Research Literacy

Learning outcome: Research literacy within the communication discipline demonstrated by the ability to create and complete at least one inquiry project that:

• Articulates a communication problem, strategy, or initiative to be analyzed and evaluated
• Adopts an epistemological standpoint
• Locates, aggregates, and analyzes credible research
• Drafts a literature review that supports and illuminates a chosen area of inquiry
• Composes and supports arguments using at least one theoretical framework

I’ve always loved conducting research.  Flipping over rocks and following white rabbits down holes is one of my favorite pastimes.  The process is a lot like cooking: taking bits and pieces of seemingly unrelated items and combining them into a coherent, unified product. The satisfaction in finding elusive answers to tricky questions is equal only to the frustration at the hundreds of further questions that pop up along the way.  The MA Communication program introduced me to new holes to fall into while refining more established research skills.  In COMM 601, I completed an inquiry project using a film as a primary text, the first (but not the last) time I had done so.   This project was increasingly difficult because it required a comprehensive literature review – something I had also not completed before the start of this program.  Learning to craft a well-rounded literature review, squeezing all the relevant content I could out of poor old EbscoHOST in the process, set the stage for a successful analysis of the film.  Additionally, learning to quantify, code, and analyze multimodal content turned out to be an ultimately satisfying process.

A Multitude of Drops: Cloud Atlas as Equipment for Living

Prior to this film analysis, I had experience conducting more traditional academic research through online databases and the like, but I hadn’t given much thought to studying film or other visual content in an academic fashion.  The realization that this type of content could not only be analyzed but broken down and quantified opened a new world of exploration to me.  Film and multimodal content offers me more pieces to the puzzles I’m trying to put together.

In a communicative world that is saturated with digitally shared content, analyzing multimedia will undoubtedly be a skill I employ repeatedly, both in my personal research interests and in my volunteer and professional life.  Whether this new rabbit hole serves me well or takes me for a wild ride remains to be seen.  A little bit of both can’t hurt, right?