Explain various kinds of research with examples.

RESEARCH:

Research can be defined to be search for knowledge or any systematic investigation to establish
facts. The primary purpose for applied research (as opposed to basic research) is discovering,
interpreting, and the development of methods and systems for the advancement of human
knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters of our world and the universe. Research can
use the scientific method, but need not do so.

KINDS OF RESEARCH:
Research can be studied or conduct under two divisions
According to the methods
According to the purpose

These both could be further sub divided in numerous ways but the following eight pairs of
classification schemes are particularly important:-
Quantitative or Qualitative Research.
Interpretive Functional Research
Experimental or Naturalistic Research.
Laboratory or Field Research
Participant or Non Participant Research
Overt or Unobtrusive Research
Cross-Sectional or Longitudinal Research
Basic or Applied Research
When fashioning a comprehensive research plan, the researcher should put together a "package"
design combining in a consistent way the characteristics of one of he two alternatives posed by
each of these contrasting approaches.
1. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
Quantitative research, involving the counting and measuring of communication events, is often
equated with scientific empiricism. The approach yields a body of numerical data, which the
researchers analyze statistically. Any of the materials including measurement techniques,
sampling methods, and statistical tests are geared toward quantitative research. Importantly,
quantitative analysis may be conducted in naturalistic or laboratory research settings and may be
plied to vast array of communication phenomena including mass media, organizational
communication, & interpersonal interaction. The approach is distinguished, only by its use of
numerical data as a means of understanding the nature of human communication. Quantitative
research is concerned with how often a variable is present and generally uses numbers to
communicate this amount. In quantitative research, reality is objective; which exist apart from
researchers and can be seen by all. It believes all human beings are basically similar and looks
for general categories to summarize their behavior or feelings.

1.1 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Although statistical analysis is prominent in communication research, much contemporary
inquiry is qualitative. Often equated with humanistic studies, qualitative research rejects
numerical measures in favor f narrative data, meaning that qualitative data" appear in words
rather than in numbers. Examples of qualitative data may include transcripts of naturalistic
conversation, communication documents such as public speeches and media artifacts like printed
editorials and videotapes of television of programs. Qualitative analysis involves the critical
analysis and synthesis of narrative information to derive verbal rather than statistical conclusions
about the contents and functions of human talk.
Chadwick, Bahr, &Albrecht, (1984) defined it as Qualitative research refers to several methods
of data collection which include focus groups, field observations, in-depth interviews, and case
studies. Although there are substantial differences among these techniques, all involve what
some writers refer to as 'getting close to the data


2. INTERPRETIVE RESEARCH
Interpretive research focuses, On the study of meanings that is, the way individuals make sense
of their word through their communicative behavior." Studies of peoples ordinary conversation,
including the meanings and actions of associated with talk, or the interpretive. Likewise,
content analysis of public speeches, television programs, and motion pictures explore the
meaning of these communication artifacts.

2.1 FUNCTIONAL RESEARCH
Functional research often treats people meanings as baseline data for inferring conclusions about
related communication behaviors and effects. Methodologies that assess that behavior and
attitudinal effects of various communication forms, including media programs and public
discourse, are functional. Unlike interpretive studies, which treat meanings as the end product of
research, functional designs typically regards meaning as the starting point of drawing
conclusions about the antecedents and consequences of human communication.

3. EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
Experimental research involves a pre structuring or manipulation of the research environment
and the observation of peoples reaction to such manipulations. For example, researcher in the
effects of lead ship style on small group communication might bring several randomly selected
groups, assign an identical problem-solving task to each group and then " plant" a democratic is
leader in half of the groups and an autocrat Interpretive the other half. Afterward t the researcher
would analyze the groups' responses to the different leadership style. Experimental research
usually is functional; it is often quantitative and exemplifies traditional scientific research.
Process:
Following eight steps are necessary in conducting an experimental research:-
a) Select the setting
b) Select the experimental design
c) Operationalize the Variables
d) Decide how to manipulate the independent variable
e) Select and assign subjects to experimental conditions
f) Conduct a pilot study
g) Administer the experiment
h) Analyze and interpret the result

3.1 NATURALISTIC RESEARCH
Naturalistic research involves observing and recording ongoing communication behaviors during
the course Normal Life Activity" without experimentally manipulating the observational
environment. For instance, a researcher interested in family communication might visit several
families Interpretive their homes and observe the conversational episode that unfold during a
typical day. Alternately, a small group researcher concerned with leadership styles might observe
the communicative effects of naturally occurring autocratic and democratic leadership in intact
or preexisting business, social, or therapeutic groups. Naturalistic research is often interpretive
rather than functional. It may take either a qw1'ntitative or a qualitative approach to data
analysis. Many naturalistic research designs are hybrid methodologies, nicely blending scientific
and humanistic traditions interpretive communication research.

4. LABORATORY RESEARCH
Laboratory research is characterized by the respective setting in which observations take place.
In Laboratory research, the researchers bring communicators into a controlled environment to
observe their verbal d non verbal behaviors. Although much laboratory research is experimental,
it need not be. A researcher interested in peoples' initial interactions might simply o serve the
unstructured communicative exchanges of pairs of strangers brought into the laboratory whether
experimental or naturalistic, all laboratory research takes place in an artificial setting that is not a
part of communicators' normal environment.
Advantages:
I. Evidence of Causality: First, experiments help establish cause and effect.
II. Control: Researcher has control over environment variables and subjects.
III. Cost: The cost of a lab research can be low when compared to other research methods.
IV. Replication: The conditions of the study are typically clearly spelled out in the
description of research, which makes it easier for others to replicate.
Disadvantages:
I. Artificiality: This technique is artificial nature of the experimental environment.
II. Experimental bias: Laboratory research can have a problem with experimental bias.

4.1 FIELD RESEARCH
Field research takes place in the communicators natural environment. Much field research is
naturalistic, involving observations of people's unstructured interactions; yet experimental
research is frequently conducted in field setting as well.
Westly (l989) pointed out:
"The laboratory experiment is carried ton the Experimenter's own turf, the subject come into
the laboratory. In the field a experiment, the experimenter goes to the subjects turf. In
general, the physical the control available in the laboratory are greater than those found in
the field. For that reason, .statistically controls are often substituted for physical control in the
field.
Advantages
I. External validity: Since stud conditions closely resembles natural settings, subjects
usually provide a truer picture of their normal behavior and are not influenced by the
experimental situations.
II. Non-reactivity: Some field studies have the advantage of being non-reactive i.e.
subject's unawareness of being measured or observed.
III. Inexpensive: Field experiments can be inexpensive. Most studies require no
special equipment of facilities. However, expenses increase rapidly with the size and scope
of the study.
Disadvantages
I. Some research is impossible to conduct because of ethical considerations.
II. On a more practical level, field experiments often encounter external hindrances
that cannot be anticipated.
III. Researchers cannot control all the intervening variables in a field experiment.

5. PARTICIPANT RESEARCH
In conducting participant research, the investigator contributes actively to the communication
process being observed. The communicator may or may not be aware that a "Participant
observer" is actually a researcher studying their communicative behaviors.
Example:
Festinger and h' colleagues studied the behaviors of a small, non-traditional religious sect that
believed, among other things, that the destructions of the world were imminent. The researchers
posed as people as interested in this idea, became full-fledged group members, and as Festinger
put it, " non -directive, sympathetic listeners, passive participant who were inquisitive and eager
to learn whatever others might want to tell us."

5.1 NON-PARTICIPANT RESEARCH
A non-participant researcher is an outside spectator who does not enter into the target
communicative interactions in any way-As in the case of participatory research, the observed
communicators may or may not be aware that their behavior is the object of study although both
forms are ed in laboratory and field setting as well as in experimental and naturalistic re arch,
non-participant observation often takes place in the laboratory and involves experimental
manipulations, where as participant observation is a fairly common data collection method in
naturalistic field studies.

6. OVERT RESEARCH
Overt research may be defined as observation that affects in some manner the communication
processes being studied. To observe communicative activities overtly, one must be physical
present, in the observational environment; hence, the subjects are aware of the researchers
presence.


6.1 UNOBTRUSIVE RESEARCH
Unobtrusive research is "any method, of data collection that directly removes the researcher from
he set of interactions, events or behavior being investigated." Because the researcher is not
physically present I the interaction environment, people are "not aware of being tested, and there
is little danger that act of measurement will itself serve as a force of change in behavior or elicit
role playing that confounds the data." Much mass communication research is unobtrusive; the
researcher collects the data from the tapes of television and radio broadcasts and draws
conclusions about their content and consequences. Other unobtrusive observational methods may
include content analysis of printed communication documents such as public speeches,
investigations of filmed nonverbal behavior, and discourse analysis of the transcripts of
conversations.

7. CROSS-SECTIONAL RESEARCH
It examines communication events as a single point in time, focusing on present conditions and
de-emphasizing past history and projected future conditions. Surveys of viewers' reactions to
certain T.V. programmes or different news reporting formats are often cross sectional. Such
studies may profile public opinion for example, and the time the research is conducted
registering little about shut-fling viewpoints as a function of a passage of time. Similarly, much
experimental research is cross sectional; gauging reactions to researcher s manipulations at a
fixed point in time. Cross sectional research is analog of still photography providing snapshots of
" here and now" but telling little about past or probable future.

7.1. LONGITUDINAL RESEARCH
It is called time series analysis, examine communication phenomena as they shift and change
over time. Much naturalistic search is longitudinal, as when we study the natural progression of
family communication process or investigate changes in communicative interactions between
lovers. Like wise organizational research is longitudinal. Longitudinal research is of three types:-
I. Trend studies
II. Panel studies
III. Cohort analysis
8. BASIC RESEARCH
It exemplifies by the experiment paradigm explores theoretical relationships with little regard for
the practical implications of the research findings. Given this focus, basic scientific research is
conducted in the laboratory where minimum attention is paid to generalizing results to real life
settings. Like wise basic humanistic research may give short shrift to the practical import of
analytical conclusions, it derives from the study of human discourse.

8.1 APPLIES RESEARCH
It is c concerned with the practical and theoretical sides of communicative life. It explores
theoretical relationship of the purpose of understanding and solving problems related to everyday
communicative actions and interactions. Survey research including political poles and analysis of
peoples media preferences often has an applied orientation. Public speaking studies that
generate prescriptive rules of effective speech may be applies as well. Because of its pragmatic
posture, applies research is usually taken place in field settings.
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