Survey Method

1. Survey, content analysis and experiments are all __________________?
ANSWER: research method.

2. 2 types of survey are interview and questionnaire survey. What are the differences- explain?

ANSWERS:
(a) INTERVIEW
- Need the presence of an interview
- Is a qualitative research so researchers will get a qualitative result which is more in-dept and details about the topic that the researcher is investigating.
- It is an unstructured question. ( questions are not fixed )

EXAMPLE:- (a) Do you agree with illegal downloading? Why?
                      (b) In your opinion, do you think that media violence is getting more serious? Why?

(b) QUESTIONNAIRE
- Do not need the presence of an interview because the questions are fixed.
- It's a quatitative research. Researchers will get a quantitave result which shows percentage, ratio and numbers.

3. How many different types of QUESTIONNAIRE survey can you think of? Why are there different types and what issues do we have to consider when choosing each type of survey method? Briefly explain.

Factors:- Time, Cost, Population, Efficiency
(a) Mail Survey
- common survey methodology that can be filled up in privacy.
- Mail survey has a high degree of "anonymity" so that survey which has sensitive information can get a better response from the respondent.
- Mail survey fall to the bottom of priority list.
- Mail survey is actually non response where respondent can look over the survey whether a not they wish to participate it or not.

One-to-one Interview
- extensive amount of labor due to time and travel required to complete these survey.
- methodology might be effective because researchers may get a more in-depth information but with this survey researchers cannot reach to a larger popularity of people.

Online surveys
- easier because researchers get information faster quickly with a larger group of people.
- researchers can have a good data collection.
- difficult to ensure who is actually completing the survey because it naturally eliminated people from the survey process especially the elderly.

Telephone surveys
- reach out to your customer or prospect group, achieving a much greater control over the sample base
- provide a rapid and timely reading on the marketplace or consumer base, and can be deployed it quickly compared to mail or personal one-on-one interviews.
- it is a cost effective compare to other surveys
- afford more discreet anonymity for the respondent and that proven that respondent will give a more honest reply.
- possibility of obtaining a more complete and accurate results.
- more flexible by allowing interaction and exchange between interviewers and respondents
- more effective for controlling time frame and sample quotes on randomized bias.

4. Discuss the differences (including their respective advantages and disadvantages) between open-ended and close-ended survey.

Definition
Open ended question = requires respondents to generate their own answers.

ADVANTAGES
1) Give respondents freedom in answering the questions and an opportunity to provide in-depth responses. (answers may not be predicted)
2) Allow answers that researchers did nit foresse in designing the questionnaire
3) Useful in pilot test (determine the variables of phenomenon)

DISADVANTAGES
1) Collecting and analyzing the responses is time consuming ( respondent may not want to answer it and leave it blank)

Definition
Close ended question = requires respondents to select/ pick am answer from a list provided by the researchers

ADVANTAGE
1) popular (provide a greater uniformly in responses the answers are easy to quantify.

DISADVANTAGES
1) researchers often fail to include some important responses.
2)Solution to it :- include an "other" response. Followed by a blank space.

5) List 4 types of close-ended survey questions and briefly explain what each type is like.
 a)Dischotomous Response Question
- Question that consists :
           . Agree/Disagree
           . Yes/No
b) Multiple-Choice Question
- Allow respondent to choice answer
- include all respondents
- must be mutually (response option per question)
- can also use rating scales, semantic differential scale, rank-ordering technique

c) Checklist Question
- often used in pilot studies to refine questions for the final project. (can pick multiple answers)

d) Force-choice Question
- used media studies designed to gather information (like lifestyles)
- always listed in pairs
-it's usually long
-has repeated question but in a different form but in a same topic
- psychology type of forcing people to answer the question.

6. Your study investigates "Teenagers in Malaysia and their attitude towards online piracy." give 3 examples of open-ended survey question.
ANSWER: 1) What do you think of illegal downloads?
                  2) What do you think of online piracy?
                  3) In your opinion, do you think online piracy will effect the financial state of the entertainment                      
                      business?

7. For the same study above, give 3 examples of close-ended survey questions,complete with their answer responses?
ANSWER: 1) Would you download unlicensed movie? (Yes/No)
                   2) Do you agree with online piracy? (Agree/Disagree)
                   3) Do you think online piracy will affect the entertainment business? (Yes/No)

8) For MCQ survey questions, responses should be also be "exhaustive"-what does this mean? Give example with exhaustive responses and 1 example with non-mutually exclusive responses.
ANSWER:
\                EXHAUSTIVE
                 - should cover everything that everybody can answer.
                 - every answer must potentially be there in the survey.
                 
EXAMPLE FOR NON EXHAUSTIVE:
                           - What is your favourite colour? (Red,Green,Blue) How about pink?
                            *(the responses are unstructured (which means non-exhaustive) data invalid. Therefore, we must make sure all the options are there.

               EXAMPLE FOR EXHAUSTIVE: 
                - How old are you?
                          A. 10-20   B. 30-40   C. 50-60

         
9. For MCQ survey questions, responses should also be "mutually exclusive"- what does this mean? Give 1 example with mutually exclusive responses and 1 example with non-mutually exclusive responses.
Meaning: a unit of analysis can be placed in one and only one category
     
EXAMPLE (NON-MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE) :
- How many TV that you own?
  A. 0-2 B. 2-4 C. 5-7 D. 7 and above

* A&B is overlapped that is why answer is not true because respondents may be thinking which one to choose
EXAMPLE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE: 
- How many radios do you own?
A. 0-2 B. 3-5 C. 6-8 D. 8 and above (Answers do not overlap)

10. When phrasing your survey questions, how should you word them and what should you avoid?
              - Always make the questions clear.
              - Keep the questions short.
              - Remembering the purpose of the research
              - Do not asked double-barreled questions (which means two or more questions in the same quest)
              - Avoid leading questions that suggest a certain response
              - D not used questions that ask for high detailed information
11. Describe what design characteristics a good questionnaire should exhibit (layout,placement of questions,introduction etc.)

INTRODUCTION
 - should be kept short
 - must be serious
 - non-threatening question
 - must be neutral
 - must be pleasant but firm

INSTRUCTION
- must be specific when it is mail surveys and self-administered questionnaires because some respondents may not be able to ask the questions about the survey because the researchers is not with them.

QUESTIONS
- must be simple or easy to answer. (if it's difficult the respondents may not be able to answer)
- preliminary questions must have a motivation so that it can create an interest in the questionnaire whereas demographic data, personal questions and other sensitive items must be placed at the end of the questionnaire.

LAYOUT
- must be nicely type out
- not cramped
- consistent format

LENGTH
- must be short so that it can have a higher completion rate.

BCR Tutorial Week (Lecture Notes on Sampling)

FIC0154 Basic Comm Research

Online Discussion Questions

Reference materials: Lecture on Sampling and relevant text book chapters

________________________________________________

Question 1

What is the difference between probability and nonprobability samples? Explain in your own words and give examples of each type of sample.

Answers: 

Probability sample 

- is you selecting according to mathematical guidelines in which the sample is selected using random method and every unit in my population have an equal chance to be picked as part of my sample. 

- To get a probability sample is difficult because everyone must be in my population so that everyone has an equal chance to be selected. 

- You need a sampling frame for probability sample; if not, you can obtain this sample as there has no equal chance on everyone.

Nonprobability sample 

- is you select by not following mathematical guidelines. 

- For example, the population is the students in a class, then you pick whoever is present in the class and you do not care of those who are absent.

Type of probability sample ->

1. Simple random - For example, you have a box and you choose from it. It's like a lucky draw.

2. Systematic Random Sampling
- For example, you need to have a complete list of members of your population and then you jump or skip names and choose them. (Eg. No.15, 25, 40, 65, 80...) 

- You also need to ensure that the list of members are not arranged in meaning manner (Eg, the girls come first in the list then only boys, results will be having more girls in the sample and this leads to inaccurate results.)

3. Stratified Sample

- You pick sample that represent the proportion and it allows us to manipulate the proportion.

- For example, your population is Malaysian. You don't want only teenagers or girls or boys only in your sample. So, you choose sample that is the representatives of your population. The steps will be started from having the list of Malaysian. Then, you categorize them into different races (For example) such as Chinese, Malay, Indian and Others. Next, you randomly pick 10 members from each of the list so everyone has a chance to be picked.

4. Cluster Sample

- You reduce a huge amount of population into different small groups. It is you cluster them and randomly pick the clustered group and then keep repeating the process until you have randomly picked the numbers of sample you want in a very fast way but still ensuring random.

- For example, your population is Malaysian. First, you need to cluster the population, for example you categorized according to the 14 states of Malaysia, then you close your eyes and randomly pick 4 states out of 14 states and throw the remaining 10 states away. After that, you continue to cluster or re-cluster and randomly pick, for example you re-cluster them into different educational level such as PMR, SPM, Diploma and Degree, then you randomly pick 2 out of 4 educational level. Then you keep re-clustering and randomly pick from the clustered groups and reducing the numbers of Malaysian until the numbers of sample you want in your research.

- You cluster our population with not important categories but not with something like gender or age.

Types of Nonprobabilty Sample ->

1. Available/ Convenience Sample
- You pick anyone who is available or convenient.

- For example: you want to have sample of teenager, so you go to different colleges or universities and pick the first 15 students at the entrance.

- This is not a probability sample because if you stand at the entrance at 8 a.m. in the morning and pick, how about the students who come for afternoon class? So, it's not random sampling.

2.  Volunteer Sample
- It's subjective, who ever volunteer then will have the chance to be in the sample.

- it's easier and cheaper

3. Purposive Sample

- You pick sample for specific purpose (to suit your purpose)

- For example, you want to conduct a research on shampoo. So, you will go and choose people with hair instead of people that are bald for not wasting time, money and effort. (If you randomly pick, bald people will have chance to be picked but there's no point of picking bald people.)

Question 2

What are the advantages of choosing a probability sample in your research?

What are the advantages of choosing a nonprobability sample in your research?

Answers:

Advantages of probability sample is 

- you can calculate the amount of sampling error of your sample in your research. 

- It is a good choice to choose probability sample because it's results from the sample you randomly pick can represent the whole population.

Advantages of nonprobability sample is that 

- the sample are easier to pick whereby you pick anyone from the population without concerning on whether all the units are in that population. 

- Besides, nonprobability sample requires lower cost and less time to be picked and done. The reason of this is because since you are easier in picking the sample, so there are no need much to be concerned in regards in using money and more time.

Question 3

If you want to do a random cluster sampling of 10 people out of this entire class (100 people), how should you go about it?

Answers: 

First, you need to have the sampling frame of the entire class which is 100 people. Then, you cluster the population into 2 groups or categories which one of the groups are people who own cars and another one are people who do not own cars. Then, you randomly pick from the two groups or cluster. For example, you randomly picked a cluster that is people who own car(s). After that, you continue to cluster or re-cluster the population into the colors of the cars they own. For example you cluster them into cars of white, black, silver and red color. Then you randomly pick 2 out of the 4 colors of car and throw away the other 2 colors of car. Keep repeating the clustering and randomly picking processes until you pick the last 10 people out of this entire class.

Question 4

If you want to do a random stratified sampling of 10 people – 7 females, 3 males – out of this entire class, how should you go about it?

Answers: 

First, you need to obtain the sampling frame of the whole class, which is your population (100 people), then you divide or categorize the sampling frame into gender, which is male and female, Now, you have two lists whereby one of the lists is the male and the other one is the female. After that, you randomly pick 7 female from the female list and 3 male from the male list.

Question 5

What is ‘sampling error’, in your understanding?

Answers: 

Sampling error is the degree to which the results of the selected sample differ from the whole population. It is the gap between sample results and the population results. 

- For example, you want to calculate the average age of the class of 60 students. So, you randomly pick 40 out of 60 students in your population and you calculate and got the average age of the 40 students you have selected. If you calculate the average age of the whole class which is 60 students, the average age that you got may be different from the average age of 40 students. Therefore, there is a gap in between the sample of 40 students and the whole population - sampling error. 

- The bigger the difference between the sample results and the population results, the bigger the sampling error and vice-versa. 

- With a bigger sample size, you will obtain a results which have smaller sampling error.

Posted by Law Cheng Jing (Eileen) [0309527]

BCR Tutorial Week 9

FIC0154 Basic Comm Research

Reference materials: Sample journal article & how to read a journal article reference sheet.

1. What is the Research Topic?
Islam and online imagery on Malaysian tourist destination websites

2. What Background Information did the authors give you in order for you to understand their research?
In December 1996, TIME magazine published an article titled ‘‘Finding God on the Web,’’ which projected how the Internet would shape information seeking on faith and religion. A decade later, the Web has become a popular tool for gathering religious information as well as information and imagery related to religious travel. Yet there is little research on religious destination imagery online. Imagery—positive or negative, pictographic or 

narrative—influences the selection of tourism destinations. This study explored online Muslim images in 

Malaysia via interviews and content analyses of pictures and text on tourism destination websites’  

homepages. The results reveal minimal portrayal of Muslim images by Malaysian tourism destination 

organizations. This study adds to the small body of research, especially in Muslim countries, on online 

religious imagery and suggests avenues for tourism operators in Malaysia and elsewhere to improve their 

online image with both Muslim and non-Muslim travelers.

3. Why do you think each of those topics/sections of Background Information is necessary?

Background information is the summary of the entire paper. Finding background information in the beginning of 

the research is important to us when the topics are unfamiliar or not sure. 

4. What are the Research Questions of this study, if any?

-   How do Malaysian DMOs perceive Islam’s role in promoting their destination to Muslim and non-Muslim
tourists?

-        How do Malaysian DMO websites differ among themselves in portraying Islamic images?

-        How do Malaysian DMO websites portray Islamic images during festive and non-festive seasons?

5. What is the Hypothesis of this study, if any?

-      Compared to other Malaysian DMOs, Kelantan will have stronger Islamic imagery on its websites.

-      Compared to DMOs in Sabah and Sarawak, peninsular Malaysian DMOs will have stronger Islamic imagery on     
their websites.

-      Compared to other seasons, there will be stronger Islamic Imagery on DMO websites during Hari Raya.

6. What is covered in the Literature Review?

-       Religious tourism

-       Islam and tourism

-       Islam and Malaysian tourism

-       Religion and online destination image

7. Why do you think the above topics are covered in the Literature Review?

It is because the topics contained overview of information from previous studies, identification of relationships  

in current knowledge, and recommendations for future work.

8. What Method(s) did the authors use to conduct their research? Briefly outline what they did and how  

they did it.

      DMO Interviews -Malaysian DMOs’ perceptions and presentation of Islamic imagery DMOs representing  

      Malaysia’s 13 states and three federal territories. An email in English was sent to DMOs, there are two 

      question regarding their study. To increase replies, respondents could answer in Malay or English. Interviews 

      were carried out over the phone and face-to-face.

      Content Analysis- A content analysis of Muslim imagery on the DMO websites was conducted to complement 

      the interviews. The homepage was used the unit of analysis. Web content analysis studies often use home 

      pages as the unit of analysis. A pre-test conducted on three Muslim countries’ websites familiarized coders 

      with the variables. The pre-test led to minor changes in numbering, wording, and layout of the coding sheet. 

      The researchers coded the sites during Hari Raya, to investigate the festival season related to the presence of 

      Muslim images on the DMO websites. They are using Internet Explorer 6.0 Web browsers and the same 

      Internet connection to collect the data at the same time.

      

      9. What were the Results obtained from the Method(s)?

The results obtained from the method is the DMO homepages seemed to respect Islam by not showing  

prohibited acts in the presence of Muslim imagery on each websites. Malaysian DMOs recommended to 

include Islamic imagery on their websites. Through the content analysis, it founds that all websites were active 

except Negeri Sembilan, Pahang and Putrajaya. As a result, photo graphic and images was clear during 

festival.

10.What Discussion points/Conclusions did the authors bring up as a result of their study?

-       More Islamic pictographic and narrative imagery was evident during Hari Raya.

-       No picture of Islamic museums/information about halal or halal outlet or any homepage in either season.

11.What were the Implications/Significance/Importance of this research study, according to the authors?

How religion group use the Internet and online behavior by religious surfers by illustrating how destination use 

online religious imagery to appeal to religious and non-religious surfers.

12.What recommendations for Future Research did the authors propose?

-       Avenues regarding the Internet’s role in marketing religion and religious destinations.

-       Should validate the new variables as well as add more categories and variables to paint fuller picture of online  
Muslim imagery.

-       Extend this research to other Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Oman, Brunei and Indonesia in order to 
compare their online Islamic imagery.

-       Compare how government and private agencies differ in portraying Islam on their websites.

-       Be fruitful to compare the presence of Muslim images with images of other religions in Malaysia such as 
Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism.

-       Consider what strategies besides the presence of Muslim imagery are used by DMOs.

-       Organizations evolve in their Internet use.

-       Survey Muslim and non-Muslim tourists who vacation, or do not vacation, in Muslim countries about how 
online Muslim images affect their decision to visit.

13.Were their Limitations in the study, according to the authors?
Yes

14.What Kind of Sources did the authors use for their entire research paper?

Journal article 

BCR TUTORIAL WEEK 8 (LECTURE NOTES 5,6,7)

TUTORIAL WEEK 8
FIC0154 BASIC COMM RESEARCH
Reference materials: Lecture notes 5,6,7 and relevant book chapters
====================================================

Question 1-Quantitative vs Qualitative Research
What are the differences between Qualitative Research and Quantitative Research.
Briefly explain their respective characteristics.

Question 2-Levels of Measurement for variables
(we measure different kinds of variables because we want to know whether the variables can get the conclusion, example, statistic, number..)
Determine 4 possible attributes (examples) for each of the variables in the list below and then identify the level of measurement (nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio) to which they belong.

1. Ethnic background of the employees in ABC company.
   Malay, Indian, Chinese, Iban (nominal)
2. Number of political articles that The Daily Nation newspaper covered on the upcoming elections in the last month.
   0,1,2,3,4,5...(ratio)
3. Attitude of a person towards censorship of sexual content on the Internet, measured on a Likert Scale.
   Strongly Like, Like, Neutral, Dislike, Strongly Dislike (Interval)
4. Number of hours a person watches TV in a week.
   7,8,9,10...(ratio)
5. Education level of a Malaysian working in the media industry
   UPSR, PMR, SPM, Diploma, Degree (Ordinal)
6. Duration of TV ads measured by seconds [Teacher's extra question]
   10s, 20s, 30s, 40s...(ratio)

Posted by GraceYong XinYi (0309984)

BCR Tutorial Week 7 (Lecture Notes 3, 4)

FIC0154 Basic Comm Research

Reference materials: Lecture notes 3, 4 and relevant book chapters

Question 1

Define Independent and Dependent Variables.

Independent variables:

~ Variable that you have the power to control what you can choose and manipulate.

~ Manipulated variable : varied by the researcher.

~ Cause of the dependent variables : affects the dependent variables to change.

~ Example: To investigate the effect of advertising on brand loyalty. The types of the advertisement would be the independent variable. You can directly manipulate the types of the advertisement in your research and get the different results.

Dependent variables:

~ Variable that you measured in the research and show what is affected during the research.

~ Variable that the researcher want to explain, observe and measure.

~ Responding variableà changed by the independent variable.

~ Depends on the independent variableà pressured by the results of independent variable.

~ Example: To investigate the effect of advertising on brand loyalty. The brand loyalty of would be the dependent variable. It will able to change by the independent variable which is the types of advertisement.

Provide examples of topics and identify the dependent and independent variables of the topics.

1) To investigate what types of TV program have more advertising support.

Independent variable: types of TV program

Dependent variable: level of advertising support

2) To investigate how the languages affect the communication skills. 

Independent variable: types of languages

Dependent variable: levels of communication skills

3) To investigate the bias level of newspaper towards the government.

Independent variable: types of newspaper
Dependent variable: bias level of newspaper

4) To investigate would Facebook addiction affect the students’ concentration in class?

Independent variable: level of addiction to facebook

Dependent variable: level of students’ concentration in class

Question 2

An operational definition specifies the procedures to be followed to experience or measure a concept/variable. There is no single foolproof method to operationally defining a variable. The researcher must decide which method is the best suited for the research problem at hand.

Provide your own operational definition for each of following variables. In other words, if your research involves the following variables, how would you SPECIFIALLY define / observe / measure them?

E.g.

i) Experienced female drivers

Answer: Operational definition of the variable ‘experienced female drivers’ is defined as ‘females between age 25-55 who hold a valid Malaysian driving license for 5 years and above’.

ii) Attitude towards illegal movie downloading from the internet

Answer: Operational definition of the variable ‘attitude towards illegal movie downloading from the internet’ is measured by ‘how many times a person downloads movies from internet sites without payment in a month. 0 times/month = totally against illegal downloading; 1-2 times month = somewhat supportive of illegal downloading; 3-5 times/month = very supportive of illegal downloading; more than 5 times a month = fanatic supporter of illegal downloading.

Prime-time television programs

The operational definition of the variable ‘prime-time television programs’ is defined as the types of TV programs show during the prime time which is  8-10 p.m. on all Malaysia channels / between 7-10 p.m. in NTV7.

          

Students’ attitude in lectures

The operational definition of the variable ‘students’ attitude in lectures’ is measured by the body language of the student (eye contact, sitting exposure or writing note during the lectures) / number of pages for the notes.

Addicted smart phone users

The operational definition of the variable ‘addicted smart phone users’ is defined as teenagers with the age between 15-20 years old that using the smart phone more than 8 hours per day / number of apps in the phone. For example: 1- 49 apps in the smart phone = not addicted to the smart phone; more than 50 apps in the smart phone = addicted to the smart phone.

POSTED BY: YUE PEK CHEE (0310197)

BCR Tutorial Week 5 (Lecture Notes 4)

BCR Tutorial Week 5
FIC0154 Basic Comm Research
Reference materials: Lecture notes 4 and relevant text book chapters
______________________________________________

Question 1
Scientific research must be internally and externally valid. What do Internal Validity and External Validity mean?


Answers
Internal Validity
-  Only investigate the topic that we set out to investigate, and not something else accidentally: results have to match the topic
Eg. Teenagers nowadays and their favourite pop stars: if question was asked after the death of that pop star, then the results are not accurate
-  Ask questions that are not swaying the actual answers
Eg. Research on the rate of accidents: conduct during the rainy season - affects the results
-  results shouldn't be biased
-  researchers need to be aware of the several factors that could cause the results to change



External Validity
-  can be generalized into a bigger population beyond current analysis
Eg. investigate some of the Malaysians: can also apply to the rest of the Malaysians
-  research can be applied by others
-  when conducting on a small group of people, we must ensure that the research can be applied to the society
Eg. Malaysians like nasi lemak or chicken rice? - conduct on 100 people (not all Malaysians) and then generalize: 40% of Malaysians like chicken rice and 60% like nasi lemak
-  to have good generalization:
   (a) sample must be random
   (b) a mixed group of samples
   (c) a representative for each group: to specify which group



Question 2
what do researchers need to take into account when ensuring that their research results are externally and internally valid?

Answers
(a)  history
       - events that can cause us to have internal validity

        Eg. the death of Michael Jackson: results of research that was done before his death will be different from the one after his death

(b)  maturation

      -  the biological deterioration (hunger, tiredness, sleepiness, etc) of the people you investigate on

         Eg. typing speed: condition 1 - during daytime,  condition 2 - during the night time after work

         typing speed of respondent may be faster during daytime compared to those after work due to tiredness

(c)  testing

      -  to see whether the procedure is done well and the instrument is complete

      -  to make sure results are not predicted or any procedures are skip that will affect the actual results

      -  researchers should do their experiment on different groups of people

(d)  instrumentation

      -  also known as instrumentation decay

      -  the deterioration of instruments or methods

     Eg. the recorder broke down: researchers are unable to listen to the response of the respondents

          Eg. the person interviewing the respondents got tired

(e)  experimental mortality

      -  subjects might drop out in the middle of the research: refuse to continue

      -  we cannot force someone to be in our research

         Eg. 100 subjects: 60 drop out - results will be affected 

      -  to avoid: get more subjects than needed

         Eg. 100 subjects are needed but you get 120 subjects - in case any of them drop out in the middle of research

      -  getting subjects in the middle of research can also affect the results

         

       Posted by: Foong Kah Mei (Clara) 0310003

               

       

         

BCR Tutorial Week 4 (Lecture Notes 2 & 3)

FIC 0154 Basic Comm Research

Reference materials: Lecture notes 2 and 3 and relevant text book chapters

_____________________________________________________

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 9^th edition).

Answers: 

Differences:

1. Basic or Applied 

    - Academic: 

       -> Known as "Basic" research

       -> Has a theoretical or scholarly approach 

       -> The results will help to explain trend and society

       -> the mass media effects the individual

    - Private: 

       -> Known as "Applied" research

       -> Results are for decisions making

2. Researchers

    - Academic: 

      -> Carried out by academic researchers like us, students...

    - Private: 

      -> Carried out by private company/ non-government company.

3. Data and The Sharing

   - Academic: 

     -> Asks the original researcher for raw data.

     -> Others share the findings to the public.

   - Private: 

      -> They do not share their findings. Why? -> For property.

      -> Results meant to be kept for themselves

      -> Secret research (Do not let their competitors know)

4. Purpose of Research

    - Academic: 

      -> For the sake of knowing, understanding, getting knowledge and explain to the society.

    - Private: 

      -> Decision making

      -> Consumer preferences

      -> Can change or upgrade during the research

      -> Eg. Brand too low, so change to improve

5. Amount of Time

    - Academic: 

      -> No specific time or dateline for the research

      -> Research is more flexible which can take longer

      -> Research takes part of one's career.

      -> Eg. PHD (At least 3 years research...)

     - Private: 

        -> Have specific time and dateline for the research

        -> Meaning: is a job.

        -> Need a date (Whether to launch the product or not)

        -> Eg. Coca Cola (given research on flavor. Research have to be done in time)

6. Expenses

    - Academic: 

      -> Less expensive

      -> Facilities area available; no need to hire workers; the support is there.

     - Private: 

       -> More expensive

       -> Need to hire workers to do work, so need to use money; need money for facilities

       -> Backing is a need.

7. Topic Choosing

    - Academic: 

      -> Can choose our own topic

    - Private: 

       -> cannot choose topic. (Don't have the flexibility to choose topic.)

Similarities:

1. Both use same methodology in their research

2. Find something that is new; for the sake of understanding

3. Private can do trending things too; academic researchers can do private research too.

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Question 2

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

Answers: 

1. Selecting and Defining Research Problem

    - To find things that we want to do; do research that others haven't do; do something new.

    - Problem -> Situation, interest, new, something that is worth-investigating

    - Private Sector: 

       -> Market research (For private company, Eg. Coca Cola)
       -> They don't have the flexibility to choose topic.
       -> Eg. Coca Cola (Given a research on a flavor, the workers cannot choose not to do.)

    - Academic: 

       -> Can choose their own topic, because they are academic researchers.

    - To find topics, we can go read trend and the media (Eg. TV effects, impacts...)

2. Determining Topic Relevance and Significance

    - Topic too broad?

       -> Eg. Effects of TV (Programme? Type? Negative or positive effects? Who is your subject? Timing?...)

    - Can the problem be investigated?

       -> Eg. Research on teenager without TV (How do you find a family without TV?)
       -> Eg. Investigate about criminals? (Jail? Definitely no! Because we cannot go into jail.)
       -> Don't have enough money, time and resources.

    - Can the data be analyzed?

       -> Eg. Can we do statistics from the data we got? Have enough money to do analysis?

       -> If no? The conclusion -> End up giving up and wasting time and money.

    - Is the problem significant?

       -> We don't do research that is no use.
       -> See whether the research is relevant or not. If not, no need to put so much effort.
       -> Do research that have value and meaning to the society.

    - Can the results be generalized?

       -> Can your results of your research apply on other people?

       -> The people that we choose should be the representatives.

    - Cost and time

    - Planned approach appropriate
       -> to do correctly without any mistakes and troubles.

    - Will it harm anybody?

       -> Either emotional, physical or mental?

3. Review of Literature

    - Reading (As many as we can that is available)

    - Literature
       -> What other researchers have done before your research on your topic or area that are similar to your research

       -> To see what method other researchers used in their research

    - Recap (key things that happened)

       -> What others conclude (results)
       -> What other people have done 

     - Not to repeat, but to give new knowledge.

     - To learn from the previous one.
     - To see what have been done.

     - There's a gap for us to fill in. (New knowledge.)

4. Stating a Hypothesis or Research Question

    - Hypothesis

       -> Statement - Approve or Reject
       -> Specific - Accept or Reject

    - Research Question

       -> What you want to investigate

       -> Open-ended question (Guide your research)

       -> Must be general
       -> Possible to have both hypothesis and research question in a research. However, sometimes only have either one because you don't have the results, so you have no statement or hypothesis.)

5. Preparing Research Instruments

    - Tools/ Instruments
       -> Researchers are to prepare and design them
       -> To collect data

6. Data Collection

    - Eg. Interview (Jot down notes), Survey (Collect the survey), Questionnaire and so on.

7. Data Analysis and Interpretation

    - Interpret the data then give conclusion that are meaningful

    - Eg. Give numbers to the data (10%, 20%, 30%...)
    - Eg. Give gender (Boy or girl)
    - To form in into graphs or chart.

8. Presenting Results

    - Publish first in journal, paper or theses (from step 1 to 7) and share through conferences

    - The one we published will become others' literature review.

Posted by Tan Tze Mun [Rachel] (0308950)