BCR Tutorial Week 2 (Lecture Notes 1)

FIC 0154 Basic Communication Research: Tutorial Week 2
Reference materials: Lecture notes 1 and relevant text book chapters
                                                                                    

Question 1:

Define “scientific research” in your own words by answering the following questions: 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.)

Answers: 

Research is about finding something new out in an objective manner and to discover the “truth”. Research is also a detailed study of a subject, especially in order to discover new information or reach a new understanding. Besides, research allows us to validate theories through the collection and analysis of data. 

Scientific research is an application that using a scientific manner and is dealing with facts. Scientific research is also a process of finding something that is new in a specifically procedural/ step by step/ replicable manner/ logical or objective way. 

The reason of having scientific research is because it allows us to know that something is real and is proven, even though we did not experience it by ourselves. The new things or information we collected in the end of a scientific research also will be more concrete and thus, it is more reliable and the public will accept and believe the information more easily.

Question 2:

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

Answers: 

1. Agreement reality
   -- Common knowledge
   -- Beliefs that are shared by a group of people by consensus.
   -- Sometimes the info is correct, and sometimes they are not.
   -- The things you consider to be real because you are told that they are real.
   -- Eg. Smoking is bad.
   -- Eg. In the society today, we need a degree to get a job.
   -- Eg. Malaysia is a hot country.
   
   
2. Experiential reality
   --  the things that you learn by your direct and personal experiences.
   --  You assume it because you have the experience about that.
   --  Eg. If you stand long time under the sun, you will get headache.
   --  Eg. If you fall down on the stairs, you will hurt your knees.
   --  Eg. Do not study at the last minute or not you will fail the exam.
   --  Eg. Do not eat too much or not you will get fat.
   
   
3. Tradition
   --  ritual or belief passed down within a society or from generation to the other while still maintained in the present with origins in the past
   --  Cultural based
   --  Eg. Do not sweep floor during New Year Festival because fear that good fortune will be swept away.
   --  Eg. To protect your unborn baby from evil spirits, pregnant women are advised to place a knife under their bed.
   --  Eg. It is best to wear red coming into the New Year, as it is considered to be the colour that brings the most luck.
   --  Eg. Grandmother secret recipe.
4. Authority
   --  someone who have special knowledge that other people do not have
   --  Get the information from others but the sources must be reliable.
   --   Expert from the certain field (Doctor, Lecturer, Parents, Police...)
   --  Eg. If you got fever, doctor will advise you to eat Panadol.
   --  Eg. Parents asked to come back home before 11 pm in the night.--  Eg. Dentist advises that not to eat too much of sugar because it will lead to tooth decay.

Question 3:

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?

Answers: 

Young adults, teenagers, children, male group, female group, people who love online shopping, people who own a Facebook Account, different racial groups, people who own a degree, etc.

What kind of topics do you think mass media researchers would be interested to research on with these groups?

Answers: 

1. To  investigate what is the reason of young adults addicted to video games
2. To investigate the reason why people love online shopping
3. To investigate why Facebook addicts are more likely to be women
4. To investigate how advertising affects the buying behaviour of teenagers
5. To investigate the effects of exposure to pornography on male aggressive behavioural tendencies
6. To investigate what type of music genre do teenagers like
7. To investigate why teenagers love texting rather than talking on the phone

Question 4:

Define variables and their attributes.

Answers: 

1. Variables

     --  a logical set of attributes

     --  Any observation that can take different values

2. Attributes

     --  a characteristic of an object, person or thing

     --  Sub-values of a variable

Give four (4) possible attributes for each of the following variables: 

Answers: 

i. Racial group 

   --  Chinese, Malay, Indian, Australian

ii. Education level 

    --  Primary, Secondary, Diploma, Degree

    --  5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years…

iii. Number of magazines a teenagers buy in a month
     --  0, 1, 2, 3… 

     --  0-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-11…

iv. Agreement/ Attitude towards violence on TV
     --  Strongly agree, Agree, Disagree, Strongly disagree

v. Types of Smartphones in the market today

    --  Touchscreen, Non-touch screen, Voice-over, Phone with stylus

    --  Android, IPhone, BlackBerry, HTC…

    --  > RM 500, RM 500 to RM 1000, RM 1000 to RM 1500, < 1500

    --  Very big size, Big size, Medium, Small

Posted by Law Cheng Jing [Eileen] (0309527)