Chapter 2 Basic Building Block

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Chapter 2

Basic Building Blocks in

Conducting CommunicationResearch

(Baxter / Babbie)

Prepared by:

AB!" RA!# $% R&'!A

#aculty o Communication and *edia +tudies



+electing and arro,ing -our .opic Area

.he best research comes rom researchers ,ho seek

ans,ers to the uestions that hold high interest 0alue or

them1

.o get a better topic or some ideas you can reer rom other

communication research 3ournals and other reerences1

-ou must ha0e your basic purpose in doing your research

.o explore some phenomenon .o examine ,hy something occurs

.o understand ,hat something means

.hen you can decide ,hich method to be used4 either

uantitati0e ualitati0e or mix method1



Conducting a "iterature Re0ie, A re0ie, o literature is a comprehensi0e sur0ey o ,hat

researchers ha0e already done in your topic area1

!sually the research rele0ant to your literature re0ie, is

published in scholarly 3ournal (primary sources)1

5ccasionally an author summari6es a large number o

studies in a book chapter or in entire book (secondary

sources)

$o,e0er a good re0ie, o literature ,orks ,ith primary

sources 7 original research studies published in scholarly

3ournals1



-ou can use a pre0ious researcher8s method or e0en

replicate an earlier study1 .he independent replication o

research pro3ect is a standard procedure in the physical

sciences and it8s 3ust as important in communication1 .he use o se0eral dierent research methods to test the

same inding is sometimes called triangulation1



Reading Communication Research

Reports

Proprietary research is generally ocused on pro0iding a

narro, ans,er to a uestion pro0ided by the parties (sponsors)

that contracted the research1

9orking paper is a orm o research reporting1 &t presents

some indings o the research (proceeding)

.he most popular research report is the article published in a

scholarly 3ournal1

+ome researchers present the results o the study in a bookchapter that appears in edited 0olume1

A book represents the most complex orm o research report1 &t

is more polished document1



5rgani6ation o the

uantitati0e Research Report .he .itle

.he Byline

.he Abstract

.he &ntroduction

*ethod

Results

iscussion

Reerences



5rgani6ation o the

ualitati0e Research Report &ntroduction *ethod Results iscussion and Reerences ;

,ill oten be used by ualitati0e researchers to present theirresearch study1

ualitati0e research generally studies the details o meaning

making in particular situations or groups1

ualitati0e researchers typically start the research process

using inducti0e reasoning 7 that is mo0ing rom speciicobser0ations to iner more general patterns or principles1

.he primary research instrument is the researcher1

.he presentation o indings is a narrati0e tale1



< basic genres o narrati0e tales

1) The Realist Tale: &s the most common in ualitati0e

research1 .he researcher 0ie,s the narrati0e as an accurate

representation o the phenomenon1 .he narrati0e ideally is a

mirror that relects the reality o ,hat ,as obser0ed1 =g: !sed

,ords an employee the super0isor the C=5 but not we or the

researchers.

2) The Confessional Tale: &s contra ,ith the realist tale1 &teatures >personali6ed author8 and the 0oice o the narrati0e is

irst person1 =g: .he researchers ound that?1 9e belie0ed?11

3) The Impressionist Tale: &s supplanted by the more

disorderly nature o a chronology1 &t tells the story e0ent bye0ent1 .he reader experiences the narrati0e as a story1 $a0e

dramatic control ,hich make the readers eel as i they are

there1 (@st person story)1



etermining -our Purpose@1 Exploration: &s conducted to explore a topic or to pro0ide a

beginning amiliarity ,ith that topic1 +omething ,hich is a ne,interest or the sub3ect is relati0ely ne,1

21 Description: .o describe something about the communication

process1 .he researcher obser0es and then describes ,hat ,as

obser0ed1

<1 Causal / #unctional =xplanation

!sed to explain things1 =g: 9hy ads on e, *edia are more

persuasi0e than traditional media1

1 Understanding

+imilar to explanation;reason;based1 9hen you understand

a human communicati0e action you kno, ,hat it means

and the rules that guide its enactment1



etermining -our !nit o Analysis!nits o analysis in a study are typically also the units o obser0ation1 Are those

things ,e examine in order to create summary descriptions and to explain or

understand dierences among them1

@1 Indiiduals: .he most typical units o analysis1 9e tend to describe explain

and understand social groups by aggregating the descriptions o indi0iduals1

=g: +peciic groups: students gays consumers1

21 !roups: +ocial groups themsel0es may also be the units o analysis or

comm research1 #amily rom rural + urban area1 =g: =thnomethodology1

<1 "rgani#ations: #ormal social organi6ations can be the units o analysis1 A

population o all corporations1 =g: *A+ Astro *edia Prima case studies1

1 $ocial %rtifacts: Any product or social beings or their beha0ior1 #ocus on

nonreacti0e research or uno&trusie research (una,are o being studied)1 =g:

Research on di0orce through archi0al records ads on +aturday morning

children cartoons and etc1



#ormulating -our Research esignThe Time Dimension

.ime plays many roles in the design and execution o research

uite aside rom the time it takes to do research1 Research

design as a process or deciding ,hat aspects ,e shall obser0e

o ,hom and or ,hat purpose1

Cross ' $ectional $tudies

*any research pro3ects are designed to study some

phenomenon by taking a cross section o it at one time and

analy6ing that cross section careully1 =g: A single public opinion

poll (PR!) is a study aimed at describing the *alaysian

population at a gi0en time1

(ongitudinal $tudies

Are designed to permit obser0ations o0er an extended period1

=g: A researcher can participate in and obser0e the

communicati0e acti0ities o a radical political group rom its

inception to its demise1



< types o longitudinal studies

Trend studies: 9hen ,e study changes ,ithin some general

population o0er time1 =g: A study on a comparison o tele0ised0iolence or each se0eral decades and a study o deinition o

ne,s ,hich the deinition keeps changing1

Cohort studies: 9hen ,e examine relati0ely speciic

subpopulations or cohorts as they change o0er time1 A cohort is anage group such as those people born during >Merdeka8 but it can

also be based on some other time grouping such as people born

in late D8s (Y generation)1 A sample o people 2@ 7 2E years o

age might be sur0eyed in @FD another sample o those <@ 7 <E

years o age in @D1 =ach ,ill present the sur0i0ors o the cohort

,ho reach adulthood1

anel studies: =xamine the same set o people each time1 =g:

9e could inter0ie, the same sample o 0oters e0ery month during

an election campaign asking or ,hom they intended to 0ote1



.he +pace imension Researcher also need to think the issue o space4 ho, the

physical setting matters in your research1

*ield Dependent Research: Researchers ,ho conduct

naturalistic field research are interested in ho, people

communicate in the natural surroundings o their e0erydayli0es1 =g: -ou study about your college roommates personal

space Gomed8s blog and etc1

*ield ' Independent Research: Researchers are also

interested in a 0ariety o topics that are independent o thesetting1 =g: #ill out a uestionnaire or complete an inter0ie,

the setting in ,hich the responses are elicited doesn8t

matter1



9riting !p -our Research Proposal .itle

Byline

An abstract

An &ntroduction (H"R)

Problem +tatement

Research uestions

*ethods

A list o reerences



- The End -



++2

A c

t i 0 i t y i n C l a s s

Please prepare your ownresearch proposal. You can

refer from previous research journal for your guidelines.

Chapter 2 Basic Building Block

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