Christian I.

COM150- Research and Methodology

Dr. King

Learning Objective # 3 Reflection- COM 150 Quantitative Data

In my COM 150 course, I worked with three other people in conducting a research study,
they were: Ellie Kahle, Kelly Michalski, and Brian Fuller. As a team, we needed to first
brainstorm a couple of possible topics. Each participant was responsible for finding scholarly
articles that would be relevant to the study, and create a Literature Review to back up our study.
My group met on a regular basis to edit our sources and organize our ideas into our paper. Along
with submitting a paper; we were required to do a presentation (we created a Power point
presentation) based on our study. Each member from the group helped create a slide, and we
were each assigned a couple of slides to read-off in class as well as elaborate on them. To
address the research questions (below), we administered a survey in the form of a cross-sectional
questionnaire. We chose to do surveys because we figured that this type of research would be
beneficial in reaching large samples of people who would remain anonymous. A confounding
variable that we assumed would be the honesty/integrity with which the research participants
would answer to the survey.
RQ1: What source of news-broadcast, television, or online-do viewers deem more credible?
RQ2: How does credibility vary by Income and IT Knowledge?
The appropriate test for this study is the analysis of variance (ANOVA) due to the
multiple variables. After the analysis of variance (ANOVA) is performed, this study then
discovers if any relationships exist between these variables. The goal is to see if income levels
and comprehension levels of online resources are related to a viewers perception of credibility
between television news sources or online news sources.

Christian I.

COM150- Research and Methodology

Dr. King

The population for this study would consist of Waukesha County adults. The study
randomly selected clusters of adults from the Waukesha County population. The population
consists of the 390,730 Waukesha County Adults provided by the U.S. Census Bureau (2012).
The reason for using a cluster random sample is due to the inability to acquire a sampling frame
on just adults in the Waukesha County area. A letter asking for participation with a survey on
this study had been sent in order to achieve a cluster random sample of 1,000 of the 390,730
Waukesha County adults. This study asked participants to provide demographic information,
questions about employment, salary range, knowledge of the Internet, and credibility of news
sources. Credibility is defined for subjects as the quality of being believable or trustworthy
(dictionary.com).
In this study 1,000 Waukesha County citizens received a letter asking for their
participation. The letter to the participants briefly explains what the study entails. The first 500
adults who respond willing to participate will be sent a confirmation letter. This letter will
inform them that they have been chosen. Therefore, the sample will consist of 500 adult
residents of Waukesha County because there is a higher probability that they will be employed
and have a stable income. This sample size has been deemed as appropriate for the purpose of
time constraints, due to the process of analyzing each questionnaire.
After those 500 adults have been identified; they will be instructed to meet at Carroll University
(100 North East Avenue, Waukesha, WI 53186) Van Male Gymnasium on Saturday, December
1st, at 12:00pm. This eliminates any possible confounding variables that would arise if
participants could take the questionnaire at different places, settings, and/or times. Subjects will
be seated in individual desks in order to avoid inter-subject bias. Upon subjects arrival, the four
researchers (us) will be present to answer any questions the subject might have. The researchers
2

Christian I.

COM150- Research and Methodology

Dr. King

will proceed to administer the questionnaire to all subjects. Both questionnaires should take no
longer than 20 minutes to complete; however, subjects are welcome to take as much time as
needed. All participants will be informed that their answers will remain anonymous; in hopes of
eliminating any dishonesty or inaccuracy. When finished, the subjects will place their
questionnaires face down in a basket provided at the front of the room. After all the
questionnaires have been completed and collected, each answer is carefully recorded by the
researchers. This study determines which of the two news sources broadcast-television or online,
viewers deem more credible. This also helps to discover if the variables of Income and IT
knowledge relate to viewers perceptions of credibility with regards to television news sources
and online news resources. However if the participant does not meet the employment and
income requirements, the participants questionnaire is considered null and will be voided.
Should the employment and income level meet this studys requirements, then the data is then
further analyzed.
If I had to do this assignment over, I would definitely like to have met with my group
members more often to edit our paper. I think it would have been nice to incorporate you tube
video findings to add on to our project explaining the perception of news credibility and IT
knowledge. Unfortunately there is not much to work with when the only requirements are to
write an Introduction, Literature Review, and Methods Section. Looking back on this
assignment the research we proposed to do would have been extremely time consuming as well
as a bit foolish because the numbers were very unrealistic, but it was a learning experience. I
believe we would have been able to write a better limitations section than possible results. COM
150 Research & Methodology is an excellent class that introduces one to the basics of

Christian I.

COM150- Research and Methodology

Dr. King

conducting research and serves as the introduction (or part one) to Capstone. One could
conclude that Capstone is the continuation (or part two) of COM 150.