Qualitative Research Trustworthiness

Qualitative research has similar practices to the Validity and Reliability of quantitative methods; they're classified as Trustworthiness.

Gaining Trustworthiness:

• Credibility:
• Activities increasing the probability that credible findings will be produced
• Prolonged engagement
• Persistent observation
• Triangulation
• Peer debriefing
• Keeps the researcher "honest"
• Test working hypotheses
• Opportunity to develop and test next steps in methodology
• Catharsis to provide objective judgment
• Negative Case Analysis - adjusting and testing the hypothesis with hindsight
• Referential adequacy - recording materials
• Member Checks - testing data, analytic categories, interpretations, and conclusions with participants
• Transferability
• Thick description
• Dependbility
• Dependability audit
• Confirmability
• Confirmability audit
• All of the above
• Reflexive journal

All of this information comes from   Lincoln, Y. S. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry (Vol. 75). Sage.

Big Data

What is big data?

What's the implication for research methods?

An interesting/scary application --
http://cn.tmagazine.com/education/20131024/t24workscience/en-us/

What was the answer again?

I'm super interested in how memory might effect media consumers and the information that they process based on the ideas of Mere Exposure Effect which states that "mere repeated exposure of the individual to a stimulus object enhances his attitude towards it." (Zajonc, 1968)  I'd like to look at this by performing a survey similar to that of Tavassoli, Shultz, and Fitzsimons in 1995 where they surveyed a number of people shortly after watching a television sporting event in order to verify whether they could recall the ads they saw, and whether their attitudes towards the company were positive or negative. I would hope to be able to eventually address the needs for news organizations to treat consumers of their respective mediums as clients that they are trying to engender that recall and positive attitude with.

Tavassoli, N. T., Shultz, C. J., & Fitzsimons, G. J. (1995). Program involvement: are moderate levels best for ad memory and attitude toward the ad?. Journal of Advertising Research.

Zajonc, R. B. (1968). Attitudinal effects of mere exposure. Journal of personality and social psychology, 9(2p2), 1.

Determining Sample Size

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pd006

Between the Impact of Technology on Journalism and Twitter Political Turmoil

Two new ideas for my project:

1) Impact of technology on journalism. My goal as a researcher has been trying to understand how journalists are reacting to digital challenges and whether they are preserving fundamental ideas of their profession when facing technological innovations. Being here in Austin, I would like to explore how the free newspaper industry is adapting to digital technology and mobile platforms. A possibility for this research is to target a specific newsroom such as Chronicle, a print publication that mixes in-depth journalism with a city guide. I would like to apply a survey and to interview newsroom editors and managers to find out how this publication is facing digital disruptions and how it envisions its future.

2) Twitter political turmoil. I would like to explore the twitter reaction of Colombian most influential journalists towards the announcement of former president Alvaro Uribe to return to the political arena as a candidate to the Colombian Senate. Now that the Colombian government is in the middle of a peace process with the FARC guerrilla (one of the bloodiest players of this five-decade-internal conflict), the question is whether the presence of Uribe and his followers in Congress would undermine peace efforts. I would like to explore if the twitter reaction of Colombia journalists remains neutral or takes a position in favor or against Uribe’s decision to come back to politics as senator.