In many universities, the second semester is the time for many communication students to rush their thesis proposals. It brings a lot of anxiety and panic attacks to many students and frustrations to professors, like me. Regardless of the range of communication thesis topics I suggested in about four posts in Devcompage, I was quite amazed that very few of the thesis topics were picked up by my students. As readers have seen, the Thesis/Research Coach service in this blog is being used only by readers outside our university. It is a resource that has remained unused by my students. What a waste! As the Malaysians and Filipinos would say, “Sayang.”
So what thesis topics have they come up with? Most of the thesis topics belonged to the much-abused realm of knowledge gaps, knowledge, attitudes and practice or information needs assessment, perception studies, etc. My immediate reaction was: “Since many of you are into social media with your Friendster, Facebook, and all, why don’t you work on those new topics which have not been addressed yet? All you need to do is introduce a development element from any of the eight MDGs for your thesis to qualify as Devcom?” Silence.
Yet today, I came across an account of the 2nd Communication Research Student Conference organized by the UP College of Mass Communication, my alma mater, in September 2008. In the conference poster, here’s an interesting line-up of student research presentations that did me proud of my old school (Viva UP Diliman!):
- Subscribing to info: The portrayal of news on mobile phones
- You are invited to join: A comparative study of Yahoo! Groups by UP Mass Communication and UP Engineering students
- Multiply: The blog as the stage for self-presentation
- Love in the time of SMS
- How unlimited texting shapes the perceived closeness between and among members of a barkada
- Unli ka ba? Metro Manila college students’ reactions and utilization of unlimited texting services
- She’s the man? A quantitative study on the influence of men’s magazines on female university students’ concept of masculinity
To this list, let me add my own:
- Love in the time of the webcam: Gender exploitation in online dating
- Use of SMS for livelihood: The case of market retailers
- Appropriation of mobile phones for livelihood improvement: The case of small rural enterprises
- Reaching students through mobile phones
- Forming impressions of other cultures through Korean telenovelas
- Kahit Isang Saglit as a vehicle for learning about two Asian cultures
Any student interested?
13 comments
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March 28, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Md. Aminul Islam
Dear monia
As much as i visit this site i feel so mcuh happy that i can not express in language. Becasue i am also interested in research specially in development communication as i am a student of mass communication and journalism. I would like to replicate these theme of research topic in the context of Bangldesh. I will share my views, in this regard, with you latter.
March 31, 2009 at 12:20 pm
monina escalada
Aminul, thanks for visiting Devcompage. Yes, you can replicate some of the research topics suggested here. Keep reading and telling your colleagues about Devcompage. I look forward to hearing about your views.
I am now in Bangkok conducting a workshop-training on “Decision making, sociological tools and impact assessment in pest management” which I will write about in the next post.
Best regards.
April 2, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Md. Aminul Islam
Dear Monina
I am pleased to see that you have responded. The summer vacation of University is going to starded following the next month. I wish to start my work from the next month. Now i am reading related topics or subjects in which am interested. Yeahh, I will share my views and understandings with you latter.
With best wishing of you
Aminul
April 8, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Raul
Greetings!
I’m currently working at the JBIC-Funded Mega-irrigation project–The Help Catubig for Agricultural Advancement Project (HCAAP) under one of its component the Agricultural Support Services (ASS). For now, what we’re taking seriously at is the “Information, Education and Communication”, one deliverable to be provided to them (the farmers) within the project life.
Kindly give us hint what to do with this.
Thanks
April 8, 2009 at 9:13 pm
monina escalada
Raul, I need to know more details about your project. In your project document’s logframe, check the purpose and assumptions of your “Information, Education and Communication” (IEC)component. If these are not specified, just let me know what the goals of your project are — i.e., after the project, what should farmers be doing — change in farmers’ knowledge and practice, productivity, profitability, well-being, etc. Then what are the means will your project use to achieve those goals? How will IEC be used?
I hope to hear from you soon.
April 18, 2009 at 2:46 am
Raul
Thank you Mam!
We’re promoting the PalayCheck System of the DA-PhilRice. It seems like the farmers in our place didn’t show much interest in this rice-based technology. To make matters worse, the place where this mega project has been set up which will open come 2010 is still resorting on crude method of farming or the “Payatak System”.
Now we are wondering whether to incorporate the indigenous and the modern ways as described in PalayCheck into the old farming system of the farmers. I know this may require customization in terms of language and content. Thus, our idea to set up rice-based IEC to this target area has been so far within our reach. But the problem is how to look it appear attractive and convincing to them (the farmers).
Right now, what we’re doing is conduct assessment in the area from which we can draw valuable inputs and ideas which will ultimately become part of that IEC materials. However, I fear that some areas of concern like the post-harvest management are not well taken care of like giving birth to a child but being left impoverished. Granting the IEC will be approved come this 2nd season, that would mean wastage of budget.
April 19, 2009 at 4:42 am
monina escalada
Raul, thanks for the info about your interesting project. I’m familiar with the Palay Ricecheck of DA-PhilRice which is promoted by FAO and based on the Australian rice check model. W
The first step in your mega project is to start understanding how farmers see the world and their circumstances. You can do this by hanging out with farmers, conducting focus group discussions and eventually a baseline survey, the results of which should give you an idea of where the farmers are coming from. Then you will have clues on how farmers perceive the PalayCheck and how you can carve a niche for it in farmers’ production system.
As you must have read in earlier posts in Devcompage, I am involved in an ADB-IRRI project on rice planthoppers which is being implemented in China, Thailand and Vietnam. The project aims to make a change in farmers’ planthopper management and the way that extension and government officials respond to planthopper outbreaks. To do that, project partners will conduct focus group discussions and baseline surveys to understand the situation. Read about it in the Ricehoppers blog (http://ricehoppers.net).
Keep in touch.
June 28, 2009 at 8:10 pm
jhezsa
hi ms. monina…
i am working on my thesis, i would like to work on climate change! Can you pls. give me me a good question or field about this topic…
June 28, 2009 at 8:14 pm
jhezsa
hi ms. monina,
actually i am interested with your topic about “Love in the time of the webcam: Gender exploitation in online dating” any hint on how i can work on it… thanks… godspeed…
June 29, 2009 at 5:05 am
monina escalada
Jhezsa, are you a mass comm, comm arts or devcom student? I need to know to be able to help you better. Different areas would emphasize different aspects of the research problem. What communication aspects of climate change do you have in mind? Here are some possibilities:
1. Information needs on climate change of news reporters….(or farmers, local leaders, students, teachers, etc.)
2. Treatment and coverage of climate change stories in the Philippine press (or online news sources — abs-cbnnews.com, gmanews.tv, reuters.com, etc. — or community newspapers
3. Effectiveness of mediated instruction on climate change knowledge and attitudes of school children or university students (video, radio spots, news stories, etc.)
4. Farmers’ understanding of impact of climate change on pest and disease populations
5. Farmers’ adaptation strategies for climate change-induced pest and disease problems
Good luck.
June 29, 2009 at 5:07 am
monina escalada
Jhezsa, to think about a new thesis topic, like the role of Internet access in gender exploitation, you need to bone up on the subject. Read, read, read. There are a lot of resources in the Internet on this and by reading, you will learn about the issues involved and you will be able to decide which gap in knowledge you would like to pursue for your thesis.
You also need to discuss the topic with your thesis adviser as he/she will have the last say.
Good luck.
July 6, 2009 at 6:05 pm
jhezsa
Ms. monina thanks for your advice…
im a mass comm student…
well, Im actually thinking of how ready are students when it comes to climate change and how aware are they?.. (does it make sense? hehe)….
help help help… thanks…
godspeed… mwuah
September 10, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Md. Aminul Islam
Dear monina
It is long since that i was out of any communication technology and detached with all of my friends, well wishers as well, because of my severe physical illness. In this mean time, however, i have read some literaturs on my MSS thesis. The subject of thesis is ‘Digital divide’. But i am facing some problems in regarding sampling of respondant and methodolical issues.
I wish some suggestion from in regarding thes issues..
Md. Aminul Islam
Dept of Mass Communication and Journalism
University of Rajshahi
Bangladesh.