Course Syllabus

Ithaca College
Mass Media Research Methods
TVR-26300
Summer 2016

Instructor: Dr. Jack Powers
E-mail: jpowers@ithaca.edu
Office Hours: via email
Class site: http://ICresearchmethodsSummer2016.blogspot.com

Course description:
This online course serves as a basic introduction to quantitative and qualitative research methods in mass communications including sampling, surveys, experiments, content analyses, interviews, focus groups, and participant observation. Review of literature, identification of basic concepts, problems, responsibilities, and research ethics; procedures and basic techniques of computer data analysis (statistical analysis) are also covered. A research project is required.

Course Objectives/Goals:
By the end of the term, students enrolled in this course should be able to

1. Know and understand the basic elements/tenets of mass media research including survey research, experiments, content analysis, statistical analysis, and be able to apply these elements/tenets to real-life mass media/social science problems/situations.

2. Plan, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of an original, quantitative, social science research project.

3. Intelligently interpret quantitative research findings in the social scientific arena and to critically evaluate those findings in terms of their overall worth.

4. Exhibit a solid understanding in social science research and data analysis.

To achieve these goals, students will

1) read extensively,
2) critically examine quantitative social science research,
3) actively participate in intellectual discussions involving research methods, statistics, and data interpretation
4) produce an original, quantitative, mass media/social science research project.

Required texts:
All required reading material for this course will be provided to you online or via email.

Overall grades will be based on the following:

4 Blog Reactions— (100 points—25 points each)
2 Practice Problems— (50 points—25 points each)
2 Statistics Problems (50 points—25 points each)
1 Exam— (100 points)
Research Final Project— (100 points)
__________
(400 points total)


Overall grades will be based on the following percentages:

93 – 100 A
90 – 92 A-
87 – 89 B+
83 – 86 B
80 – 82 B-
77 – 79 C+
73 – 76 C
70 – 72 C-
67 – 69 D+
63 – 66 D
60 – 62 D-
00 – 59 F

Course material:
Assigned readings should be completed prior to the day due. Lectures, notes and assignments are intended to enhance and/or supplement the readings. Some of the material will come from sources other than the assigned readings. You are responsible for this material as well as for the material in the readings—even if it is not specifically covered in class. If you have any difficulty understanding the material, it is your responsibility to ask for clarification. Often, I will ask if anyone has any questions.

Make-up policy:
As a general rule, make-up assignments are not allowed except in cases of emergency. It is your responsibility to complete the assignments. If an emergency does arise, it is imperative for you to contact me PRIOR to the scheduled due date. Do not expect to make-up a missed assignment without clearing it with me ahead of time. Incompletes can only be granted by the Dean's Office. In fact, an incomplete is ONLY given if you are unable to complete the coursework because of a serious illness, accident, emergency, or other crisis. A formal request must be made prior to the end of the term.

Specific info for the Online Course:

There are weekly assignments for the online course. They typically involve extensive reading followed by one of the following—a blog reaction, a practice problem, statistical problem, exam, project. The project is the only assignment that will take longer than a day to complete.

Since the course is asynchronous, you may complete the work at your convenience. For example, if it better suits your travel/work/family schedule to work in the middle of the night, that’s fine. You are not required to be at the computer at any specific time per day.

With that being said, it’s expected that you will spend approximately 3-5 hours per day working on course material. You can break this up any way you see fit—an hour or two in the morning, an hour at lunch, another hour or two late at night; from 8-noon; etc. It’s completely up to you. You just don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you fall behind with the work/assignments.

Assignments are due by 10 a.m. the day AFTER they are posted. For example, our first assignment (Blog reaction #1) is due Wednesday, June 1st by 10 a.m. EST.

Grades will be emailed to you. Comments will often be posted, sometimes emailed.

It has been my experience that most students get more out of the online course than they ever thought imaginable. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it. You’ll not only learn a great deal, but I believe you’ll enjoy the material.

Welcome aboard.

Standards of Academic Conduct
A. Academic honesty is a cornerstone of the mission of the College. Unless it is otherwise stipulated, students may submit for evaluation only that work that is their own and that is submitted originally for a specific course. According to traditions of higher education, forms of conduct that will be considered evidence of academic misconduct include but are not limited to the following: conversations between students during an examination; reviewing, without authorization, material during an examination (e.g., personal notes, another student's exam); unauthorized collaboration; submission of a paper also submitted for credit in another course; reference to written material related to the course brought into an examination room during a closed-book, written examination; and submission without proper acknowledgment of work that is based partially or entirely on the ideas or writings of others. Only when a faculty member gives prior approval for such actions can they be acceptable.

B. It is the responsibility of instructors to inform students clearly in writing specific rules, procedures, and/or expectations pertinent to their particular course that differ from those identified in paragraph A of this section. In those courses where limited consultation among students is permitted in the preparation of assignments, it is extremely important for instructors to clarify the guidelines for appropriate conduct.

C. In situations where a student may have difficulty in distinguishing between acceptable behavior and academic misconduct, it is the responsibility of the student to confer with the instructor. This is particularly important for avoiding plagiarism when written sources are used in the preparation of papers or take home examinations.
Because Ithaca College is an academic community, ignorance of the accepted standards of academic honesty in no way affects the responsibility of students who violate standards of conduct in courses and other academic activities.

D. All members of the academic community are expected to assist in maintaining the integrity of Ithaca College, which includes reporting incidents of academic misconduct. Such instances may be reported to a faculty member, the dean of the school involved, or the director of judicial affairs.

7.1.4.1 Plagiarism
As amended by the Ithaca College Board of Trustees May 18, 2001.
Whether intended or not, plagiarism is a serious offense against academic honesty. Under any circumstances, it is deceitful to represent as one's own work, writing or ideas that belong to another person. Students should be aware of how this offense is defined. Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of someone else's published or unpublished ideas, whether this use consists of directly quoted material or paraphrased ideas.
Although various disciplines follow styles of documentation that differ in some details, all forms of documentation make the following demands:

• That each quotation or paraphrase be acknowledged with a footnote or in-text citation;
• That direct quotations be enclosed in quotation marks and be absolutely faithful to the wording of the source;
• That paraphrased ideas be stated in language entirely different from the language of the source;
• That a sequence of ideas identical to that of a source be attributed to that source;
• That sources of reprinted charts or graphs be cited in the text;
• That all the sources the writer has drawn from in paraphrase or direct quotation or a combination of paraphrase and quotation be listed at the end of the paper under "Bibliography," "References," or "Works Cited," whichever heading the particular style of documentation requires.

A student is guilty of plagiarism if the student fails, intentionally or not, to follow any of these standard requirements of documentation.

In a collaborative project, all students in a group may be held responsible for academic misconduct if they engage in plagiarism or are aware of plagiarism by others in their group and fail to report it. Students who participate in a collaborative project in which plagiarism has occurred will not be held accountable if they were not knowledgeable of the plagiarism.

What, then, do students not have to document? They need not cite their own ideas, or references to their own experiences, or information that falls in the category of uncontroversial common knowledge (what a person reasonably well-informed about a subject might be expected to know). They should acknowledge anything else.

7.1.4.2 Other Forms of Academic Dishonesty
Other violations of academic honesty include, but are not limited to, the following behaviors:
• Handing in to a class a paper written by someone else;
• Handing in as an original work for a class a paper one has already submitted to another course;
• Handing in the same paper simultaneously to two courses without the full knowledge and explicit consent of all the faculty members involved;
• Having someone else rewrite or clean up a rough draft and submitting those revisions as one's own work.
These offenses violate the atmosphere of trust and mutual respect necessary the process of learning.


Attendance:
It's an online course, so there is no attendance.

Students with disabilities:
In compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, reasonable accommodation will be provided to students with documented disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Students must register with the Office of Academic Support Services and provide appropriate documentation to the College before any academic adjustment will be provided.

Course Schedule (repeated here, but it's also posted separately): 

Tentative Course Schedule:

Week 1 (May 31 - June 3)
Introduction to the course
Scientific inquiry
Steven Levitt article
Assignment: Blog reaction #1 due Wednesday
Research Process
Elements of research
Assignment: Blog reaction #2 due Friday 

Week 2 (June 6 - June 10)
Research ethics
Sampling
Survey Research
Assignment: Blog reaction #3 due Wednesday
Content Analysis
Experimental Research

Assignment: Practice problem #1 due Friday 

Week 3 (June 13 - June 17)
Qualitative Techniques
Interviews
Assignment: Blog Reaction #4 due Wednesday
Focus Groups
Participant Observation

Assignment: Midterm Exam due Friday 

Week 4 (June 20 - June 24) 
Introduction to statistics
Hypothesis testing
Assignment: Practice problem #2
Statistical analysis
Assignment: Stats problem(s) #1

Week 5 (June 27 - July 1) 
Statistical analysis, continued
Assignment: Stats problem(s) #2 due Wednesday
Work on Final Projects (we'll do this as a group)
Assignment: Final Project due Friday 


The instructor reserves the right to amend this course schedule as necessary. It is meant as a guideline. Any changes will be announced in advance.