Tutorial Week 13(b)

FIC0154 Basic Communication Research (11^st December 2012)

Online Discussion Questions: Set 8

Reference materials: Lecture on Survey Method and relevant book chapters.

1.      Survey, content analysis and experiments are all ________?

Survey, content analysis and experiments are all research methods.

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

(i)     The first difference between interview and questionnaires is the presence of

interviewer. Interviewer needs to be present during interview; while interviewer needs not to present during questionnaires survey as the questions in questionnaires are fixed.

(ii)   The second difference between interview and questionnaires is the structured

versus unstructured questions. The questions involved in interview are unstructured questions as the interviewer do not set the question and will change depends on individual; while the questions involved in questionnaire survey are structured questions as the questions are fixed before the questionnaire survey and do not change depends on individual.

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.

Questionnaire survey can be present in a form of open-ended questions or even close-ended questions by e-mail, telephone, personal, mail and so on.

(i)    The first issue that researchers have to consider when choosing each type of

survey method is population and sampling issues such as who is your population and what sort of survey methods would you choose for different populations. For example, if a researcher wants to conduct a questionnaire survey to the Orang Asli in Sabah, the researcher will not choose to  conduct this questionnaire by using e-mail as Orang Asli may not has access to internet, he or she will fly over to Sabah and conduct the questionnaire.

(ii)   The second issue is question issues. A researcher should identify what sort of

questions will he or she asking, do the questions need to be branch our into sub-questions or sections, will screening questions needed, can question sequence be controlled, and would a detailed background needed.

(iii)  The third issue is content issues. A researcher will need to make sure can the

particular respondents be expected to know about the issue, and will the respondents will have the information the researcher wants.

(iv) The forth issue is the bias issues. Bias issues raised due to social desirability, as

respondents generally want to ‘look good’ and they may avoid answering personal or embarrassing questions.

(v)   The fifth issue is administrative issues. The administrative issues involved time

(such as is the respondent doing a public opinion poll that requires immediate answers), cost (such as postage or training of interviewers), facilities (such as telephones, recording and transcribing equipment) and logistic consideration.

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

(i)     The first deifference between open-ended and close-ended questions is open

ended questions are generally used to find out the ‘why’ and ‘how’; while the close-ended questions are never used to find ‘why’ and ‘what’.

(ii)   The second difference is open-ended questions require respondents to generate

their own answers; while close-ended questions require respondents to select an answer from a list which is pre-designed by the researchers.

(iii)  The advantage of open-ended questions is respondents are given freedom in

answering questions and thus, given an opportunity to provide in-depth responses. Besides that, as the respondents could answer as much as they want, the researchers could find some answers which did not foresee in designing the questionnaire. Open-ended questions are useful in pilot test which to determine variables of a phenomenon. However, the disadvantage of open-ended questions are hard to collect the data and time-consuming in analyzing the responses. For example, bad handwriting may also affect the research process.

(iv) The advantage of close-ended questions is it provides greater uniformity in

responses and the answers are easy to quantify which lead to easy to collect and easy to analyze. However, the disadvantage of close-ended questions is researchers often fail to include some important responses. The solution for this problem will be include an ‘other; response followed by a blank space or not followed by a blank space.

5.      List 4 types of close-ended survey questions and briefly explain what each type is like.

(i)    The first type of close-ended survey questions is dichotomous response questions

whereby the questions are divided into two opposite branches. For example, agree or disagree, yes or no.

(ii)   The second type of close-ended survey questions is multiple-choice questions.

Multiple-choice questions allow respondents to choose an answer from several options. Multiple-choice questions need to meet the criteria of exhaustive (need to include all the possible answers) and also mutually exclusive (there should be only one response option per question; the answers should not be overlapping each others). Multiple-choice questions can also use in rating scales, semantic differential scales and rank-ordering technique.

(iii) The third type of close-ended survey questions is checklist question. Checklist

question is often used in pilot studies to refine question for the final project.

(iv)  The forth type of close-ended survey questions is forced-choice question. Forced

choice question is usually used in media studies designed to gather information about lifestyles. The answers in forced-choice question is always listed in pairs and usually very long. Questions are repeated in different form on the same topic, and the answers for each topic are analyzed for patterns. The respondents are needed to choose one answer from the pair of statements or sentences. Respondents could not predict what the researchers want to find by using the forced-choice questions.

(v)  The fifth type of close-ended questions is fill-in-the-blank question. Fill-in-the

blank question is a close-ended question as the options are not a lot.

(vi) The sixth type of close-ended questions is filter questions. Filter questions are

used to determine if respondent is qualified or experienced enough to answer a subsequent question. Filter questions are similar with screening questions.

6.      Your study investigates “Teenagers in Malaysia and their attitude towards online piracy.” Give 3 examples of open-ended survey question.

(i)   What is your opinion towards online piracy?

(ii)  What actions should be taken to reduce the number of online piracy in Malaysia

that you can think of?

(iii) What are the steps that you are going to take if you are being caught by doing

online piracy?

7.      For the same study above, give 3 examples of close-ended survey questions, complete with their answer responses.

(i)  How often you use online to download movie last month?

A.    0-2 times

B.     3-5 times

C.     6-8 times

D.    9 times and above

(ii)  Do you use online to download anything before?

A.    Yes

B.     No

(iii) Which of the following files you have downloaded from internet before?

___ Music

___ Movie

___ Lecture note

___ Others

8.      For MCQ survey questions, responses should be “exhaustive” – what does this mean? Give 1 example with exhaustive responses and 1 example with non-exhaustive responses.

Exhaustive refers to the multiple-choice questions should include all the possible responses or answers.

(i)    Example of exhaustive responses.

How many television set(s) do you have in your house?

A.    0-2 televisions

B.     3-5 televisions

C.     6-8 televisions

D.    9 televisions and above

(ii)   Example of non-exhaustive responses.

How many television set(s) do you have in your house?

A.    1-2 televisions

B.     3-5 televisions

C.     6-8 televisions

D.    9 televisions and above

(This is an example of non-exhaustive responses as it do not include all the possible responses, what if a person do not own any television at home?).

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.

Mutually exclusive refers to there should be only one response option per question; the answers should not be overlapping each others.

(i)   Example of mutually exclusive responses.

How many television set(s) do you have in your house?

A.    0-2 televisions

B.     3-5 televisions

C.     6-8 televisions

D.    9 televisions and above

(ii)  Example of non-mutually exclusive responses.

How many television set(s) do you have in your house?

A.    0-2 televisions

B.     2-5 televisions

C.     6-8 televisions

D.    9 televisions and above

(This is an example of non-mutually exclusive responses as the option A and B is overlapping each others, if a respondent owns 2 televisions, should he or she choose the option A or B?).

10.  When phrasing your survey questions, how should you word them and what should you avoid?

When phrasing survey questions, researchers should:

(i)   Make the questions clear.

(ii)  Keep the questions short.

(iii) Remember the purpose of research (only include items that are related directly to
     what is being studied.

(iv) Do not ask double-barreled questions (asking two or more questions in the same
     sentences). For example, what do you think are the benefits and social values of alternative media.
     The respondent may answer the social values and forgot to answer the benefits. Thus, the researchers
     should split this kind of question.

(v)  Avoid biased words or terms. For example, in your free time, would you rather

read a book or just watch television? A researcher should ask this questions in the way of, what you
will do in your free time? A. Read book B. Watch television C. Sleep D. Others.

(vi)  Avoid leading question. Leading questions suggest a certain response or contain a

hidden premise. For example, Do you still smoke? A researcher should not assume the people have smoked before.

(vii) Do not use questions that ask for highly detailed information. For example, in the past 30 days, how
      many hours of television have you viewed with your family? The respondents may forgot, and just
      simply answer this question with an inaccurate answer.

(viii)Avoid potentially embarrassing questions unless they are absolutely necessary. For example,
       researchers should avoid asking information of respondent’s income, sex lives, drug use, religion,
       business practices and so on. Respondent may feels embarrass, and refuses to answer the survey
       anymore, thus the researcher may lose a respondent.

11.  Describe what design characteristics a good questionnaire should exhibit (layout, placement of questions, introduction etc.)

(i) The approach used in asking questions:

(a)    Introduction. A persuasive introduction can increase response rate. An introduction should be short, realistically worded, non-threatening, serious, neutral, and pleasant but firm.

(b)   Instructions. Instructions are very important when the questionnaire is answered only by the respondent alone. Mail surveys and self-administered questionnaires require specific instructions because respondents are not able to ask questions about the survey.

(c)    Question placement. Early questions should be simple and easy to answer as these preliminary questions can also serve as motivation to create interest in the questionnaire. Personal detail such as demographic data, personal questions, and other sensitive items should be placed at the end of the questionnaire to allow the interviewer to relieve any suspicious or to establish a rapport with respondents.

(ii) Physical appearance of survey

(a)    Layout. The layout of a questionnaire should be nicely typed, not cramped, and in a consistent format.

(b)   Questionnaire length. Shorter questionnaires will guarantee higher completion rates.

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Teh Woon Ya (0310182)

Tutorial Week 11

FIC0154 Basic Communication Research (27^th November 2012)

Reference materials: Sample journal article & how to read a journal article reference sheet (to be photocopied from your group rep).

Discuss the following questions and present a summary of your discussion in next week’s tutorial.

1.      What is the Research Topic?

A research topic is the specific area that a researcher wishes to investigate. A research topic could be written in a direct or indirect way. The research topic for this research is 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?

Background information is also known as the introduction. Background is the information that the readers or other researchers need to know about the study. A background may include multi-pages and multi-sub headers to ensure the readers understand the specific research. A background should be written from a general form to a specific form which means from definition, to content, context or background (statistic, showing numbers and so on), and finally present the specific topic and research questions. This research emphasized on relating religion and the Internet. It showed that different religion used Internet for different purpose. In addition, this research also provided information on religious travel.

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

Each of those topics or sections of Background Information is necessary as it provide information for the readers or other researchers to understand the research. The researchers need to include background information as it shows that the researchers do not make up the information by themselves. Thus, background information is also a support to ensure the research is both valid and reliable.

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

Research questions are questions that researchers want to know the answers by doing the research and as a guide for researchers to conduct their study. Research question is general as it is open ended. Each research must have at least one research question. There are three research questions in this research.

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

(b)   How do Malaysian DMOs websites differ among themselves in portraying Islamic images?

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

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

A hypothesis is a statement which pre-establish the relationship between two variables and it could either be accepted or rejected after completing the research. A hypothesis is specific. Hypothesis is not necessary if there is no pre-establish relationship between the two variables. The hypotheses for this study are:

(a)    The perceptions of the Malaysia DMOs on Islam’s role in promoting their destination to Muslim and non-Muslim tourists.

(b)   The way Malaysia DMO’s websites differ among themselves portraying Islamic images.

(c)    The way Malaysia DMO websites portray images during festive and non-festive seasons.

6.      What is covered in the Literature Review?

A literature review is usually embedded within the introduction or a research paper or may be a standalone section. A literature review may contain few sub-headers. Literature review may include the things that other researchers have concluded in previous research, their findings and also their results. The background of religious, the purpose of tourism activities, the impact of tourism activities, and the online destination image are covered in the literature review. There are 5 sub-headers in this research.

(a)    Religious Tourism.

(b)   Islam and Tourism.

(c)    Islam and Malaysia Tourism.

(d)   Religion and Online Destination Image.

(e)    Conceptual Development.

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

The above topics are covered in the Literature Review as the topics are the information or data that other researchers have concluded in previous similar research, their findings and also their results. All these information are needed for the researcher to refine the problem, clarify techniques and prevent mistakes from the previous study.

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

The method which authors use to conduct their research is interviewing with Malaysian DMO’s through email. The content of the email briefly explained what is the role of Islam in promoting their destination to Muslim and non-Muslim tourists and how does their website reflect Islam to promote their destination.

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

One DMO stated that their brochure and website only had one statement about Islam. Second DMO focused on Prime Minister Aspiration towards Islam Hadhari. Third DMO stated on heritage trails of Islam. Some of the examples are picture of mansion and mosque. While the other 5 DMOs stated took moderate approach on Islam.

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

The conclusion which authors bring up as a result or their study is they concluded that DMO’s pictures emphasize on beauty of destination. Result show minimal, albeit varying and portrayal of Muslim values on DMO website.

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

Implication or significance or importance of this research study according to the authors are complements and adds to two streams of online religious studies and how religious group use Internet and online behavior by religious surfers. Furthermore, it shows how images become a source of information and to stimuli visitors to form perception of destination.

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

Future research should avenues regarding the Internet’s role in marketing religion and religious destinations. Future research should validate the new variables as well as add more categories and variables to paint a fuller picture of Muslim imagery online. Besides that, future studies should extend this research to other Muslim countries in order to compare their online Islamic Imagery. Future research should also compares how government and private agencies differ in portraying Islam on websites. Future study could also consider what strategies besides the presence of Muslim imagery are used by DMOs to balance the information on their sites to attract Muslim and non-Muslim tourists. Last but not least, future research could cluster destination websites based on their website features.

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

The limitation in this study is Malaysia, has limited the generalize ability of the findings. The other limitations included the content analysis lent minimal support to the first hypothesis and the results also lent minimal support to the second hypothesis.

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

The kind of sources which the authors use for their entire research paper are:

(a)    Interviews by using open-ended questions.

(b)   Surveys by sending e-mails.

(c)    Journals on previous related study.

(d)   Websites on the field of study.

End

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Teh Woon Ya (0310182), Darius Shu (0309847).

Tutorial Week 8

FIC 0154 Basic Comm Research ( 6th November 2012)

Reference Material : 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.What are the examples of research methods used in qualitative research and quantitative research? List the advantages and disadvantages of each of these research methodologies.

Quantitative Research 

Qualitative Research

Question 2 – Levels of Measurement for Variables

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.

 i.          Ethnic background of the employees in ABC Company.

Chinese, Malay, Indian, Kadazan = Nominal

ii.          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

 iii.          Attitude of a person towards censorship of sexual content on the Internet, measured on a Likert Scale.

Strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree = Interval

iv.          Number of hours a person watches TV in a week.

5, 10, 15, 20 = Ratio

v.          Education level of a Malaysian working in the media industry.

UPSR, PMR, SPM, STPM = Ordinal 

vi.          Length of radio advertisement

10 secs, 15 secs, 30 secs, 45 secs = Ratio

Written by 

Darius Shu (0309847)

Tutorial Week 7

FIC0154 Basic Communication Research (30^th October 2012).

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

Question 1

Define Independent and Dependent Variables.

ANSWER

• Independent variable is the cause of dependent variable, researchers manipulate the independent variable to see the effect of dependent variable, independent variable is systematic varied by the researchers and controlled by the researchers.
• Dependent variable is the variable which researcher wishes to explain, observe or measure. Researchers observed and their values pressured to depend on the independent variable.

Ø  Example 1: Attitude towards censorship movies in Malaysia.

Independent variable  = Censorship movies in Malaysia.

Dependent variable     = Attitude

Ø  Example 2: Which brands of smart phone the students prefer?

Independent variable  = Students

Dependent variable     = Brands of smart phone

Ø  Example 3: Teenagers’ attitudes toward different types of games.

Independent variable  = Types of games

Dependent variable     = Teenagers’ attitudes

Provide two examples of how a dependent variable in one study could be used as an independent variable in a different study.

ANSWER

• Example 1: Radio station can be used as an independent variable or dependent

       variable based on different studies.

Ø  Which radio station a teenager prefers?

Independent variable  = Teenager

Dependent variable     = Radio station

Ø  Does radio station affect the credibility of the information?

Independent variable  = Radio station

Dependent variable     = Credibility of the information

• Example 2: Level of concentration in class can be used as an independent variable

       or dependent variable based on different studies.

Ø  The number of hours students expose to internet will affect their level of concentration in class.

Independent variable  = The number of hours students expose to internet.

Dependent variable     = Level of concentration in class

Ø  Students’ level of concentration in class will affect their academic results.

Independent variable  = Level of concentration in class

Dependent variable     = Academic results

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.

1.         Prime-time television programmes

ANSWER

• Operational definition of the ‘prime-time television programmes’ is defined by ‘all TV programmes which show at 7pm-9pm on NTV7’.

2.         Students’ attitude in lectures

ANSWER

• Operational definition of ‘student’s attitude in lectures’ is observed by ‘which row a student sit in a lecture hall’.

1^st -2^nd row = good attitude, 3^rd -4^th row = medium attitude, 5^th row and above = bad attitude.

• Operational definition of ‘student’s attitude in lectures’ is observed by ‘the number of notes a student copy during a lecture’.

0-2 pages = bad attitude, 3-5 pages = medium attitude, 6 pages and above = good attitude.

• Operational definition of ‘student’s attitude in lectures’ is measured by ‘the attendance of a student in a month’.

0-1  present = bad attitude, 2-3 present = medium attitude, 4 present and above =

good attitude.

3.         Addicted smart phone users

ANSWER

• Operational definition of ‘addicted smart phone users’ is measured by ‘how long a person spent using the smart phone in a day’.

0-2  hours = low level of addiction, 3-5 hours = medium level of addiction, 6 hours

and above = high level of addiction.

• Operational definition of ‘addicted smart phone users’ is measured by ‘how many times a person look at their phone in an hour’.

0-3  times = low level of addiction, 4-7 times = medium level of addiction, 8 times

and above = high level of addiction.

• Operational definition of ‘addicted smart phone users’ is measured by ‘how many applications a person downloaded in a week’.

0-2 applications = low level of addiction, 3-5 applications = medium level of

addiction, 6 applications and above = high level of addiction.

• Operational definition of ‘addicted smart phone users’ is measured by ‘how many messages a person sent in an hour’.

0-3  messages = low level of addiction, 4-7 messages = medium level of addiction,

8 messages and above = high level of addiction.

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Tan Hui-Xin