NM4102 - Advanced Communications and New Media Research

NM4102

NUSMods Link

Taken in: AY22/23 Semester 2
Lecturer: Dr Elmie Nekmat

Schedule:

• 3h seminar-style

Grading:

• 20% - Participation
• 20% - Class Project (Method Critique)
• 10% - Presentation
• 10% - Class Activity
• 25% - Individual Method Critique Paper
• 35% - Final Group Research Project
• 5% - Week 13 Presentation
• 20% - Final Report
• Note: Unsure about breakdown. These percentages were listed on the assignment guideline.

---

This module is meant to support your Honours Thesis research by refreshing on research methods that were previously taught in NM2103 and NM2104 (respective reviews may be outdated). There is a greater focus on Quantitative methods, and since I took NM2103 in the same semester (yep), I can say the pacing and topic coverage is 90% the same as NM2103. As a consequence, the prof may go a little faster assuming you already know some concepts from NM2103 (I was learning it all for the first time, but following along was manageable). The pacing is quite similar to NM2103's lecture content.

You go into more research methods that aren't covered in NM2103 (and NM2104), like content analysis, focus groups, etc., and learning SPSS (as compared to R in NM2103), and the final group project revolves around applying one such method in a research topic of your choosing.

Even if you don't plan to do a thesis or research, it's a decent module to clear your level-4000 requirements. It's not much new material from NM2103, and the workload/assignments are relatively light.

I'm not sure who will be teaching in subsequent semesters, but Dr Elmie made for a fun and conducive learning environment. Sometimes also asks us to make class TikToks. It helps to take this module with friends as you can do the projects together.

---

Detailed Breakdown

Assignments

Class Project (Lead Presentation and Activity)

In the first half of the semester, the class is split into groups to work on a lead discussion dissecting a research article of their choosing that employed a certain research method (experimental, survey, content analysis, and focus group/interviews). So, there was one presentation per week (4, 5, 6, and 7).

The brief is to present on the research article, how they employed the method, what they did/didn't do well, and then follow up with a lead activity with the class (like a Kahoot quiz or something engaging). These two parts constitute equal halves of the assignment.

An interesting point is that these presentations are done on the day the selected research methods are taught in class, before the lecture. So, the expectation is you'll do a little pre-reading on the topic.

Something you'll have to get used to in the level 4000 modules is there's a lot of student-led discussion like these. Less work from the profs :P

Individual Method Critique

For this, you'll have to find two research articles (ideally, on similar topics) that employ different research methods, from a list of communications journals. You'll need to compare between the two, with focus on the research methods used, in a 1200 word essay.

I chose two papers on social media, which both used survey (but slightly different in procedure). Actually, on hindsight, these were quite similar papers. It might have been better to pick more varied methods, but I chose these papers because I had already read these for another module's assignment, so I saved some time. Anyway, I did decently for this so it doesn't matter.

Final Group Project

You'll conduct research on a topic of your choice, ideally CNM related, making use of a research method that was taught in this class. We chose to do content analysis (because we wanted to try something new instead of quantitative methods), and analyses song contents in Spotify top lists.

Your mileage may vary with respect to these projects, but in any case, we found no significant results. However, that doesn't mean your research sucks. The focus here is on employing the research methods properly, from the correct procedures to using SPSS appropriately.

Final Note

Feel free to hit me up for resources. The textbook is the same as NM2103, Mass Media Research by Wimmer and Dominick.

Expected grade: A-

Actual grade: A

Reviewed by: ZH