This document provides an overview of research and the research process. It discusses that research involves asking questions and finding answers through systematic procedures. Research can be qualitative, involving more subjective methods, or quantitative, using more objective methods. The goal of research is to describe phenomena, determine causes of behavior, predict behavior, and explain behavior. Strong research is theory-driven, testable, replicable, and seeks to minimize bias. The research process involves forming a question or hypothesis, designing a study, collecting and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions. Presentations of research should be clear, well-organized, and focus on the essential information.

1. Research

2. What is a research
 Is the process of asking questions and finding
answers (ex: Apply for university)
 Is the discovery of answers to questions through
the application of scientific and systematic
procedures
 Communication research: Qualitative (more
subjective) or quantitative research (more
objective) conducted by communication scholars
about communication phenomena

3. What is a research
 Research conducted from a:
 Social science research
 Rhetorical research
 Critical research
 Social science research:
 is conducted through the use of scientific and systematic
methods.
 It is based on the assumption that research can uncover
patterns in the lives of people.
 Empirical (observed): methods are based on
observations or experiences of communication.

4. Purpose of a research
Is not to
 Impress the audience
 Tell them all you
know about a subject
 Present every little
detail of your work
Is to
 Give the audience a
sense of what your
idea/work is
 Make them want to
read your paper
 Get feedback on your
work

5. Scholarly research
 Scholars formalize questions into research
questions or Hypotheses, which provide the
scope and direction of the research project as
well as guide the researcher in selecting
quantitative or qualitative methods to answer
the questions.
 These questions or hypothesis direct what data
the researcher collects.
 Once the data are collected, the researcher
analyses the data to draw conclusions about the
hypotheses or answer the research questions.

6. Goal of research
 The primary goal of research is to describe
communication phenomena as well as discover
and explain the relationships among them
 The research process can have one of four
results:
 It allows the researcher to describe behavior
 Determine causes of behavior
 Predict behavior
 Explain behavior

7. Goal of research
 Describe behavior: variables are related to one
another
 Determine the cause of behavior: is of interest
to communication scholars because knowing the
cause of something allows scholars to later plan
interventions or develop training to increase the
effectiveness of communication.
 Predicting behavior: if researchers can
describe communication events and identify
their causes, then they can turn to predicting
behavior

8. Goal of research
 Explaining behavior means understanding why
a behavior occurs
 An explanation is difficult and often requires a
series of sophisticated research projects.
 All four outcomes are related

9. Research and theory
 A theory is a related set of ideas that explains
how or why something happens.
 A theory provides a way for thinking about and
seeing the world
 A theory is a set of interrelated concepts,
definitions, and propositions that presents a
systematic view of phenomena.
 A theory specifies the relationships among the
concepts with the objective of explaining and
predicting the phenomena being studied.

10. Research and theory
 The term theory does not have one precise
meaning.
 Theoretically driven research is built on the results
of previous researchers and it provides a
foundation for subsequent researchers.
 Theory CAN NOT be formulated, tested and
verified in one research study.
 Rather, theory is developed and tested over
time.
 What we have to know is the result of many
research studies and the efforts of many
researchers.

11. Communication as a social science
 There are many methods of discovery and explanation, or
many ways to solve problems:
 Quantitative methods: numeral measurement
 Qualitative methods: researcher is the primary observer
or data collector (observation and interview as data)
 Both methods are:
 part of the social science research tradition as practice in
the communication discipline and reported in communication.
 are empirical means the data must be able to be verified
through observations or experiences
 Methodology can observe and describe human
communication
 Can help researchers in explaining or interpreting what was
observed.

12. Communication as a social science
 Research is contextual (related)
1. by the number and type of people participating, By
the type of communication being investigated
2. by where the investigation occurs
3. By the culture in which it occurs

13. The scientific approach
 The research process has five general steps:
The first step:
1. research start with a question that interest them. A
question that arise from their personal experience or
from experiences that has been reported to them by
others. Or a question may arise from reading the
scholarly or consumer literature
A question may be stated as a problem
 The researcher can not continue the research
process without identifying and specifying the
question or problem

14. The scientific approach
 The second step:
1. the research uses the question or problem to
formulate a HYPOTHESIS or a tentative educated
guess or proposition about the relationship
between two or more variable
2. A research question asks what the tentative
relationship among variable might be or asks about
the state or nature of some communication
phenomenon.

15. The scientific approach
 The third step:
1. The researcher uses reason and experience to
think through the hypotheses or research questions
that are developed.
 The fourth step:
1. The researcher designs and conducts the
observation, measurement or experiment.
 The fifth step:
1. The data are analyzed and interpreted in reference
to the question or hypothesis posed

16. The social scientific approach
 Starts with:
 a problem
 A question
 An idea
 A gap in knowledge
 Then the RQ is formulated
 Once developed, the RQ is revised and refined
 Then the methodology be designed and carried out
 As a result, the problem is resolved, completely or
partially, or new questions arise.

17. Characteristic of science
1. Scientific research must be based on evidence
2. Scientific research is testable
3. Researchers must explore all possible explanations in an effort to
demonstrate that their proposition cannot be disproved.
4. The results of a research study are replicable, or repeatable.
5. In order for replication to occur, research must be part of the public
record.
6. Scientific research relies on measurement and observation
7. Scientific research recognizes the possibility of error and attempts
to control it.
8. Scientific objectivity requires the research to minimize personal
bias and distortion
9. Science by its nature rests on an attitude of skepticism
(suspicious)
10. Scientific research has an interest in the generalizability of findings

18. Methodological extremes
1. Methods are useful or effective only to the degree
that they help the researcher answer a specific
question or explore specific hypothesis
2. Kinds of questions should be:
1. Personal interest
2. Social importance
3. Theoretical significance
The nature of question:
1. Questions of fact
2. Questions of policy
3. Questions of value
4. Questions of variable relations (age, education, sex…)

19. Tips for Preparing the
presentation

20. Preparing the presentation
 Less is more. Fill in with narration not words
 Use color to emphasize some points but
limit to 2 or 3
 Be consistent! In the choice and use of
color font size/type etc
 Use slide real estate appropriately

21. Fonts - Good
 Use a decent font size
 Use different size fonts for main points
and secondary points
this font is 24-point, the main point font is 32-
point, and the title font is 44-point
 Use a standard font like Times New
Roman or Arial

22. Fonts - Bad
 If you use a small font, your audience won’t be able to read what you have written
 CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY.
IT IS DIFFICULT TO READ
 Don’t use a complicated font

23. Color - Good
 Use font color that contrasts sharply with
the background
 Blue font on white background
 Use color to reinforce the logic of your
structure
 Ex: light blue title and dark blue text
 Use color to emphasize a point
 But only use this occasionally

24. Color - Bad
 Using a font color that does not contrast
with the background color is hard to read
 Using color for decoration is distracting
and annoying.
 Using a different color for each point is
unnecessary
 Same for secondary points
 Trying to be creative can also be bad

25. Background - Good
 Use backgrounds such as this one that
are attractive but simple
 Use backgrounds which are light
 Use the same background consistently
throughout your presentation

26. Background – Bad
 Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or
difficult to read from
 Always be consistent with the background
that you use

27. Graphs - Good
 Use graphs rather than just charts and
words
Data in graphs is easier to comprehend &
retain than is raw data
Trends are easier to visualize in graph form
 Always title your graphs

28. Graphs - Bad
January February March April
Blue Balls 20.4 27.4 90 20.4
Red Balls 30.6 38.6 34.6 31.6

29. Graphs - Good
Items Sold in First Quarter of 2002
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
January February March April
Blue Balls
Red Balls

30. Graphs - Bad
20.4
27.4
90
20.4
30.6
38.6
34.6
31.6
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
January February March April
Blue Balls
Red Balls

31. Graphs - Bad
 Minor gridlines are unnecessary
 Font is too small
 Colors are illogical
 Title is missing
 Shading is distracting

32. Preparing the presentation
 Prepare the slides in advance
 Show them to friends
 When you think you are done read them
again
 Check all animations with the sound on

33. Preparing the presentation
 Practice, practice, practice
Give a practice talk to a general audience
Give a practice talk to an audience of expert
Time your presentation (allow for speed up
effect caused by nervousness)
 Always assume technology will fail you.
Have backups.

34. Delivering the talk
 Be enthusiastic! If you aren’t why should
the audience be?
 Make eye contact with the audience
 Watch for questions.
 Be prepare to digress or brush off when
irrelevant

35. Delivering the talk
 Point at the screen not the computer
 Do not read directly from the PPT or your
notes
 Have the “spill” for the first couple of slides
memorized in case you go blank
 Finish in time