusive methods. Readings: Palys, Chapter 10
Week 10 March 15 Finding out by changing the world: experimentation. Readings: Palys, Chapter 11
Week 11 March 22 Experiments in the real world: Quasi-experimentation. Readings: Palys, Chapter 12
Week 12 March 29 Experiments in the real world: Case Studies Readings: Palys, Chapter 13
Week 13 April 5 Crunching numbers II Readings: Palys, Chapter 14, p 335-356
********* Research Report Due April 7 *****************

Questions? email ajohnson@uwo.ca
This page was last updated on Sunday, February 21, 1999 at 08:24:46 PM