ACX702: Communication Research Methods- Trimester 2

Assignment 1 instructions

Analytical essay
Due Date: Monday 31 August 2015
Length: 4000 words
Weight: 40% of grade

Brief description of assessment task

Students will select one scholarly research article of their choice from a journal published
from 2010 onwards. Analyse their selected article and answer the questions related to the
epistemological framework, methodological approach, methods used, and other theoretical
and ethical issues of the research project the article describes.
Note: We work on each of the questions to be addressed in the essay during tutorials as
exercises using a sample research article (Stern, 2005). This article is linked in the 'Readings
and further resources' folder in this unit's CloudDeakin site. Details of these weekly tutorial
exercises will appear on CloudDeakin at the end of each week. Working through these
exercises every week (whether in tutorial time or in your own time for off-campus students)
will help greatly when working through these questions for the article you select to analyse
for this assignment.

Specific instructions
Select for analysis ONE scholarly research article published within the past five years or so
addressing a topic area of your interest using EBSCOHost and Communication & Mass
Media Complete databases from the librarys website. It will need to be downloaded as full
text for you to be able to do the analysis.
Pl forward/email this article from the EBSCOHost database to your lecturer
(nina.weerakkody@deakin.edu.au) indicating you name so that I can check if the article
is suitable for analysis and is based on primary research and let you know. i.e. If it
reports on a study carried out by the authors themselves and has a method section. If
it is a commentary, analysis, literature review or opinion piece (secondary research), you
will not be able to use it to answer the questions a) to t).

NOTE: This is an individual assignment and NOT a group project and should be
worked on accordingly. Please avoid choosing an article known to be already selected by
another student.
Pl provide your Name, ID number, campus, and Unit code and the citation of the article
under analysis at the beginning of your essay that will be submitted on CLOUD.
Using the article, answer the following questions from a) to t).
As this is an analysis, simply answer each part of the question under the parts a), b), c) etc. to
save on your word limit. If any of the questions below are not applicable to the study reported
in your selected article, explain why. (The list below may appear intimidating, but if you look
closely, you will see that these questions are easy to answer. You simply need to read your
selected article and examine each part of it with respect to the various concepts /topics
covered in the unit.)
a) Identify the rationale given by the author for doing this study. (Generally given early in
the article.)
b) What is/are the research question/s or hypothesis/es used in this study? (List a maximum
of two.)
c) Name the epistemology/ies used in the study? (eg. Objectivism, constructionism or
subjectivism). Why do you think so?
d) Name the research paradigm/s used in the study (e.g. Positivism, systems theory,
interpretivism, critical theory or functionalism). Explain why this study falls under that/those
paradigm/s.
e) What is/are the covering law/s or specific theory/ies used as starting points in the study?
f) What specific research / data collection method/s (e.g. Interviews, field studies, surveys,
focus groups, content analysis, case studies etc.), has/have been used in the study?
g) Has this study used multiple methods of data collection? If so, what are they? If not, what
other methods of data collection could have been used in addition to the one/s used in the
study and why? What would be their uses and advantages?
h) What other research paradigm/s could have been used to study the same phenomenon and
why?
i) Is this study deductive or inductive? Explain why you think so.
j) What are the variables of this study? Which of them is/are independent and dependent?
(List at least one of each.)

k) How are the variables operationalised? (What are the operational definitions used?) (list at
least one.)

l) What is the unit of analysis of this study?

m) What was/were the sample size/s?
n) What kind of sampling method/s had been used? (e.g. random, convenience, purposive
etc.)
o) What kind/s of measurement/s was/were involved? (e.g. Nominal, ordinal, interval or
ratio and name the relevant variable/s as applicable.)
p) What are the findings and conclusions of this study?
q) What is the heuristic value of the study?
r) What alternative explanations can you suggest for these findings and conclusions?
s) Find five items of scholarly literature related to the same topic area as your selected
article. Provide a short summary of these five studies and their findings and conclusions, as a
collective, somewhat similar to a short literature review. Indicate your sources of reference
within the body of this summary according to the Harvard system of referencing (Author,
year). List the five readings in alphabetical order by first authors last name according to the
Harvard System of referencing, in the reference list for the essay at the end. Indicate these
five articles in the reference list using asterisks (*).
t) What would have been the ethical issues involved with this study? What precautions
should have been required to protect the subjects?
Answer each part of the above question under each heading as a), b), c) etc. as a separate
paragraph or section. Within each paragraph/section, answer the question according to the
Harvard system of referencing, providing the sources of your information wherever relevant.
The reference list at the end of the essay should include all sources cited within the body of
the essay.
Hints: Refer to the Online sources and the library section on the 'Introduction' document of
the online Study Guide to help you search for a suitable journal article for your analysis.
The exercises in the Study Guide will help you with this assignment. The specific exercises
relevant to your essay will largely depend on the article selected. However, each of
the exercises listed in the Study Guide will help you better understand the subject matter
under each topic which feeds directly into the questions of this assignment.