Chapter 2

Basic Building Blocks in

Conducting Communication
Research
(Baxter / Babbie)
Prepared by:
ABDUL RAUF HJ RIDZUAN
Faculty of Communication and Media Studies

Selecting and Narrowing Your Topic

Area
The best research comes from researchers who seek
answers to the questions that hold high interest value for
them.
To get a better topic or some ideas, you can refer from other
communication research journals and other references.
You must have your basic purpose in doing your research
To explore some phenomenon
To examine why something occurs
To understand what something means
Then, you can decide which method to be used; either
quantitative, qualitative or mix method.

Conducting a Literature Review

A review of literature is a comprehensive survey of what
researchers have already done in your topic area.
Usually, the research relevant to your literature review is
published in scholarly journal (primary sources).
Occasionally, an author summarizes a large number of
studies in a book chapter or in entire book (secondary
sources)
However, a good review of literature works with primary
sources original research studies published in scholarly
journals.

 You can use a previous researchers method or even

replicate an earlier study. The independent replication of
research project is a standard procedure in the physical
sciences, and its just as important in communication.
The use of several different research methods to test the
same finding is sometimes called triangulation.

Reading Communication Research

Reports
Proprietary research is generally focused on providing a
narrow answer to a question provided by the parties (sponsors)
that contracted the research.
Working paper is a form of research reporting. It presents
some findings of the research (proceeding)
The most popular research report is the article published in a
scholarly journal.
Some researchers present the results of the study in a book
chapter that appears in edited volume.
A book represents the most complex form of research report. It
is more polished document.

Organization of the
Quantitative Research Report
The Title
The Byline
The Abstract
The Introduction
Method
Results
Discussion
References

Organization of the
Qualitative Research Report
Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion and References will often be used by qualitative researchers to present their
research study.
Qualitative research generally studies the details of meaning
making in particular situations or groups.
Qualitative researchers typically start the research process
using inductive reasoning that is, moving from specific
observations to infer more general patterns or principles.
The primary research instrument is the researcher.
The presentation of findings is a narrative tale.

 3 basic genres of narrative tales

1) The Realist Tale: Is the most common in qualitative
research. The researcher views the narrative as an accurate
representation of the phenomenon. The narrative ideally is a
mirror that reflects the reality of what was observed. Eg: Used
words an employee, the supervisor, the CEO but not we or the
researchers.
2) The Confessional Tale: Is contra with the realist tale. It
features personalized author and the voice of the narrative is
first person. Eg: The researchers found that. We believed..
3) The Impressionist Tale: Is supplanted by the more
disorderly nature of a chronology. It tells the story event by
event. The reader experiences the narrative as a story. Have
dramatic control which make the readers feel as if they are
there. (1st person story).

Determining Your Purpose

1. Exploration: Is conducted to explore a topic, or to provide a
beginning familiarity with that topic. Something which is a new
interest or the subject is relatively new.
2. Description: To describe something about the communication
process. The researcher observes and then describes what was
observed.
3. Causal / Functional Explanation
Used to explain things. Eg: Why ads on New Media are more
persuasive than traditional media.
4. Understanding
Similar to explanation-reason-based. When you understand
a human communicative action, you know what it means
and the rules that guide its enactment.

Determining Your Unit of Analysis

Units of analysis in a study are typically also the units of observation. Are those
things we examine in order to create summary descriptions and to explain or
understand differences among them.
1. Individuals: The most typical units of analysis. We tend to describe, explain,
and understand social groups by aggregating the descriptions of individuals.
Eg: Specific groups: students, gays, consumers.
2. Groups: Social groups themselves may also be the units of analysis for
comm research. Family from rural VS urban area. Eg: Ethnomethodology.
3. Organizations: Formal social organizations can be the units of analysis. A
population of all corporations. Eg: MAS, Astro, Media Prima case studies.
4. Social Artifacts: Any product or social beings or their behavior. Focus on
nonreactive research or unobtrusive research (unaware of being studied). Eg:
Research on divorce through archival records, ads on Saturday morning
children cartoons and etc.

Formulating Your Research Design

The Time Dimension
Time plays many roles in the design and execution of research,
quite aside from the time it takes to do research. Research
design as a process for deciding what aspects we shall observe,
of whom, and for what purpose.
Cross Sectional Studies
Many research projects are designed to study some
phenomenon by taking a cross section of it at one time and
analyzing that cross section carefully. Eg: A single public opinion
poll (PRU) is a study aimed at describing the Malaysian
population at a given time.
Longitudinal Studies
Are designed to permit observations over an extended period.
Eg: A researcher can participate in and observe the
communicative activities of a radical political group from its
inception to its demise.

3 types of longitudinal studies

Trend studies: When we study changes within some general

population over time. Eg: A study on a comparison of televised
violence for each several decades and a study of definition of
news which the definition keeps changing.
Cohort studies: When we examine relatively specific
subpopulations or cohorts as they change over time. A cohort is an
age group, such as those people born during Merdeka, but it can
also be based on some other time grouping, such as people born
in late 90s (Y generation). A sample of people 21 25 years of
age might be surveyed in 1980, another sample of those 31 35
years of age in 1990. Each will present the survivors of the cohort
who reach adulthood.
Panel studies: Examine the same set of people each time. Eg:
We could interview the same sample of voters every month during
an election campaign , asking for whom they intended to vote.

The Space Dimension

Researcher also need to think the issue of space; how the
physical setting matters in your research.
Field Dependent Research: Researchers who conduct
naturalistic field research are interested in how people
communicate in the natural surroundings of their everyday
lives. Eg: You study about your college roommates personal
space, Komeds blog and etc.
Field Independent Research: Researchers are also
interested in a variety of topics that are independent of the
setting. Eg: Fill out a questionnaire or complete an interview,
the setting in which the responses are elicited doesnt
matter.

Writing Up Your Research Proposal

Title
Byline
An abstract
An Introduction (+LR)
Problem Statement
Research Questions
Methods
A list of references

- The End -

Activity in Class

002

Please prepare your own

research proposal. You can
refer from previous research
journal for your guidelines.