1

Introduction

• Introduction to professor


• Review syllabus

Readings: N/A

N/A

2

Basics of Study Design

• Hypotheses vs. Research Questions


• Conceptual Frameworks


• Introduction to formatting and graphical design for papers

Readings: 1 (Chapters 2 and 7)

Lecture

3

Interview Studies – Theory

• Goals and challenges of interview studies


• Designing an interview protocol


• Types of analyses (grounded theory, thematic analyses …)

Readings: 1 (Chapter 9)

Lecture

4

Interview Studies - Practical

We will be executing the interview study we designed in the last class and analyzing our data.

Readings: N/A

In-class activity – bring laptop and phone!

5

Focus Group Studies – Theory

• Goals and challenges of simultaneous multi-participant studies


• Designing a focus-group protocol


• Ethics of qualitative work

Readings: 1 (Chapters 1 & 10)

Lecture

6

Focus Group Studies – Practical

We will be executing the focus-group study we designed in the last class and analyzing our data.

Readings: N/A

In-class activity – bring laptop and phone!

7

Content Analyses

• Goals and challenges of content analyses


• Types of content analyses (manual vs. automatic)


• Reviewing content analysis literature together

Readings: 1 (Chapter 11), 2, 3, 4

Lecture + In-Class Activity

8

Introduction to R

• Learning basic R programming language


• Uploading and editing data


• Performing basic descriptive statistics

Readings: Course Link 1

Lecture + In-class Practice

9

Survey Design

• Goals and challenges of survey work


• Finding existing scales and designing new questions


• Translation procedures for surveys

Readings: 1 (Chapter 13)

Lecture

Qualitative Assignment Due by 11:59pm

10

Survey Analysis

We are going to fill out the survey we designed last week and then perform the analyses as a class.

Readings: N/A

In-class activity – bring laptop and phone!

11

Experimental Design

• Goals and challenges of experimental work


• Key elements of experimental design (controls, manipulations, checks)


• Ethics of quantitative work

Readings: 1 (Chapter 16)

Lecture

12

Experimental Practical

We are going to complete the experiment we designed last week and then perform the analyses as a class.

Readings: N/A

In-class activity – bring laptop and phone!

13

Mixed Method Research Design

• Goals and challenges of mixed method work


• How to combine qualitative and quantitative methods + common combinations


• Reviewing mixed method literature together

Readings: 1 (Chapter 17), 5, 6, 7

Lecture

14

Grant-Writing and Pitching

• Key elements of grant-writing


• Design of a research pitch


• Practice time for pitching with peers

Readings: Course Link 2

In-class activity – bring laptop and phone!

15

Final Presentations (Part 1)

Students will give their final “grant pitch” to the class.

Quantitative Assignment Due by 11:59pm

16

Final Presentations (Part 2)

Remaining students will give their final “grant pitch” to the class.

Grades can be expected for each assignment within 2-3 weeks of handing in the assignment. If you do not receive your grade in that timeframe (and the professor has not indicated that it will be taking longer), please contact the professor to ensure that the original submission was received.

Due dates are important, and they are indicated in the syllabus. For every 24 hours that an assignment is late, 5% will be deducted from the assignment’s total grade, for a maximum of 20%. Assignments submitted later than 7 days late will receive a grade of 0 and will not receive feedback. Both assignments can be submitted to christinelcook@outlook.com via email, or by using the Google Drive provided in Class 1.

The class will be assessed in four ways with the following weights:

1. Attendance (20%)
   
   
   
   
   1. Because this course involves a lot of in-class activities (designing and executing studies together), attendance is required.
   
   
   2. The first class does not count toward this attendance score, as it is during the add/drop period.
   
   
   3. Each time you attend a lecture (or lecture + in-class activity) course, you get 1% added to this score (for a total of 10%). Each time you attend an in-class activity course, you get 2% added to this score (for a total of 10%).
   
   
   
   


2. Qualitative Assignment (35%)
   
   
   
   1. In this assignment, students will write the method and results section of a completed qualitative study.
   
   
   2. Students have the option of doing a write-up for either the a) interview practical or b) the focus-group practical. If students choose to do independent study, this is also an option, but data collection will be their responsibility if they so choose.
   
   
   3. This is an INDIVIDUAL assignment.
   
   
   4. The following is the rough breakdown of grading:
      
      
      
      1. Methods Section (50% of assignment)
         
         
         
         1. Participants Sub-Section
         
         
         2. Procedure Sub-Section
         
         
         3. Materials Sub-Section
         
         
         
         
      
      
      2. Results Section (50% of assignment)
         
         
         
         1. Assumption Testing Sub-Section
         
         
         2. One Sub-Section Per Hypothesis/RQ
         
         
         
         
      
      
      
      
   
   
   
   


3. Quantitative Assignment (35%)
   
   
   
   1. In this assignment, students will write the method and results section of a completed quantitative study.
   
   
   2. Students have the option of doing a write-up for either the a) survey practice or b) the experiment practical. If students choose to do independent study, this is also an option, but data collection will be their responsibility if they so choose.
   
   
   3. This is an INDIVIDUAL assignment.
   
   
   4. The following is the rough breakdown of grading:
      
      
      
      1. Methods Section (50% of assignment)
         
         
         
         1. Participants Sub-Section
         
         
         2. Procedure Sub-Section
         
         
         3. Materials Sub-Section
         
         
         
         
      
      
      2. Results Section (50% of assignment)
         
         
         
         1. Assumption Testing Sub-Section
         
         
         2. One Sub-Section Per Hypothesis/RQ
         
         
         
         
      
      
      
      
   
   
   
   


4. Grant Pitch (10%)
   
   
   
   1. This is the final presentation of the course, but should be worked on throughout the class, as it will require you to build on themes we encounter throughout the semester.
   
   
   2. This is an INDIVIDUAL assignment.
   
   
   3. Each member of the class will have to design a social-science study involving one of the methods we covered in this class (either with or without a practical).
   
   
   4. During the presentation, participants must:
      
      
      
      1. Give a rough overview of the problematic
      
      
      2. Cover all RQ’s and/or hypotheses
      
      
      3. Explain the proposed methodology
      
      
      4. Explain the potential social impact of the study
      
      
      5. Do all of that within 5 minutes
      
      
      
      
   
   
   5. If the student cannot make the final class due to illness or bereavement (these are the only two options accepted for missing the final class), it is the student’s responsibility to schedule a make-up pitch time with the professor.
   
   
   
   

1. Croucher, S. M., & Cronn-Mills, D. (2022). Understanding Communication Research Methods: A Theoretical and Practical Approach (3^rd ed.). Routledge.


2. Cook, C., Conijn, R., Schaafsma, J., & Antheunis, M. (2019). For whom the gamer trolls: A study of trolling interactions in the online gaming context. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14(6), 293-318. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmz014


3. Croes, E. A. J., Antheunis, M. L., Goudbeek, M. B., & Wildman, N. W. (2023). “I am in your computer while we talk to each other” a content analysis on the use of language-based strategies by humans and a social chatbot in initial human-chatbot interactions. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 39(10), 2155-2173. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2022.2075574


4. Santinele Martino, A., & Moumos, E. (2022). Dating in the digital age: A content analysis of dating websites designed for disabled people. Sexuality and Disability, 40, 461-470. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-022-09751-1


5. Lin, T. T. C. (2022). Online opinions, sentiments and news framing of the first nuclear referendum in Taiwan: A mix-method approach. Asian Journal of Communication, 32(2), 152-173. https://doi.org/10.1080/01292986.2021.2022728


6. Cai, Y., Pan, Z., Han, S., Shao, P., & Liu, M. (2022). The impact of multimodal communication on learners’ experience in a synchronous online environment: A mixed-methods study. Online Learning Journal, 26(4), 118-145. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1374819


7. Liu, W., & Yao, M. (2023). Gender identity and influence in human-machine communication: A mixed-methods exploration. Computers in Human Behavior, 144, 107750. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2023.107750