JOUR 3251:
Strategic Communication Research
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Basic Information
Prerequisites
Course Description
Expected Competencies
Competency Goals
Assignments and Activities
Workload
JOUR 3251: Strategic Communication Research (3 credits)
- Multi-section course.
- Lecture two/three times weekly, dependent upon schedule.
Prerequisites
- Major status
- JOUR 3004W and JOUR 3201 or JOUR 3202
Course Description
This is an introductory course in strategic communication research with an emphasis on research typically used and/or important for advertising and public relations. It’s an important foundation class that provides a jumping off point for higher-level courses in the department. It will focus on learning the logic of research as a risk management tool. The course improves students’ ability to evaluate quality, usefulness and appropriateness of research and results. Classes will be a mix of lecture, open class discussion and hands-on experience. Students are expected to actively participate in class.
Expected Competencies
Students enrolled in JOUR 3251 must have previously completed JOUR 3004, and JOUR 3201/3202. The expectation is that students bring with them the following skills:
- An ability to find appropriate sources of information including popular, scholarly and trade sources of information, indexes and abstracts, online search tools and resources available on the Internet
- Knowing existence of major syndicated information sources and where to find them. Major syndicated information sources include SMRB, MRI, ABC Reports, Arbitron, Nielsen, SRDS, CMR Multi-Media Service, and Market Share Reporter
- Basic numeracy skills as they relate to evaluation and selection of information – this includes being able to evaluate information generated by a poll or information that includes basic statistical claims. This is more related with “affective” outcomes, which is making progress to get students less fearful of, and more respectful of, numbers and what numbers can do
- An understanding of advertising/PR principles, the notion of strategic planning, and planning process and strategies
Competency goals for 3251
Jour 3251 is a skill-based course designed to teach professional strategic communication students the fundamentals of strategic communication research demanded by future employers in strategic communication. It focuses on helping students acquire two basic and interrelated classes of competencies. These classes and specific teaching foci are:
Understanding the role of research in strategic communication
- Understanding importance of scientific research in strategic communication
- Understanding the relationship between strategic communication research and strategic communication planning
- Understanding the role of research in various stages of strategic communication planning. An example is described below:
- Situation analysis:
Market trend analysis
Competition analysis
Consumer trend analysis - Target audience analysis:
Consumer lifestyle analysis
Consumer attitudes and behaviors
Segmentation analysis - Creative development and evaluation:
Perceptual mapping and positioning
Concept testing
Communication testing
Copy testing - Media analysis:
Competitive media expenditure analysis
Audience measurements - Campaign tracking:
Advertising campaign effect measurements
- Situation analysis:
Understanding and application of various data collection and analysis methods
Basic understanding of the tools and techniques of strategic communication research to collect information needed for developing strategic communication campaigns and creative executions.
- Primary research by applying various qualitative and quantitative methods.
- Qualitative research, such as in-depth interview and focus groups.
- Quantitative research, such as survey research and experimental research.
- Secondary research using syndicated data source such as MRI, SMRB, Arbitron, and Nielsen TV ratings
A basic understanding of these tools and techniques should help students
- Understand ethical issues in conducting strategic communication research, which include protecting research participants, ethics involving clients (appropriate research, confidentiality and proprietary), ethics involving research organizations, and ethics involving the society
- Become critical consumers of research data
Typical assignments given in the course include:
- Essay applying important concepts of research
- Secondary research data analysis and interpretation
- Conducting small-scale qualitative research
- Questionnaire development and evaluation
- Application of the basic quantitative data analysis techniques by using the statistical software package SPSS to obtain and report on descriptive and inferential statistics
- Conducting a strategic communication research project that blends primary and secondary research findings into a single strategically planned report
- Writing a proposal for primary research
Workload
The time spent on specific learning activities will vary by week. In general, the three credits that can be earned with JOUR 3251 imply that students should expect to spend about nine hours a week inside and outside of class to satisfactorily complete JOUR 3251.
An estimation of the proportions of time spent on various learning activities is:
- 25% class meetings
- 50% reading
- 25% individual assignments