RESEARCH METHODS FOR PROFESSIONALS
Course Description:
Understanding the role of research in media and related organizations and its application to organizational decision making through quantitative and qualitative research methods including research design, questionnaire construction, sampling, data collection techniques, and variable measurement.
The following are the four main assignments for the course.
Assignment 1: Research Process
The purpose of this assignment is to help you understand the steps in the research process and apply your knowledge to an example case study that was provided. There are multiple stages in the research process, and often research requires that you step back to an earlier stage as you discover new knowledge. We had to write an approximately 3-page paper describing how the case followed the steps of the research process, while describing each stage, explaining how the case examples map on to those stages, and provide suggestions/critique for improvement if this were your project.
COM564 Clinical Research Case Study
Assignment 2: Focus Group Analysis
This assignment is helpful because in research, we need to analyze data to help us understand where to focus a campaign or how messaging can be improved. Analyzing focus group data will allow you to practice your qualitative data analysis skills as well as your ability to effectively present those results. We had to analyze the provided focus groups transcripts for key themes, writing an approximately 3 page report. Describe the methods as well, specifically highlighting how I analyzed the data and what I found.
Assignment 3:
There are a number of ways that one can conduct any research project. It’s important to be familiar with the different types of research and the benefits and barriers to each. This assignment asks you to critique research studies, identifying issues you see in the studies based on your knowledge of research methods. Being able to identify potential problems in research is useful for helping with the interpretation of findings and application in the real-world. Select two of the three research descriptions to critique. You should write up an approximately 3 page paper that identifies issues you see with the research methods as described, and provides suggestions for how the research could be strengthened.
Assignment 4: Reflection
This assignment asks you to reflect on the material we have learned so far in this course and apply information and concepts to your work and life. Write an approximately 3 page reflection paper that describes core concepts from the course material and expands on how that material relates to your work or life. Please refer to course material as applicable. A successful assignment will focus on multiple aspects of the course that relate to your work or life, provide descriptions of the relevant course material, and describe the ways in which it relates.