COM3706 - Communication Research PORTFOLIO ASSAY.

COM3706 - Communication Research PORTFOLIO ASSAY. INTRODUCTION In South Africa woman die in the hands of their partners, the issue of femicide is a serious matter. In this research we investigate how woman are killed by their partners and how the media represent them. This will be done by using the ten femicide articles selected from one publication (dailysun). The task will also involve defining framing theory and how is relevant to the research. 1 MAIN ISSUE A cross-sectional, qualitative and quantitative research study that aims to conduct a thematic analysis through the use of content analysis of the ten femicide articles to describe the content of the articles, and explore the messages contained in the articles found in the newspapers from the same South African publication (Dailysun) within the two year period. 2 RESEARCH CRITERIA Print media is of great enthusiasm to the researcher as a communication science student. The main research problem is a mass media issue and it is researchable because it very well may be settled by the combination proof. This study investigates the messages contained in the articles. The research is feasible as the newspaper articles identifying with the issue area of the research are in nearness to the researcher. 2.1 Relevance Femicide is pertinent to communication because femicide and gender base violence has increased increasingly social and media attention. Communication is the vital source of spreading information and creating awareness therefore the research is relevant by means of study. The goal of this study is basic research and it is based on media. (Du Plooy 2009:53-54) 2.2 Researchability The issue can be methodologically researched by means of collecting, exploring and describing the messages contained in the articles in Dailysun publication where the 10 articles were analysed. (Du Plooy 2009:53-54). 2.3 Feasibility The research was feasible as collection of the resources was effortless and affordable, purchasing of data to collect the articles from an online version of the publication (Dailysun).The articles are written in English and the conducted research is cross-sectional. 2.4 Ethical acceptability The research dealt with ten different articles from the same publication and the research was ethical as no person or respondents are involved, therefore the study does not infringe or violate anybody’s rights or privacy nor cause any harm. According to Du Plooy (2009:53), ethical 5 acceptability deals with either the control of the people or the manipulation of data gathering. Ethical acceptability of data was ensured through validity and reliability tests (Du Plooy 2009:131). 3 EXTENT OF THE RESEARCH ISSUE The research was conducted in Benoni. The publication chosen was Dailysun. The research will be conducted from the 2nd of March to the 29th of March, from the 2nd to the 9th the researcher will go through different newspaper articles from different publications. Between the 9th and the 12th, the researcher will choose one publication to use and concentrate on. On the 13th, the researcher selected 10 newspaper articles that will be used for the research. From the 14th, the researcher went through the article and started analyzing them until the 19th.On the 20th the researcher started writing the assignment until the 29th.The time dimension of the research is cross-sectional because it is a once off study with same publication to be used. 4 POPULATION 4.1 Target population Du Plooy (2009: 109) defines the target population as the actual population required to generalize research results. The target population for this research refers to all the articles about femicide from the Dailysun available in South Africa. According to Du Plooy (2009: 109) accessible population refers to the unit of analysis in the target population to which the researcher has an access. Researchers use accessible population to apply their conclusions and recommendations about research that is being done. In this study the accessible population is the ten selected articles that specifically focus on intimate femicide from dailysun within the two year period. 4.1.1 Population characteristics The population characteristics refer to the population parameters, the researcher in this assignment will consider the characteristics as, Articles specifically published by dailysun in the last two years, articles specifically about femicide, 10 articles that are specifically about woman falling victims of intimate femicide and that the articles reported cases of married couples. 4.2 Units of analysis Du Plooy (2016:56) refers to the unit of analysis as the smallest elements investigated. For example, individual (subjects, respondents, or participants) or artefacts (such as media, news and advertisements) the units of analysis for this research will be the 10 articles about femicide themselves found in the publication (Dailysun). 5. ASSUMPTIONS AND SUB-ISSUES Assumption 1: The articles frame women as too tolerant Sub-issue 1: Do the articles frame women as too tolerant? 6 Assumption 2: All articles contain the images of the weapon used to kill the victim Sub-issue 2: Do all articles contain the images of the weapon used to kill the victim? Assumption 3: The article label women as cheaters Sub-issue 3: Do the articles label women as cheaters? Assumption 4: All articles have an element of fear Sub-issue 4: Does all articles have an element of fear? 6 GOAL AND OBJECTIVES 6.1 Goal The goal of this research is basic communication research that is aimed at describing, exploring and analysing the messages contained in the selected articles found in dailysun newspapers and it also involves the important issue of framing of these articles to explain communication process using theories (Du Plooy 2009:50). 6.2 Objectives The objective of this research is descriptive and exploratory to clarify and asses the representation and framing of the selected articles. The exploratory objective is to confirm the assumptions made in the articles and prove them. For example theme death is found in all selected articles. The descriptive objective can be applied in both qualitative and quantitative research study. In this research study qualitative research will be to outline the description of the number of times a variable occurs, such as how many times a themes occurs in all articles (Du Plooy 2009:50-51). The research describes how these themes are used and in which article do they appear. The research is descriptive with the aid of a tally describing the findings. The time dimension of the cross sectional research occurs in 3 months. 7 RESEARCH QUESTIONS How does the articles frame woman? How does the articles depict the victims?  What kind of the images does the article use? What state are perpetrators in that articles portray? 8 THEORITICAL APPROACH The primary research function is to first outline the structure of the framework for the research to be established in order for the research processes to unfold and the secondary function thereto is to explain and describe the findings of the research processes and how they are applicable to the research. 7 8.1 Content analysis According to Du Plooy (2009:285) Content analysis is a method that is used to describe, explore, and deduce the characteristics of messages. It is used in different types of communication research in order to analyse mass-media content. There are two approaches to content analysis; quantitative content analysis and qualitative content analysis. Qualitative content analysis involves a subjective interpretation of meaning from the content; quantitative content analysis involves counting variables that are coded. Content analysis in this research study is a tool that focuses on the content in order to determine the meaning from pictures, themes and texts in the selected articles, and these findings are then quantified. 8.1. Framing theory Framing theory is one of the ways used by media to draw the public’s eye to specific topics. 8.3 Operationalise the theoretical framework of the research 9 RESEARCH DESIGN The research design is qualitative with a quantitative component. It is a plan on how the research is carried out, indicating who or what is involved, and where and when the study will take place (Du Plooy 2009:85). This research study is qualitative because the articles analysed in depth and quantitative because it will measure, organize and calculate the quantities of the articles that will be used. 9.1 Methods of reasoning 9.1.1 Inductive reasoning Method of reasoning is inductive because the themes that appear in all the chosen articles chosen will be analysed in general. This confirms the theoretical assumption in order to draw the general conclusions. 9.1.2 Deductive reasoning This method of reasoning was also used because operational definitions are formulated and researched with regard to the study of the themes used in all selected femicide articles used. A tally sheet will be used to count the amount of times each of the words appears in all the chosen articles for this research analysis. 9.2 Objectives 8 The objective of the research is to explore and describe the characteristic elements of the themes found in the femicide articles obtained from the same publication (Dailysun). Exploratory objectives explore an unknown area of research that can be used on any one or more of the following: to obtain new sights as part of pre-test or pilot test (Du ploy 2009:50- 51). Descriptive objectives seek to describe the characteristics of the phenomena or relations between variables as accurately as possible. To describe can be the objective in both quantitative and qualitative study.