04/10/23 Lecture Notes 1

Media Research

Jeremy Harris Lipschultz

Isaacson Professor

UNO Social Media Lab

Social Science Foundations for Social Media Metrics

Do the data make sense?

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Defining Mass Communication Research

McQuail (1994) says the phrase coined at the end of the 1930s "still has no agreed definition."

Severin and Tankard (1992), treat mass communication as "part skill, part art, and part science."

Mass communication research is the use of research methods to study the flow of information, entertainment, and opinion in society.

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The Mass Communication Research Process

Step 1: Problem & Purpose Step 2: Literature Review Step 3: Research Questions Step 4: Methodology and

research design

Use theory-based RQs

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Theory -> Measurement

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Process (continued)

Step 5: Data Collection Step 6: Data Analysis and

interpretation Step 7: Presentation of results Step 8: Follow-up studies

Research Process

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Variables

A variable is how we observe and measure a concept.

A more precise way to measure, for example the media use concept, would be to create a variable that identifies a specific use of the mass media.

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Levels of measurement

Nominal measurement is the weakest of the four levels. It is a simple classification.

Ordinal measurement refers to ranking. Both interval and ratio measurement

consist of ordinal measurement with equal intervals between scale points.

Ratio measurement has a true zero point.

All data have error.

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Reliability and validity

Reliability is a measure of consistency.

Assuming that we have established reliability, the more difficult question is whether the measurement has validity.

In other words, has the variable measured what it is supposed to measure?

Statistical Significance?

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Relationships in Data

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Google Analytics & SEO

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Social Media Metrics

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