Research one of school’s overall goals

SoJ Web Report — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 19:08:29 +0000

Photo by Nick Demille

Doctoral student A. Jay Wagner said professors have helped him refine his research ideas. "I’ve been treated like a colleague at IU, and that makes me feel like I can really do it," he said.

—By Nicholas Demille and Web Editor Gena Asher

School of Journalism researchers – from professors to graduate students – are gearing up for a season of conferences, paper submission and presentations that stretches through summer.

Already, several are set to present at the International Communication Association conference in May in Phoenix and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications conference in August. Some will see their work presented at other conferences or published in journals throughout the year.

“It’s important for faculty members because it’s their creative outlet,” said David Weaver, Roy W. Howard Professor in journalism, whose own research has brought accolades from peers during his 30-plus year career.

Undergraduates may view their professors and instructors only in light of the assignments they give, not realize that most are working on their own papers, studies and projects in hopes of seeing them published or having a chance to share them with peers and colleagues.

Weaver said research is important not only to professors but also to doctoral students who aspire to join the academic ranks.

“Your research record is what you take with you from one place to another,” he said. “It’s not tied to a specific university or college. If you have an impressive research record, you are much more desirable to other institutions.”

IU is a research institution, and the journalism faculty and students have contributed to the school’s reputation in research. Faculty have won many awards for their research, publications and books.

Graduate and doctoral students also have burnished the school’s reputation. At the 2011 AEJMC conference, doctoral students won six awards for their research papers.

IU’s graduate students consistently rank high in the nation in the numbers of published, scoring first in a study in 2009 and second in a similar study in 2010.

Weaver calls research the calls research the “coin of the realm.”

“If we don’t produce research as an institution, then we aren’t going to be seen as legitimate,” he said.

Photo by Nick Demille

Associate professor Anthony Fargo said research is central to the school's mission. "There are always new things to know or new ways of understanding,” he said.

Associate professor Anthony Fargo, a specialist in communications law, said faculty research is a model for students.

“We are training students to think critically and eventually create knowledge of their own,” he said. “We’re also adding to the base of knowledge. The difference between what we do and a traditional business is that we can never really saturate the market. There are always new things to know or new ways of understanding.”

Weaver’s career in research enables him to offer advice to those new to the academic life.

“When you do research you develop long-standing friendships,” he said. “It’s rewarding to do that, and also to see your students do that. It’s great when I open a journal and see one of my former students associated with research.”

He counsels students that this success doesn’t come without persistence and patience. For example, his own mentors, professors Maxwell McCombs and Don Shaw, produced landmark research in the area of agenda setting in the early 1970s.

“The first time they tried to present that at AEJMC, it was rejected,” Weaver said. “They could have just given up, but they didn’t. Today, it’s one of the most cited articles in our field. There’s a lesson to be learned there. If you feel you’ve discovered something, you have to be persistent. That’s too precious a thing to just give up on.”

Getting started

Photo by Zina Kumok

Doctoral candidate Ammina Kothari explained her research into media and HIV/AIDS coverage at the recent Research Colloquium. She said research enhances her teaching through the use of new ideas.

For graduate students, successful research usually starts in the classrooms, where professors set up publishing or presenting a paper as a goal. Many of the AEJMC papers that won awards last year started as course projects or benefited from close guidance from a professor.

A. Jay Wagner is just starting his second semester as a doctoral student. He worked for a time as a journalist before earning a master’s degree from DePaul University —experiences that eventually led him to IU.

"Dr. Fargo has helped guide my research. I came in with a number of scattered interests and he has helped me hone them into solid research questions,” he said.

Beyond the day-to-day guidance, students say they benefit from this collaboration and support.

“I’ve been treated like a colleague at IU, and that makes me feel like I can really do it,” Wagner said.

Often, students and professors do collaborate, even producing papers together that are published or presented at conferences. Last year, a group of faculty and students formed the Communications Research Group, which collaborates as well as works in small groups to conduct research.

“The professors got together and put money forward from their budgets so that we can do a professional survey,” Wagner said. “This allows us to work with these excellent researchers on a collegial level, not in a classroom—that’s huge.”

Doctoral candidate Ammina Kothari said research is important even for undergraduates because “it informs the conversations and projects we do in the classroom.”

“I encourage my students to do research,” said Kothari, who has received grants to conduct research. “Because we are trained as journalists to verify information, as researchers we take it to the next level. We not only verify but analyze the information as well.”

Her undergraduates presented their research at a conference on Muslims and the media last year. Korthari said this kind of work is a win-win.

“The process of doing your own research actually unearths better material with which to teach as well,” she said.

Weaver, Willnat to present ‘Global Journalist’ work at two conferences

SoJ Web Report — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 19:53:28 +0000

Weaver

Willnat

Professors Lars Willnat and David Weaver will present a research paper,"The Global Journalist in the 21st Century: A Comparative Look at the Norms and Values of Journalists Around the World," at a European Communication Research and Education Association conference in Pamplona, Spain, July 4-5.

They will present another version of this paper that focuses on the backgrounds and characteristics of journalists from more than 30 countries at the annual meeting of the International Association for Media and Communication Research in Istanbul, Turkey, July 13-17.

Both papers are based on the second edition of The Global Journalist book they have been working on for the past two years and which is due to be published by Routledge later this year.

Routledge publishes The Global Journalist (May 13)
School research group launches survey (May 10)
Faculty, student work set for AEJMC presentation (May 10)

Ogan to speak on EU Kids Online research at Informatics

SoJ Web Report — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:09:57 +0000

Professor emerita Christine Ogan will talk on “European Kids Online: Their Skills, Activities, and Risks” at 3 p.m. April 22 at Informatics East 130.

EU Kids Online II is a research project focusing on the nature of the changing risk context for European children and their families. Conducted in 25 European countries, the study interviewed more than 25,000 children aged 9-16 alongside one of their parents about the opportunities and risks presented by the Internet in the lives of these kids.

This presentation will highlight the first findings of that research, discuss the challenges in interviewing younger children about sensitive topics, and explain details of the ongoing project. Ogan is a member of the project team for EU Kids Online representing Turkey.

Since retirement, Ogan has been a visiting scholar at the Katholieke University of Leuven, City University and Baptist University in Hong Kong, and the Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano.

Routledge publishes The Global Journalist (May 13)
School research group launches survey (May 10)
Faculty, student work set for AEJMC presentation (May 10)

Indiana University School of Journalism » Current Research

Research one of school’s overall goals

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Weaver, Willnat to present ‘Global Journalist’ work at two conferences

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