Research on Media Content, Media Usage, and Media Effects - Interactive curriculae of TU Ilmenau

The module Research on Media Content, Media Usage, and Media Effects with the examination number 250017 concludes with the following achievements:

• Part 1 (75%): alternative semester examination with a weighting of 75% (examination number: 2500595)
  Final research project report
  
  
• Part 2 (25%): coursework with a weighting of 25% (examination number: 2500596)
  Presentation and discussion of the research results

Staff of the department

This module contains at least one alternative exam part. Please note that this must usually be registered at the beginning of the semester in which it is offered.
The lecturer and/or the examination office will inform you about the details and time periods. If necessary, be sure to ask the lecturer.

- Academic skills in communication science

- Qualitative and quantitative methods

-  Data analysis

- Communication and media theories

- Information and communications technologies

- Intercultural communication

The research module builds on the knowledge and skills provided in the seminars of the first semester

The students know the state of research in the respective research topic. They can understand and explain the theories, approaches, and methodological procedures relevant to the respective research field and make use of them for their own investigation.

Students are able to research and to systematically analyze the relevant theoretical and empirical research literature. They understand the findings from the empirical research literature on the topic in question and are able to evaluate their methodological aspects. Students can use and apply the theories and results of empirical studies for the conception and realization of an empirical study. Students can plan and carry out a communication science study on a socially or politically relevant topic at a high theoretical and empirical level. They are able to analyze and interpret the collected data appropriately and write a research project report based on the results. Students are aware of the associations between medial and societal processes. They deepened their analytical competencies by assessing and reflecting on the relevance of these associations.

Current socially relevant topics are explored from the perspective of political communication. These include, for example, communication on climate change, energy system transformation, migration, social inequality, digitalization, and right-wing extremism. Wherever possible, international comparative studies are carried out.

Also, communication science theories, especially those developed by department members (issue fatigue, subjective quality assessment), are tested systematically.

In the first semester of the two-semester course, students deal with the theoretical and methodological foundations required to plan and conduct an empirical research project on the topics mentioned above in media content, media use, or media effects research. Then, they develop a research design and the necessary research instruments (questionnaire, guidelines, codebook).

In the second semester, the developed instruments are used to collect and analyze data. Results are presented in class. Finally, a research project report is written based on theoretical work and analysis of the collected data.

The lecturers provide the students with introductory literature on the respective topics. However, one of the main tasks and learning objectives is to research the relevant (current) literature on the respective research topic.