Theme 4: Quantitative research

For this week theme, I choose the same journal as the previously week, “Computer in Human Behavior”. The article that I chose is, “The use of interactive media among today’s youth: Results of a survey” by Antonie Van den Beemt, Sanne Akkerman, Robert-Jan Simons.

The presented study investigates the existence of patterns among youths use of interactive media. The researchers use a quantitative method in form of an online survey. 178 Dutch students between the ages 10 to 23 participated in the online survey. The survey consisted of 23 questions regarding how often they used interactive tools with answer categories of a five –point scale from “never” to “every day”. The survey also contained different predetermined sentences, which allowed the user to answer in form of how much they agreed. The collected data showed diversity in the use of interactive media applications. They divided the data in four different categories according to the behavior of the participations, to indicate the diversity in the interactive media use.  

By using a survey you collect huge amount of data about the specific interest area. The quantitative method allows you to specify and narrow down the answers you like to examine. A main problem with the quantitative method is that it doesn’t answer the question why. Using the survey the researcher only gets answers to, how and when the participants use the interactive media. In the result you can read that the boys played twice as much games as girls. But it doesn’t explain why it is so, which would be necessary for a deeper understanding of the phenomenon.

The text, “Physical Activity, stress, and self-reported Upper respiratory tract infection”, presented a study that examined the correlation between physical activity and stress factor and how they effected the human immune system. The questionnaire was sent to women and men, aged 20-60 year living in middle-sized region in Sweden. The data from the study was presented on a very structured way. The discussion was interesting to read and especially the part about the differences between men and women regarding the relation between stress and psychical activity.

1. Quantitative methods allow you to systematically collect empirical and useful data, summarize it and analyze the result based on the hypothesis. It is beneficial on studies that require larger quantity of data for more accuracy. Though it can be hard to examine the deeper understanding of the object in the study. There is a risk that the study may be too impersonal.

2. Qualitative methods are primarily used to get a deeper understanding of the target audience. The social reality and the data collection are simultaneously being analyzed to capture the people aspect for a further study. Because of its specific nature, the result of the study can differ if it is done in different time, context or focus group.

References

Fondell,E., Lagerros, Y.T., Sundberg, C.J., Lekander, M., Bälter, O., Rothman, K., & Bälter, K. (2010). Physical activity, stress, and self-reported upper respiratory tract infection. Medecine and science in sports and exercise, 43(2), pages: 272-279. 

Van den Beemt.A, Akkerman.S, Simons.R.J (2010), The use of interactive media among today’s youth: Results of a survey ). Computer in Human Behavior, Volume 26, Issue 5, pages: 1158-1165. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com.focus.lib.kth.se/science/article/pii/S0747563210000622  

Reflection 3: Research and theory

This week theme was, Theory of science, so the main focus was on theory. What is theory? What is not theory? It was very hard to define what it is, and in many cases it is easier to define what theory is not. When we examined the text “What is theory”, we focused more on what theory is not, rather then what it was.

We read different articles from different journals and discussed them in the seminar groups. It was interesting to see that everyone had different articles but the majority hade similar journals. But no one had the same journal as me, which I felt was a little bit unfortunate because I really wanted to discuss the journal. But the good part was that, we picked the journal and article that I had chosen, to present in the bigger group. The journal was "Computer in human Behavior" and the article was “Who uses Facebook? An investigation into the relationship between the Big Five, shyness, narcissism, loneliness and Facebook usage” written by Tracii Ryan and Sophia Xenos. 

Besides choosing an article, we also needed to examine what kind of theory that was used in the paper. This was discussed in the second seminar, where everyone explained which theory was used in their paper.

This big challenge of this week was for me to find an accurate journal and an article that was related to media technology and had an impact factor of 1.0 or above. I also wanted it to be something that I was interested in. After hours of searching I finally found something that filled the criteria.

This week theme was so far the most giving in the sense of future studies. It made me think about theory in a new perspective. I feel like I got a deeper understanding on what it is and how it can be used.

Theme 3: Research and theory

Journal

I selected the journal, “Computer in Human Behaviour, which is a scholarly journal aiming to examine the use of computers from a more psychological perspective. The journal focuses on human interaction with computers, with a focus on human behaviour. The journal has an impact factor of 2.067 and the 5-year impact factor is 2.489.

The research paper

The research paper that I have chosen is, “Who uses Facebook? An investigation into the relationship between the Big Five, shyness, narcissism, loneliness and Facebook usage” written by Tracii Ryan and Sophia Xenos. The aim of the study is to investigate how different personalities influences usage and non-usage of Facebook and the differences between a user and non-user. According to the research, the social network satisfies the users in different ways depending on their characteristics. Facebook users were more extraverted and narcissistic compered to non-users. People who didn’t use Facebook were more conscientious and lonely than people who did.

Reference:

Journal: Computer in Human Behaviour

Volume 27, Issue 5, September 2011, Pages 1658-1664

Link:

http://www.sciencedirect.com.focus.lib.kth.se/science/article/pii/S0747563211000379

1. Theory can be explained in various ways depending on which field or circumstances it is being used. Theory can be used to explain an idea or phenomenon to get a greater understanding of it.

Sutton I.R and Barry M argues in the text “What theory is not” that it’s easier to describe what theory is rather what it is. They give example of what theory is not: references, data, list and variables or constructs, diagram and hypotheses.

2. It was a research paper where they analysed data from participants. The paper can be categorized as, Analysis (according to table 2 by Gregor), since they are only describing and analysing the data.

3. The benefits with an analysis type are that you answer the question what is. Which is very useful when you are working with a field with very little previous knowledge on. But the limitation is that you don’t get to see how the development will be and how the future will be.

Reflection 2: Critical media studies

Reading the text I found the concept with mass media very interesting and the way they approached the idea. Even though the text is old, you could associate it with modern society. When I read other peoples blog posts, I noticed that many had the same idea about mass media, but in the same time had a different interpretation. I really wanted to discuses the topic with other people to hear about their opinions, so the seminar vas a good opportunity. The discussion went very well and we end up talking about individualism. What is individualism? Does the modern media make us more of individuals? Is this good or bad? And I saw that many people hade different ideas about what individualism could be. You always belong to a group, which makes it impossible to be alone. You are part of a family and you are part of a society.

Another topic that we discussed was the definition of high art. It was really difficult to agree on what high art was. The authors had a cultural elite background, which made them express a very one-sided view on what art is considered to be. Leif Dahlberg told us that the common definition on what art considers being, is things you find in an art gallery. This can in my opinion be problematic due everyone has a different opinion on what art can be. What is considered to be art in an art gallery maybe is not the same for me or vice versa. The definition of art can also differ in different cultures. In some cultures nudity can be accepted as an art form while some other culture sees it as pornographic content. I didn’t feel that we could put a definition on what art could be, but it was really fun to discuss what other define art as.

In overall I feel it was good to get a chance to discuss the texts we hade read and hear other people express there views. I really look forward to the next seminar, to discuss and reflect on different topics.

Theme 2: Critical media studies

1. Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno describe enlightenment as a way of thinking whit no place for the unknown. Mythology and magic is believed to be a result of human fear. With enlightenment human gets liberated from the fear and becomes masters of nature through knowledge of science. According to the authors enlightenment tries to explain nature in order to master it, which makes it a form of myth. By denial of it’s basis enlightenment becomes blind to the connection it has with the mythology.

2. Adorno & Horkheimer argues that mythology is a different form of knowledge that was practiced by people before enlightenment. Myths are not based on definite knowledge and are more of a blind belief. They tend to disenchant a false representation of the world to suppress our fears of the unknown.

3.The book was written a long time ago so the concept of “old” and “new” can differ in modern time. But the main point of their idea of old media is how you can sense the creativity and the originality of the work. It represents a fine art, which according to the authors, new media misses. In new media the main idea is business, which TV and radio is used as the main tool.

4. Culture industry is defined through its focus on the media and mass marketing. The same content of entertainment is distributed to the people. This breaks the unique individual person and makes them standardized consumers. “Films and radio no longer need to present themselves as art. The truth that they are nothing but business is used as an ideology to legitimize the trash the intentionally produce.” (Adorno & Horkheimer) The cultural products that had a meaning lose their touch, affecting the individual.

5. By combining the culture industry with mass media you get the concept mass deception. In some level it is believed that, people are fooled to believe that the advertised artifacts are necessary for their happiness. I understand mass deception as a form of force that tries to control people.

6.  Culture industry and mass deception is two terms that I found interesting. Because it feels like we can relate the terms to modern time. It would be interesting to see the development of mass media.  

Reflection 1: Theory of Science

This week theme was Theory of Science, which also was the first theme of the course. We read “The Problems of Philosophy” by Bernard Russell, who mentioned notions and ideas that I didn’t thought about before.

The most interesting part from the reading in my opinion was, the credibility of a statement. How can we know if a statement that is true or not? I think this is a thought that we can apply in modern time. We live in a society where we always are exposed to information in different forms. How can if the knowledge we have about the information is true or not. Russell argues that you can believe that the knowledge you have on specific information is true but you can never be certain that it is actually true.

It is really a disappointment that we couldn’t have any seminar this week. I would really like to discuses this within a group, to hear what others think about it, beside their blog posts.

Theme 1: Theory of science

1. Russell introduces the notion sense data when he describes human perception of psychical objects. He mean that our perception of the object is related to our sensations such as color, sounds, smells etc. This can differ from person to person, though it is depending on personal experience.  Even if a group of people look at the same object the outcome of what they see will differ in shape, color etc. Their knowledge and experience from before, the angle they stand from and many other aspects will have an important role in their perception of the object. Everyone has a unique perception of what an object is and how they define it and how they distinguish it from other objects.

2. Proposition is explanation of an idea or an object based on the persons own beliefs about the thing, where the statement can either be right or false.

Statement of fact is according to Russell a statement that is more reliable. The reliability of the statement can be measured by number of people that considers the statement valid, but it does not necessarily make the statement correct.

The difference between them is the value of truth that is given them, where statement of fact is more reliable in sense of truth.

3. According to Russell there are two ways of description, ambiguous and definite description.  An ambiguous description will be in the form of  “a so and so” such as “a man” while a definite description will give us “the so and so” which will be “the man with the iron mask”. This provides a better understanding of the object instead of having a general view.

4.How can we know if a statement is true or false? Russell explains that it is difficult to know if a statement is true or false. You can believe that the knowledge you have on specific information is true but you can never be certain that it is actually true.