FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
DEPARTMENT OF JOURNALISM AND MEDIA STUDIES
PROGRAMME: MSC Media and Journalism
FULL NAME OF STUDENTS: Mirriam Mhlanga
Shelton Masina
Siya Ncube
Taboka Nleya
Bukhosi Moyo
CONTACT TEL/CELL: 0784257998 I.D No: 08-849542R08
COURSE NAME: Research Methods and Statistics
COURSE CODE: IJM 5203
LECTURER: Dr Nonhlanhla Ndlovu
ASSIGNMENT Title:
A local indigenous language newspaper has recently launched an online newspaper in your community. They approach you
as a researcher to conduct preliminary research on how their audiences are responding to this new strategy. Using the
following structure as a reference, create a brief overview of how you would carry out this research, justifying all of your
choices:
i) Research questions (5 marks)
ii) Research Methodology (10 marks)
iii) Research Methods and Procedures (20 marks)
iv) Sampling and target population (10 marks)
v) Data Analysis (5 marks)
[50 Marks
Research Questions
The goal of this research is to provide an adequate grasping of indigenous language research
feedback on a recently launched online newspaper in our community by unraveling the body
of knowledge on it. The research questions should be able to give us adequate information
about how the local people feel about the new online publication as compared to the print
version. The questions should unravel the feelings and perceptions of the audience about the
new technology. The specific research questions are :
1) How does the local audience respond to the online version of the newspaper ?
2) What are the most important features of the online publication ?
3) What features of the online magazine are most lacking?
4) What are the trajectory of research on indigenous language launched by the online
newspaper?
5) How can the press highlight pertinent issues and emerging themes in the community
through new media technologies
i) Research Methodology
For this type of research l would recommend mixed methods research. This is a mix of both
qualitative and quantitative methods. Quantitative methods like surveys can give us accurate
numerical data about the audience’s response to the online paper while qualitative methods
like interviews would give us in depth insight into the thoughts and feelings of the audience.
The two methods combined give us a more holistic and nuanced understanding of the
research topic.
Cresswell and Clark(2018:123) define Mixed methods research as the type
of research in which a researcher or team of researchers combines
elements of qualitative and quantitative
research approaches (e.g., use of qualitative and quantitative viewpoints,
data collection, analysis, inference techniques) for the purposes of
breadth
and depth of understanding and corroboration.
A qualitative approach often reveals the relevance of online indigenous-language newspaper
within a particular time frame to local residents. The structure of online newspaper and
challenges of accessing online newspaper. Due to an inclination towards qualitative research
paradigm, qualitative methods of textual analysis such as thematic analysis, content analysis
and critical discourse are predominantly used.
Quantitative research on the other hand uses numbers and statistics to measure and describe
phenomena. The main goal of quantitative research is to generalize findings to a larger
population.
ii) Research Methods and Procedures
According to Cohen and Manion (1994:38) research methods is a range of approaches used to
gather research data, and in the subsequent stages of data analysis and interpretation so that
inferences based on the data are made. One can say research methods are techniques and
procedures used in the research process.
The researcher zeroed in on ethnographic research and used ethnographic research methods
such as observation to gather data about the trajectory of research on indigenous language
launched by online newspaper. Notably, ethnographic research falls under social and cultural
studies. The research study utilised interviews, observation and questionnaires, blogs to
capture the perspectives, thoughts and suggestions of community members in regards to how
the press highlight pertinent issues and emerging themes through online newspapers.
Ethnographic research in local community gravitate towards the critical cultural studies
approach. Ethnographic research using qualitative approach seeks answers to the following
questions: What are the trajectory of research on indigenous language launched by online
newspaper? How can the press highlight pertinent issues and emerging themes in the
community through new media technologies? Ethnographic research explains and extrapolate
critical analysis of the methodological and empirical gains and losses of online indigenous
language newspaper
Interviews were conducted with local members of the community including youths, adults,
man and also women of the society. Interviews were asked to comment on suggest a new
agenda of content on online indigenous language newspaper in the community in a context of
changing new communication technologies.
The case study approach was also used to research peculiar issues about the trajectory of
research on indigenous language launched by online newspaper.
The research could also use surveys to quantify research findings.Survey data would then be
presented using descriptive statistics. These descriptive statistics help us understand
audience's responses in terms of numbers and percentages. The data can be presented in the
form of average ratings given to the online publication or maybe the percentage of the
population that said they would recommend the publication to others.
iii) Sampling and target population
Chakrapani (2011) defined population as the aggregate of all elements that show some
common set of characteristics and comprise the universe for the purpose of the research. The
population parameters are typically numbers. Therefore target population is the collection of
elements or objects that possess the information sought by the researcher and about which
inference are to be made. The target population must be defined in terms of elements,
sampling unit, extent and time. The targeted population of the research study shall be Youths,
Men and Women of the community. The researcher was guided by Resident Committee
statistics to approach the targeted population. The researcher approached 15 Youths from the
community aged between 18-35 years, 10 women aged between 35-45 years and also 5 men
aged between 35-50 years.
A sample is a representative of the population which is meant to ensure that findings are
generalised from the research sample to the population at large. Cohen (2007) corroborates
that a sample refers to a subject or subjects of the parent population selected for purposes of
study. Random, volunteer and purposive sampling was used as relevant samples for the
study.
Random sampling enabled the researcher to select a small group of youths from the
population to represent the above mentioned population. That is to say all members of the
population were given a chance of being selected during the study. Notably, the population
was selected systematically targeting all key members of the population. That is to say the
population was given numbers from one to three. The researcher only took third member of
the population in order to have accurate information about the subject of the study. That is the
trajectory of research on indigenous language launched by online newspaper and how can the
press highlight pertinent issues and emerging themes in the community through new media
technologies.
Volunteer sampling was also appropriate for the study because some women in the
community forward to be selected as subjects of the study. Notably, volunteer sampling
helped to capture data in regards to how can the press highlight pertinent issues and emerging
themes in the community through new media technologies. Although some of the information
was purported to be biased, hence, the researcher managed to analyse and sample it.
Volunteer sampling is relevant because the process was not tedious and time consuming. That
is to say, the researcher also gathered the required response to questions such as how can the
press highlight pertinent issues and emerging themes in the community through new media
technologies.
Purposive sampling was used in the study as a sampling approach men in the community.
Men were selected using a purposive sampling approach. Purposive sampling approach was
used because some men represented the community to a larger extent. Men were not asked in
their individual capacity. Purposive sampling was the most appropriate for this bracket of
respondents because it focused on specific groups of respondents. The main intention was to
extract specific response of asked questions such as how can we critique the methodological
and empirical gains and losses of online indigenous language newspaper?
V) Data Analysis
After collecting the data we can then use a combination of content analysis and thematic
analysis to analyze it. Content analysis is a quantitative method that involves counting or
coding words or phrases in the data while thematic analysis is a qualitative method that
involves identifying and interpreting themes or patterns in the data. By combining the two
methods we can get a more comprehensive understanding of the audience’s responses.
References
Creswell, J W and Plano Clark, Vicki L.Designing and conducting mixed
methods research / John W. Creswell, Department of Family Medicine,
University of Michigan, Vicki L. Plano Clark, School of Education, University
of Cincinnati.
Powell, R.R. (2006). Evaluation research: An overview. Research Methods., 55(1), 102–120.
Cohen, L. and Manion, L. (1994). Research methods in education. London: Routledge.
Cohen L, Manion L, Morrison K. (2007). Research Methods in Education. London,
Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.
Chakrapani C .2011. Modern Marketing Research Step-by-Step. Available on
http://www.chuckchakrapani.com/stepbystep/. Accessed on 2 November 2020.
