Course Description
Basic social science research methods course. The goal is to
provide a critical framework for evaluating social science
research and experience conducting ADPR research. Students will
learn how to select an appropriate research technique, conduct
and supervise research, analyze and interpret data, and write
research reports.
Athena Title
Insights and Analytics
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in ADPR 3400
Non-Traditional Format
This course will be taught 95% or more online.
Prerequisite
(ADPR 3100 or ADPR 3100E or ADPR 3100H or ADPR 3850 or ADPR 3850E or ADPR 3850H) and (STAT 2000 or STAT 2000E or STAT 2100H or STAT 4210 or BUSN 3000 or BUSN 3000E or BUSN 3000H) and permission of major and permission of department
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
- Students will develop effective research skills for application in advertising and public relations contexts.
- Students will be able to understand the goals of research and the basic research process.
- Students will be able to understand the key decisions that are made during the research process.
- Students will be able to apply a range of research methods to analyze and design research studies.
- Students will be able to develop appropriate measures for different research techniques.
- Students will be able to draw an appropriate sample and understand the strengths and limitations of different sampling approaches.
- Students will be able to conduct and supervise a data collection.
- Students will be able to clean and analyze data.
- Students will be able to interpret results and turn those results into actionable advice for clients.
- Students will be able to use Microsoft Excel for basic quantitative analysis and visualization.
- Students will be able to appreciate the strengths and limitations of a host of qualitative and quantitative research techniques.
- Students will be able to critically judge with confidence the value of research conducted by others.
Topical Outline
- Formalizing hypotheses and research questions grounded in theory
- Ethics in advertising and public relations research
- Testing hypotheses and research questions
- Conceptual and operational definitions
- Reliability and validity
- Measurement, sampling, and research design
- Analysis and interpretation of qualitative data
- Analysis and interpretation of quantitative data
- Social media listening and analytics
- Google analytics
- Report writing
- Data presentation
