BCM210

Trial and Error

Posted on by darciemcd

For the group survey and interview assignment my group and I have decided to look at how families are represented in television sitcoms and if it has changed over time, with specific reference to The Simpsons (pre 2000) and Modern Family.

After brainstorming ideas for appropriate questions that can be used in our survey, we put together ten questions that would hopefully provide us with enough information to be able to conduct an interview with a focus group.

As a method of trial and error I interviewed a friend who is around the same age as what participants of the focus group will be, using questions based off the survey so I could get feedback on it thus far.

The survey consisted of just two basic demographic questions, as we felt that with the limited amount of space, focus shouldn’t be placed on demographics, as they are not very relevant to our question. The survey’s structure included three open-ended questions and seven forced-choice questions, however two of these forced-choice questions had a part B to give a free response also.

Two of the questions I used in the interview focussed directly on the main characters from each show (Simpsons; Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie, Modern Family; Phil, Claire, Hayley, Alex, Luke) one being forced-choice and one being open-ended. This gave me an insight into the interviewee’s perspective on each character and what her perception of each of the character’s role in family was.

In my opinion, both of these questions were effective in providing valuable information on the research question and should be used in the final survey. As an example, one question asked the interviewee to use one word to describe the role of each member in the family. The interviewee chose the word ‘sensible’ to describe Marge and ‘spontaneous’ to describe Claire. This suggests that the mother role in families has evolved over time in her opinion.

There was one question that I found was not as effective in providing valuable information and I feel needs to either be reworded or replaced with a more relevant question for the final survey. It asked the interviewee if she thought the scriptwriters of The Simpsons and Modern Family aim to represent the average family. The answer I received was not convincing and the interviewee was unsure. In my opinion, it encouraged her to put herself in a scriptwriter’s position and think of what the appropriate answer would be, rather than what her honest opinion was.

I finished the interview with asking the interviewee straight up the research question to giver her the opportunity to talk freely on the topic. I chose to ask this question at the end of the interview rather than the start in hopes that the answer would be more educated as she had spent the previous fifteen minutes thinking about the topic and addressing it bit by bit. I think this worked really well and would like to work that technique into the final survey.

The Simpsons: Homer, Marge, Lisa, Maggie, Bart (left to right)

The Simpsons: Homer, Marge, Lisa, Maggie, Bart (left to right)

image: Fox Broadcasting Company

Modern Family: Phil and Claire Dunphy (back row) Alex, Haley and Luke Dunphy (front row)

Modern Family: Phil and Claire Dunphy (back row) Alex, Haley and Luke Dunphy (front row)

image: Crump, K 2013, Modern Family, image, Den of Geek, Viewed 19 April 2015, <http://www.denofgeek.us/tv/modern-family/61820/modern-family-season-4-episode-14-heart-broken-review&gt;

Are ethics important in research?

Posted on by darciemcd

Ethical research, according to Weerakkody (2008) is ensuring “the researcher is ‘doing the right thing’ by the project, its participants and society at large.” Formal ethical guidelines have been established by organisations as individuals can have opposing opinions of what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. These guidelines are based on many aspects including the political system, the discipline or trade and religion (Weerakkody, 2008).

In most cases, research includes gathering the demographics of individuals’ (age, sex, income). It is important that each participant is made aware of what his or her answers will be used for and the main aim of the research so that they are comfortable and therefore can give their consent for their details to be used.

Due to privacy rights and laws constantly developing and becoming stricter, it is important for a researcher to understand ethical research behaviour with particular reference to photographic material of participants. Photos can expose a person’s identity and share intimate information with whoever views them.

Not only can unethical research effect participants, making them feel alienated and betrayed, it can also impact greatly on a researchers reputation. Effected participants will more than likely share their experience with others and in turn could limit the amount of people willing to participate in future research projects for that researcher.

There is a fine line between what is and isn’t considered an invasion of privacy. For example, according to UK law, photos can be taken of a person if they are in a public space, however the European Convention of Human Rights believes that photographing a person in a place or situation that privacy is expected, could be considered an invasion of privacy (Tinkler, 2013).

REFERENCES

Tinkler, P 2013, ‘Ethical issues and legalities’, Using photographs in social and historical research, SAGE, London, pp. 195-208

Weerakkody, N D 2008, ‘Research ethics in media and communication’, Research methods for media and communications, Oxford University Press Australia and New Zealand, South Melbourne, Victoria, pp. 73-91

Media Research- What interests me?

Posted on by darciemcd

Berger (2014) believes that research means, in its simplest form, “looking for information about something.” There is a difference between scholarly and everyday research in that scholarly research is “more systematic, more objective, more careful, and more concerned about correctness and truthfulness than every day research,” (Berger, A 2014).

I believe that I engage in everyday research multiple times a day whether it be looking up train timetables or checking the TV guide to before turning a channel on. Both scenarios involve looking for information about something before taking action or making a decision.

Wimmer and Dominick (2013) claim that mass media is “any communication channel used to simultaneously reach a large number of people, including radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, billboards, films, recordings, books, the internet and smart media.” Thus, media research involves searching for information about different media channels. Questions a media researcher may address could touch on include; what type of songs a certain radio station should play? How many people regularly read newspapers? And what viewers like most and like least about a TV show? (Wimmer & Dominick, 2013).

One aspect of the media I would like to research is social media. It is a relatively new communication channel compared to the mainstream newspaper, radio and television. Social media has also become increasingly popular amongst my age group, making the research findings relevant to my life. I would focus on the dominant platforms being Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Another aspect of the media I would like to research is television, in particular reality TV shows and viewers’ reactions to them. Reality TV shows can sometimes be controversial and will in most cases create talk and opposing opinions amongst viewers.

I would also be interested in combining both social media and reality TV, and researching viewers’ reactions to reality TV based on the opinions they share on social media. The ideal social media platform to focus on in this case would be Twitter as it has a fast paced nature where users can easily tweet their thoughts. Twitter also uses hash tags, which can organise all tweets the same onto one page just by clicking on the hash tag, making it simple for a researcher to gather information.

A reality TV show that I would like to research in regards to viewers’ opinions is the Bachelor Australia, as the winner is not determined by the results of a race or test, but is determined by the bachelor’s personal preference. Viewers are likely to have different opinions on contestants and will have a favourite to win, which is bound to create opposing opinions on social media when their personal preference is different to the bachelor’s and their favourite is eliminated.

REFERENCES

Berger, Arthur A, 2014, ‘What is research?’, Media and communication research methods: an introduction to qualitative and quantitative approaches, 3rd ed., SAGE, Los Angeles, pp. 13-32

Wimmer, R & J Dominick 2013, Mass Media Research, Cengage Learning, South Melbourne, Victoria

Love has no labels

Posted on by darciemcd

After seeing a certain video pop up so many times in my Facebook newsfeed I finally watched it. It was a video about love and promoted the idea of love having no labels. I was instantly moved by the video and have kept talking about it a month on from watching it, which is why I have chosen to analyse it for BCM210.

The video is called ‘Diversity & Inclusion- Love Has No Labels’ and was an Internet sensation because of its strong message and clever presentation. The video begins with a shot of the sunrise over a beach and people going for their morning run with a soft and pleasant piano as background music. It states that it is Valentines Day 2015.

We are then taken to a busy public place where we see romantic balloons being carried and a small crowd of people gathering together to watch something. The music begins to sound familiar, it is a song called ‘Same Love’ by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, featuring Mary Lambert. A large screen appears with two skeletons on it kissing and showing affection towards one another. It is heart-warming to watch, and the onlookers look slightly confused. The two skeletons walk to either side of the screen and two heads pop out of either end. Two female heads. The crowd are pleasantly surprised and start applauding. The message of the video is immediately conveyed at this moment as a slogan appears on the screen saying ‘love has no gender.’

Following this, a series of other couples dance, kiss or hug behind the screen and then appear in front of the supportive crowd. Same gender couples, interracial couples, mixed religion couples, a girl with her disabled sister, an elderly couple and two young best friends, each with their own message.

The applause of the crowd exemplifies the support of idea of love having no labels. The smile on each person face that appears is touching. The music is the perfect choice as it has a message and is a well-known current song, allowing the video to be appealing to a younger generation too.

The video finishes with each couple hugging and showing their happiness to the camera one at a time, speaking their slogan, for example, “love has no race,” “love has no age limit,” and their own individual lines too. It is a powerful finish to a powerful video.

Ad Council, 2015, Diversity & Inclusion- Love Has No Labels, online video, 3 March, Ad Council, Viewed 13 April 2015, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnDgZuGIhHs

A powerful text written by a man of very few words

Posted on by darciemcd

I am currently taking journalism as my major in my communication and media degree and aspire to be a sports journalist, specialising in Rugby League. For this reason I have chosen a text published in the Daily Telegraph about Alex McKinnon to critique for BCM210.

Alex suffered a freak accident in round 3 of the 2014 NRL season. He was dangerously tackled and suffered spinal injuries, a broken neck and facing life as a quadriplegic. It was a heart stopping moment for all rugby league fans as he was carried off the field on a stretcher. When his condition was announced, rugby league fans from around the world and even people who weren’t rugby league fans, rallied together to show Alex the support he needed. There were fundraising events to help pay for his rehabilitation and a campaign called ‘Rise for Alex’.

This article was talked about for weeks after it was published as it was written by NRL super coach and Alex’s coach at the time, Wayne Bennett. Wayne is a man of very few words and it is rare to see him show much emotion. The powerful article showed a softer side to Wayne and gave great insight into Alex as a person.

The title of the article is ‘Alex McKinnon is a great kid, who’s more like my son.’ This title immediately suggests to the reader that Alex and Wayne have a very close relationship. The opening line states “I WANT to tell you about Alex McKinnon, one of the best kids you’ve never met.” The word ‘want’ written in capitals expresses Bennett’s desire to write this article, he was not asked to write the article he chose to write it. “One of the best kids you’ve never met” suggests to the reader that Alex is the type of person we wish we could meet.

Bennett explains the time he first saw Alex at a training session and how much potential he had at 17-years old. He goes on to recount when Alex had his first shot at playing first grade. Bennett does not use emotive language and says it like it is, “I never used him that day- I didn’t give him one minute game time.” This is an example of Bennett’s true hard egg personality and confirms to the reader that this article is not a sob story, but it is real.

Bennett tells the reader about Alex’s upbringing in a small town called Aberdeen. He begins to use anecdotes to portray to the reader Alex’s caring and generous nature. A softer side to Bennett is exposed through the line, “one of the things endearing me to Alex is ability to care for other people.” He also cleverly describes Alex’s generous nature through a line that could be taken literally and metaphorically, “if someone hasn’t got a car or loses his licence, the beeping horn out the front belongs to Alex McKinnon.”

Bennett explains a time when he and Alex visited Alex’s old school to encourage the students to follow their dreams and “not to be afraid of the unknown.” He then touches on the horrible aftermath of Alex’s injury in one powerful, short sentence, “Today, it is his dreams shattered, he is who staring at the unknown.”

Bennett, W 2014, ‘Alex McKinnon is a great kid who’s more like my son,’ Daily Telegraph, 29 March, viewed 31 March 2015, <http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/alex-mckinnon-is-a-great-kid-whos-more-like-my-son-writes-newcastle-coach-wayne-bennett/story-fni3fbgz-1226868515571&gt;