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2022/2023

Creation and Development of Research Projects Applied to Journalism

Code: 43965 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
4316493 Journalism and Digital Content Innovation OB 0 1

Contact

Name:
Núria Simelio Sola
Email:
nuria.simelio.sola@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
spanish (spa)

Teachers

Anna Tous Rovirosa
Núria Simelio Sola

Prerequisites


Students must have previous training in techniques and processes of journalistic production, as well as in the basic language of information for media and research methodology in the field of social sciences.

Objectives and Contextualisation

The course aims to bring the student closer to the design, creation and development of basic and applied research projects in the area of journalism and innovation in digital content.

The main learning objectives are:

- Learn to plan scientific work for research and innovation in the media.

- Learn to plan a digital innovation project.

- Use quantitative and qualitative research techniques in the area of digital communication.

- Apply the design of the scientific method appropriately.

- Learn to design, create, develop and evaluate innovation and research projects in the field of journalism and digital communication.

Competences

  • Apply tools of management, analysis, organisation and planning of information in accordance with objectives and specific information projects.
  • Be able to evaluate inequalities for reasons of sex or gender to design solutions.
  • Design, create and carry out projects of innovation and research in the area of journalism and digital communication.
  • Generate innovate and competitive proposals for applied research.
  • Know and evaluate the management and production processes for digital information content, proposing innovative solutions which involve the use of ICT.
  • Knowledge and understanding that provide a basis or opportunity for originality in developing and / or applying ideas, often in a research context.
  • That students have the learning skills that enable them to continue studying in a way that will be largely self-directed or autonomous.
  • Understand and analyse the trends and dynamics of change in the communicative, informative and regulatory ecosystem of the media company in the twenty-first century.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Apply interactive digital-narration formats to the analysis and study of different news-production systems.
  2. Apply technologies for producing and managing digital content in order to solve particular problems in the journalism profession.
  3. Conduct and present an applied research project.
  4. Identify the contributions of gender study to the research topic.
  5. Implement and evaluate a research project whose results propose solutions applied to the management and production of digital news content.
  6. Integrate the tools and processes acquired within a simulated production environment, shouldering new responsibilities.
  7. Integrate working groups within the news company by offering new solutions to specific problems and situations.
  8. Know and use the contributions of women and gender studies in the discipline.
  9. Know how to carry out a research project with a gender perspective.
  10. Know how to create and use qualitative and quantitative indicators including statistics to gain a better understanding of gender inequalities and differences in the needs, conditions, values and aspirations of women and men.
  11. Know how to distinguish in theoretical and empirical analyses the effects of sex and gender variables.
  12. Know how to identify the role of ICT in the transmission of gender stereotypes and apply measures to avoid them.
  13. Know how to make an inclusive and non-sexist use of language.
  14. Know the formats of digital content and narrative, and the types of cooperation in building news stories.
  15. Know the new consumer environments for journalistic content so as to propose alternatives for producing and positioning content.
  16. Produce, compile and interpret empirical data in a gender-sensitive manner.
  17. Propose alternative news-telling strategies that integrate the use of innovation in the management and production of digital content that targets a specific audience.
  18. Propose alternatives for using narrative cooperation in the production of news content.
  19. Recognise the evolution of digital narratives to propose creative solutions on the basis of technological possibilities and narrative cooperation.
  20. Recognise the role of the media, audio-visual productions and advertising in the construction of gender relations and sexual and gender identity.
  21. Use digital narration structures to communicate news stories effectively.
  22. Use knowledge, methods and different analyses to extract information, organise it, analyse it and use to solve a research problem.
  23. Use news-content positioning and digital-marketing tools to gather information for taking strategic decisions in a specific journalism environment.

Content

Theoretical and institutional context of research in media communication

The foundations of the scientific method

Research trends on journalism and digital content

Innovation trends in the field of journalism and digital communication

The design and presentation of a research and innovation project

The research and innovation project in digital communication

The presentation of the research project and of the innovation project

The design, development and evaluation of innovation projects in the field of journalism and digital communication.

Master's final project

Research objectives and choice of techniques

Research conceptualization

Selection of technical methodologies for research and innovation in digital journalism. Quantitative methodologies.

Selection of research and innovation methodologies and techniques in digital journalism. qualitative techniques.

Obtaining and presenting results.

Generation of innovative and competitive proposals for applied research.

The detailed calendar with the content of the different sessions will be exposed on the day of presentation of the subject. It will also be posted on the Virtual Campus where students will be able to find a detailed description of the exercises and practices, the various teaching materials and any information necessary for proper follow-up of the subject.

Methodology

Gender Perspective

The Unit promotes sensitivity to the gender perspective in a transversal manner. It does so specifically in the following specific aspects:

Knowledge about the inclusion of the gender perspective in all processes of the design and application of research, including methodologies and research techniques with a gender perspective or feminists.

Reflection on the role of information and communication technologies in the transmission of gender stereotypes and in social transformation.

-Knowledge of the digital divide and the adequacy of ICTs to gender differences: barriers and opportunities.

-Recognition of the contributions of the scientists in the discipline.

Knowledge of the role of gender inequalities in science, both in scientific production and in its professional-academic side.

Knowledge of gender equity values in professional practice.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Classroom activities 15 0.6 1, 2, 14, 5, 3, 22, 17
Participation in exhibitions and debates 10 0.4 14, 15, 5, 3, 22
Teachings' expositions 15 0.6 14, 15, 3
Type: Supervised      
Realization of the research project 20 0.8 1, 2, 5, 3, 22
Tutor sessions 5 0.2 5, 3, 22
Type: Autonomous      
Reading 10 0.4 14, 15, 19
Realization of the research project 25 1 1, 2, 14, 15, 5, 3, 22
Search for information 14 0.56 14, 15, 5, 3, 22, 18, 17

Assessment

The subject consists of the following evaluation activities:

-Activity A, Realization of an individual research/innovation project supervised and guided by the teaching staff: 30% % on the final grade

-Activity B, Group practices in the classroom related to quantitative and qualitative research techniques 50 % on the final grade

-Activity C, Participation in presentations and face-to-face debates 20% on the final grade

PLAGIARISM

In the event that the student performs any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation of an evaluation act, this evaluation act will be graded with 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that could be instructed. In the event, that several irregularities occur in the evaluation acts of the same subject, the final grade for this subject will be 0.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
In-class activities 50% 15 0.6 1, 2, 14, 15, 8, 22, 4, 7, 6, 16, 18, 17, 20, 19, 9, 11, 13, 12, 10, 23, 21
Participation in presentations and debates 20% 6 0.24 1, 2, 14, 15, 8, 5, 3, 22, 4, 20, 11, 13, 12
Research project 30% 15 0.6 1, 2, 14, 15, 8, 5, 3, 22, 4, 7, 6, 16, 18, 17, 20, 19, 9, 11, 13, 12, 10, 23

Bibliography

Bellotti, E. (2015) Qualitative Networks. Mixed methods in sociological research. New York: Routledge.

Berger, A.A. (2016). Media and Communication Research Methods: An Introduction to Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.

Borgatti, S. P., Everett, M. G.; Johnson,J. C. (2013). Analyzing Social Networks. London: Sage.

Corbetta, Pierorgio. (2010) Metodologías y técnicas de investigación social. Madrid, McGraw Hill.

Fernández Manzano, E.; Neira, E; Clarés-Gavilán, J. (2016). Data management in audiovisual business: Netflix as a case study. El Profesional de la Información, 25 (4), 568-576.

Freixa, P.; Pérez-Montoro, M.; Codina, Ll. (2017). Interacción y visualización de datos en el periodismo estructurado. El Profesional de la Información, 26(6), 1076-1090.

Lis Gindin, Irene; Patricia Busso, Mariana.  (2018) Investigaciones en comunicación en tiempos de big data: sobre metodologías y temporalidades en el abordaje de redes sociales. AdComunica. Revista Científica de Estrategias, Tendencias e Innovación en Comunicación, 15, 25-43

Hine, C. (2004). Virtual Ethnography. London: Sage.

Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture. Where old and new media collide. New York University Press.

Ruiz Olabuenaga, J. I., et al. (2002). Cómo elaborar un proyecto de investigación social. Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto.

Simelio,N. et. al. (2019)  Journalism, transparency and citizen participation: a methodological tool to evaluate information published on municipal websites. Information, Communication & Society, 22 (3), 369.385

Tous-Rovirosa, A., Prat, M., & Dergacheva, D. (2022). The Hockey Girls. The creation of a new collective subject: sisterhood and the empowerment of women. Feminist Media Studies, 1-22. 

Vilches, L. (coord.) (2011). La investigación en comunicación. Métodos y técnicas en la era digital. Barcelona: Gedisa.

Software

PSPP 

Netlytic

NodeXL