Week 4

Question 1
Research is divided into two major sectors – academic and private. From your textbook, read up on the section relating to academic vs private research and summarise the points that differentiate between these two. You may find this reading in Chapter 1 of Wimmer and Dominick (pages 14-16 in the latest 9th edition).

Difference between academic and private research:

Academic	Differences	Private
Scholars from colleges & university.	Conducted by	Non-governmental companies / their research consultants.
Intended to explain the mass media & their effects on individuals.	Aim	Intended to facilitate decision-making.
Public	Service	Private (Public after few years)
No specific deadlines except when they receive research grants.	Deadlines	Have deadlines, imposed by management or an outside agency or client.
Less expensive	Cost	More expensive; to cover overhead cost for office rent, equipment, facilities, computer analysis, subcontractors and personnels.

Question 2
Explain the 8 steps of research, giving examples to illustrate what each step entails, if necessary.


Steps:
8 steps
1. Selecting and defining research problem.

• Observe things around you to get an idea on what you want to research
• Your little cousins are watching cartoons; you want to know what effect the programme has on your cousins.

2. Determining Topic Relevance and significance.

• Is the topic you want to research worth being researched?
• Do you have the resources and enough financial support to analyze the data?
• Are the results needed?

3. Review of Literature

• Learn from previous research
• So that we wont plagiarise a same research that had been done
• Using existing data to justify your own research
• As background and building block
• Same time, costs

4. Stating a Hypothesis or research question

• Research question are open ended questions that researchers want to know
• What is the effect of violence cartoons to children
• Hypothesis is a sentence, a theory

5. Preparing research Instrument

• Questionnaire
• Interview questions
• Journal

6. Data Collection

• A fieldwork to collect the data you want to know using specific instruments

7. Data Analysis and Interpretation

• Analyse the data that have collected
• i. External validity – results can be generalized to population *random samples
• ii. Internal validity – study and investigate the proposed research questions *history

8. Presenting results

• Present in a clear manner
• Project paper
• thesis

Tutorial Week 3

Question 1:

List the 4 non-scientific sources of knowledge as introduced in Lecture 1, giving 2 examples for each of these methods of knowing.

1) Agreement reality- Brushing your teeth before going to bed, Stealing is a bad thing to do.

2) Experiential reality- Hunger when breakfast is not eaten, Pain when you fall down from the stairs.

3) Tradition- Chopsticks must not be stuck into rice in a bowl, Cannot wear black during Chinese new year.

4) Authority- Diet coke mixed with Mentos mint would cause a small explosion from scientist, A ping pong ball will return to its original state if put in hot water from a science teacher.

Question 2:

One of the foundation of social science inquiry states that social science researchers are interested in groups, aggregates or collections, but not in individuals. What kind of groups can you think of that mass media researchers would be interested in when conducting their research? What kind of topics do you think mass media researchers would be interested to research on with these groups?

The first group that mass media researchers would be interested in when conducting their research is teenagers. Teenagers are the main users of mass media, therefore this group is highly considered while conducting research. Mass media is a medium that easily influences teenagers and their way of thinking because of the high exposure of content in their daily lives.

Teenagers love following the trends. The first topic that is the most important is fashion. Many teenagers idolize their favourite celebrities to the extent where they would dress and style themselves to look like them. Teenagers are also into small businesses nowadays. Many young teens have the ability to get suppliers and sell various items, such as clothes, accessories, and sometimes even electronic devices. Many of them use social media platforms like Instagram and blogs to set up their stores.

The second group would be the ethnic groups of Malaysia, which are Malays, Chinese and Indians. The mass nowadays are aiming towards a solidarity country. This is why we can see many advertisements and commercials based on the unity concept. The mass media aims to build a harmonious bond between races and religion of different kinds. The mass loves to research on special occasions, such as Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali and so on. This is because the media plans to encourage the citizens to be more thoughtful and respectful towards the different cultures in Malaysia.

The third group that we could think of is the gender aspects. Mass media researchers would be interested in this particular group because they are considered a dominant in the social world, whereas the female species are considered innocent. The topic they would be interested to research on is whether it is true that the male species gravitate more towards jobs like medicine, engineering rather than pursuing social science career. Other than that, the next topic would be the gender of the criminals causing crime. Many believe that males are the mastermind behind crimes, but in reality, more and more women are causing crimes as well. So are females still considered pure and innocent as opposed to the days before?

Question 3:
Define variables and their attributes.

Give four (4) possible attributes for each of the following variables:
i. Racial group
ii. Education level
iii. Number of magazines a teenager buy in a month
iv. Agreement/Attitude towards violence on TV
v. Types of Smartphones in the market today



Variables
- Things of concept and idea
- Logical groupings of attributes

Variable: Racial group
Attributes: Chinese, Malay, Indian, Kadazan

Variable: Education level
Attributes: primary, secondary, kindergarten, University

Variables: Number of magazines a teenager buy in a month
Attributes: 10, A dozen, 1, 5
Variables: Agreement/Attitude towards violence on TV
Attributes: Strongly agree, disagree, support, do not support

Variables: Type of Smartphone in the market today
Attributes: wireless charging, slim design, touchscreen, speed charging

Blog Task 1: Scientific Research

QUESTION: Define “scientific research” in your own words by answering the following:

What does research mean? What does research hope to achieve? Why do we need scientific research? (As much as possible, use your own words and description to explain your understanding.)

Yoong Yuen Tung:

As far as I know, scientific research means to find out the facts and truth step by step. There is no short cut for us to discover the facts other than follow the series of method. Besides, research means to find out the information about an issue and what it hopes to achieve is helping people to solve their problems and questions. I personally think that we need scientific research because we can get the answer that we want more accurately after using a proper way of doing research.

Wong Shu Faye:

Scientific research to me is a planned out procedure, featuring a series of steps in researching. Where the 'scientific' word comes into place, is when the outcome is based on logic and facts that has been proven by experiments and observation. This research is used to help people to gain a better understanding of the issue or the subject, and also clarify the facts that have been stated accurately. Scientific research is needed because it goes through proper steps in researching, rather than just going through the subject in a vague manner.

Sum Ming Ming:

Research means sort things out and analyze what is real. We can get answers and solutions for our questions by research. Research is needed so that we can get to know more information and improve.

Edwin Thiang:

Research is a form of activity or way that people use, in order to find more details or to conduct a deeper investigation regarding an issue. Research is also done in hopes to enable people to have a better understanding and knowledge on a certain topic. Scientific research is needed so that certain theories and conclusion that have been stated or created through studies, can be used by researches to prove or clarify certain issues, topics or investigations.


Cedric Sim:
Based on my understanding, the definition of scientific research is that a set of procedure and rules are followed when carrying out a scientific experiment. A more thorough explanation would be research that is carried out that obeys a set of already set protocols and long established rules or structure.


Pearl-Lyn:
The term 'research' could mean many things. In this case, research could mean an analysis, an experiment or even an investigation. Research is something we do to fulfill our questions with an accurate answer. Research is also done to improve one's self and learn about something in more detail. In addition to that, research is also done when a person wants to feel accomplished about one's work.