Fostering Civic Engagement in the Communication Research Methods Course

Courses: Communication Research Methods, Senior Capstone.

Objectives: After completing this course, students will be able to: ? appreciate the role of empirical communication research in solving social and organizational problems;

? identify issues and needs in the community that can be addressed with empirical communication research;

? choose appropriate research methods for addressing different issues and needs;

? use various communication research methods to address community issues and needs;

? present research findings and recommendations to community organizations;

? demonstrate an increased commitment to active citizenship.

     

Critical communication pedagogy and service learning in a mixed-method communication research course

ABSTRACT

Course: Mixed-Method Communication Research Methods

Objective: The purpose of this semester-long activity is to provide students with opportunities to cultivate mixed-method communication research skills through a social justice-informed service-learning format. Completing this course, students will be able to: recognize the unique strengths of quantitative and qualitative research methods; locate, evaluate, and utilize scholarly literature for a literature review; conduct an original research project using quantitative and qualitative research methods to gather and analyze data; and raise self and community awareness about a social issue through collaboration with a community organization.     

P-value Club: Teaching Significance Level on the Dance Floor

Courses: Beginning research methods and statistics courses, as well as advanced communication courses that require reading research articles and completing research projects involving statistics

Objective: Students will understand the difference between significant and nonsignificant statistical results based on p-value     

Reducing Power Differentials in the Classroom Using Student-Based Quantitative Research Scenarios: Applications in Undergraduate and Graduate Research Methods Classrooms

Courses: Undergraduate Research Methods, Graduate Research Methods

Objective: To assist students in distinguishing independent and dependent variables, appropriate research designs, and statistical analyses through the evaluation of research scenarios intended to reduce power differentials in the classroom.     

Children's Literature in the Undergraduate Course on Communication Research Methods

Objective: Students will develop positive attitudes toward communication research by linking new values and principles with the familiar values and principles contained in children's literature

Course: Communication Research Methods

Objective: Students will develop positive attitudes toward communication research by linking new values and principles with the familiar values and principles contained in children's literature     

“You're a Grounded Theorist for the Day”: Teaching Students the Grounded Theory Approach

Courses: Research Methods, Communication Theory

Objective: Students will understand and engage in the grounded theory research method     

Bridging the Gap: Integrating Information Literacy into Communication Courses

Courses: Introductory Public Speaking, Introductory Small Group Communication

Objectives: Students will locate, analyze, evaluate, and utilize secondary sources through an in-depth research process. They will complete a comprehensive research portfolio. Students will practice effective group dynamics skills. They will demonstrate effective oral presentation skills in a panel presentation.     

Needs assessment of nurse researchers through a research lifecycle framework

Objective:Health sciences librarian roles are evolving to better meet the needs of faculty. This study explores nursing faculty needs at the University of British Columbia through the research lifecycle framework of planning, conducting, disseminating, and assessing the impact of their research.Methods:A mixed methods survey study with Likert scale, multiple-choice, or ordinal ranking-scale questions and six open-response questions was conducted. The format was a web-based Qualtrics survey; participants had approximately three weeks to respond.Results:Nursing faculty identified the dissemination phase as benefiting most from library support prioritizing reference management and archiving research data as the top needs in that phase. Assessing impact skills such as citation analysis and Altmetrics training was ranked second. The Planning phase was ranked third with systematic review and literature review support most needed. The Conducting phase was identified as the phase where they needed the least support.Conclusion:Understanding the needs of researchers and enhancing scholar productivity is vital to offering responsive library research services. Across the research lifecycle, nursing faculty identified reference management, data management, metrics evaluation, systematic reviews, and literature reviews as the key areas for which they need support.     

Just another Brick in the Wall … or Not? A Paradigm Introduction Activity

Courses: Research Methods; Theory

Objectives: To begin the semester with an engaging activity that introduces students to basic metatheoretical assumptions and help them find themselves in the world of research     

Flipping the classroom to teach systematic reviews: the development of a continuing education course for librarians

Objective:The researchers used the flipped classroom model to develop and conduct a systematic review course for librarians.Setting:The research took place at an academic health sciences library.Method:A team of informationists developed and conducted a pilot course. Assessment informed changes to both course components; a second course addressed gaps in the pilot.Conclusion:The flipped classroom model can be successful in developing and implementing a course that is well rated by students.     

A Quantitative Research Methods Introductory Exercise

Courses: Introduction to Media, Communication Theory, Media and Society, Research Methods

Objectives: This activity introduces students to three quantitative research methods: survey, content analysis, and experiment. Additionally, it allows students to distinguish among methods and demonstrates how these methods yield different data     

Using Barbie Stories To Develop An Understanding of Polysemy and Encoding/Decoding

Courses: Media Studies, Gender and Communication, Communication Research Methodologies

Objectives: Students will develop a complex understanding of the critical/cultural media studies concepts of “polysemy” and “encoding/decoding” used in audience research and apply their knowledge of these theories in writing.     

Teaching qualitative research methods using Undercover Boss

Course(s): Research Methods, Qualitative Research Methods, Organizational Communication, Business Communication

Objectives: After completing this class exercise, students should be able to identify the major components of a qualitative research study, along with the ethical dilemmas that come with doing qualitative research.     

Optimizing how we teach research methods

Courses: Research Methods (undergraduate or graduate level)

Objective: The aim of this exercise is to optimize the ability for students to integrate an understanding of various methodologies across research paradigms within a 15-week semester, including a review of procedural steps and experiential learning activities to practice each method, a criteria for understanding how to consume primary research, and a recognition of how the methodological techniques can be used in the classroom and in professional settings.     

Advancing nursing students' transition to scholarship: embedding a librarian into the Advanced Nursing Research course

Background:Nursing students often prioritize learning clinical skills rather than research skills, possibly inhibiting their growth as scholars. Supporting nursing students'' learning of information literacy skills has been shown to impact nurses'' involvement with research after graduation. This suggests a need for developing innovative information literacy teaching strategies that can enable nursing students to better understand the process of research and how to apply research to practice.Case Presentation:This article describes the implementation of the embedded librarian project at the course level at the University of Memphis. A librarian was integrated into the Advanced Nursing Research course, a semester-long course for graduate nursing students, for the fall 2020 semester. This case shares the embedded librarian project''s implementation and evaluation strategies.Conclusions:The embedded librarian project aided students'' acquisition of information literacy skills at the University of Memphis. Students reported that the embedded librarian project helped them complete assignments for their research course. Using an embedded librarian service within the graduate nursing curricula model may enhance scholarship among future nurses.     

Health Communication and Health Education: Empowering Students to Educate Their Communities

Objectives: After completing this project, students will be able to: (a) use health communication research and theory to create educational materials; (b) analyze an audience and develop creative educational materials based on audience characteristics; and (c) consult with key constituents during the development of educational materials

Courses: Health Communication; Gender and Health Communication; Senior Capstone     

Blogging in the Communication Technology Course

Courses: Communication Technology or New Media; could also be used in Broadcast Journalism, Print Journalism, Public Relations, Advertising, or other communication courses

Objectives: By creating and maintaining a blog, students will improve their research and writing skills, participate in collaborative learning, and acquire the digital literacy skills necessary for success in rapidly changing media and communication industries     

Overlaps of multiple database retrieval and citation tracking in dementia care research: a methodological study

Objective:We aimed to determine overlaps and optimal combination of multiple database retrieval and citation tracking for evidence synthesis, based on a previously conducted scoping review on facilitators and barriers to implementing nurse-led interventions in dementia care.Methods:In our 2019 scoping review, we performed a comprehensive literature search in eight databases (CENTRAL, CINAHL, Embase, Emcare, MEDLINE, Ovid Nursing Database, PsycINFO, and Web of Science Core Collection) and used citation tracking. We retrospectively analyzed the coverage and overlap of 10,527 retrieved studies published between 2015 and 2019. To analyze database overlap, we used cross tables and multiple correspondence analysis (MCA).Results:Of the retrieved studies, 6,944 were duplicates and 3,583 were unique references. Using our search strategies, considerable overlaps can be found in some databases, such as between MEDLINE and Web of Science Core Collection or between CINAHL, Emcare, and PsycINFO. Searching MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Web of Science Core Collection and using citation tracking were necessary to retrieve all included studies of our scoping review.Conclusions:Our results can contribute to enhancing future search practice related to database selection in dementia care research. However, due to limited generalizability, researchers and librarians should carefully choose databases based on the research question. More research on optimal database retrieval in dementia care research is required for the development of methodological standards.