Devcompage offers a free communication research advisory service for undergrad or graduate communication students (devcom, masscom, com arts), NGO workers, field staff, extension specialists or university faculty members who need advice on any aspect of their thesis or communication research or planning a communication campaign or need to develop monitoring and evaluation instruments or process and analyze data
You can post your queries as a comment in this page and I will give you professional advice or we can start some discussion with other communication or social scientist readers of Devcompage. What’s cool about this page is that all professional advice is for FREE, pro bono.
Thank you for the advice. What about if i say “The causes of turnover in A company”? Whew! this is challenging:=)
Frans, it sounds like a title of a feature story. Read refereed journals in social science, education and management to give you an idea on how research titles are crafted. Good luck.
Oh my, it seems that my mind cannot think anymore:=) but what i would like to make a research on is to really know the causes of turnover in our organization and how to deal with it. I just dont know how to construct my title….probably you can suggest ma’am? thanks again…
Hi madam,
Its me again Anbony. Ive read your suggestions already re on what procedure to be used in my research about the assessment of FITS center. Hopefully I would like to consider your advise regarding on what aspect i shall consider in choosing my sample size. Just like what ive said money and time really constrain me in pursuing this research especially so this is not yet my thesis topic. But since this is a requirement in my SPECIAL PROBLEM( baby thesis) subject i badly need to submit this on the deadline. Anyways, to simplify my work i would probably make use of a survey instead of going into a qualitative approach. the latter will be considered if this will be pursued as my thesis topic already. Thank you very much maam!cheers!
Good afternoon Ma’am!
It is me again, and I have this research title: Management Style and Salary Administration as Determinants in the Performance and Retention of Employees.” do you think this is better?
Thanks again in advance.
Frans, are you looking at management style and salary administration as the only independent variables (presumed causes of performance and retention)? If so, go ahead. It is now a more appropriate thesis title. Good luck.
Hi mam, my study is about the effects of Jejemon language to social networking and mass media, I am asking what method I am going to use and on what theory it will fall?
Thanks..
Angel, first read studies or research on slang to give you some ideas. Also, you need to be clear on what you want to study. I don’t think it makes sense to look at the effects of Jejemon on social networking and mass media. Or is it the other way around? Like, why has the use of jejemon evolved? What gave rise to it? But you need to read, read, read to be more informed about your thesis topic.
Hello, I need help on what could possibly a good focus on gay linggos as a topic?
Here I am again, well can you please help me have a focus. theres so much in my mind but I cannot put them to place.
I want to study on Gay Linggos, what exactly on that shall I look for? How it is now a mainstream, and why people develop it as new language. Is it something that degrades them I don’t know
plus can you please help me with the research question as well.
A focus, a research question. thats what i need
Thanks mam..I would like to ask what would be my objectives regarding my topic Effects of Jejemon Language?
Angel, where are you studying?
Cavite State University mam.
hi maam,thank you so much for your reply..actually im not a film major..our topic is not really our choice our prof . approved some of the topic from our whole class then he jumbled it to a designated groups which brought the topic to us… our thesis leader said that we will focus on the problem which is how to produce quality films inspite of the low budget…again thank you maam…..Godbless and more power…
good morning ma’am!
we are now currently working on our research and our group have difficulty in measuring the purchase intent and the effectiveness of the tv advertisements slogans! Ma’am how could we measure it?
Tsa, who are your study respondents? What TV ad slogans are you looking at? To measure purchase intent and effectiveness of these TV advertisement slogans will require that you do an arranged exposure. Assemble groups of the intended audience of the TV ads and let them watch and listen to these ads. After exposure interview them or administer a questionnaire containing questions on purchase intent (After listening to the ads, will you try the product? or purchase the product? Yes or No. If no, why not?). What measures of effectiveness of the TV ads will you use?
good day ma’am. i went to the sites you suggested regarding the applications of ICT. I thought of doing a study on the applicability of using GNU software to create and manage beekeeping documents in the baguio/benguet area. My adviser suggested that old documents dating to the 1920′s be place into a database, for easy access of beekeepers and researchers. Would this be a viable study?
Leo, what does the literature on ICT applications suggest? Discuss your research problem with your thesis adviser as she will be the one to approve it. But will putting 1920s documents on beekeping still relevant to beekeepers today? Your adviser should help you weigh the cost-benefit of this exercise. After all, your proposed research is to examine the applicabiit of using GNU software to manage beekeeping docs in the Baguio/Benguet area.
good afternoon ma’am.
i am having a problem of finding a theoretical framework that could encompass my thesis. it is about climate change information needs of typhoon ondoy victims of brgy. malinta, los baños, laguna.
my adviser told me that the variables that will determine the information needs would be knowledge level, attitudes, practices and information sources of my respondents. i now have an analytical framework on that. problem is, i finding it hard to have a specific theory to back it all up.
can you suggest some?
thank you very much.
hi mam. i am a devcom student currently taking up my thesis course.
my initial proposal was about the effects of commercials under a socio-psychological tradition. my adviser told me to make a study about the message clarity of commercials which falls under a cybernetic tradition.
now i’m quite lost. can you suggest some references i can read up about message clarity because i cannot stir my current thesis into that cybernetic angle. don’t even have an idea what theory i’m basing my thesis on.
your help will be much appreciated.
May, here’s some backgrounder on the cybernetic tradition.
The cybernetic tradition focuses on systems and how feedback causes actors in systems to adjust their actions through information processing. This view is associated with scholars such as Shannon and Weaver (mathematics) and Bateson (anthropology). For this tradition, the important aspect of communication is the role of logic and cause and effect. Weiner coined the term, “cybernetics” in the field of artificial intelligence. He introduced the concept of feedback. Shannon established the idea of communication as information processing. The goal was to maximize line capacity with minimum distortion, reduce uncertainty through redundancy, more redundancy= reduced capacity.
It focuses on the individual in social interaction with others as the definition of the communicator.
This tradition emphasizes psychological variables, individual effects, personalities, perception, and cognition. Most of the current work in this tradition is dominated by persuasion and attitude change in communication, accentuating message processing, strategies, reception and effects. Most theories in this tradition are cognitive in orientation, providing insights into the way human beings process information.
You can in fact use the information processing model as your theoretical support for a study to examine message clarity of commercials, looking at how individuals process the commercials that they are exposed to.
Hi ma’am,
I am a mass communications student currently working on a thesis proposal for how a certain local comic book, as a form of visual media, communicates Filipino culture. I was thinking of using semiotic analysis to achieve my objectives, but the more I research for this topic, the more it seems like it’s better for a student of literature or fine arts.
How can I focus my study so that it screams COMMUNICATION? Although one professor thinks that my topic has promise, I am scared that the other professors in my department (who are all pivotal to the approval of my thesis) will think that I’m a lit/FA student who got lost in mass communication.
And would it be better if I included more comic book titles in my study instead of just focusing on one?
D, you have a worthy mass communication thesis topic and your only challenge is to convince your thesis advisers and other professors who are on your committee to approve it. Semiotic analysis of comic books is not the monopoly of visual and fine arts.
thanks ma’am.
i’ll research more on the information processing model.
Hello im currently taking up thesis1, i am a fourth year student from Ateneo, until now i am still confuse if i will pursue my topics about “Marketing Strategies on Food Advertising and Children s Food Preferences and Eating Behavior”. I’m planning to do a content analysis and at the same time a survey.as i surf the net there were already many research same as in my topic, will i still pursue on it? if my teacher ask me what new contribution can it add to the body of communication, i don’t know what will I’m going to answer, is this an interesting topic? tnx
Cathy, you have an interesting thesis topic and I agree that the literature is replete with studies on this. If you want to pursue this, review previous research and find out the knowledge gaps or areas that have not been addressed by the studies and focus on those. Then, that’s the contribution your study can make to the body of literature in communication. I had a student who did a study on school kids’ perceptions of TV commercials on food and I don’t quite remember his recommendations for further research. I am away from my desk this week so I can’t check his thesis. In the mean time, review the research literature on this topic.
thank you so much ma’am. I’m still thinking what applicable theory i will going to use, is it okey if i include the information content of the products? if this thesis will become successful I’ll put your name in the acknowledgment,hehehe
what if i add the nutritional content of a certain product, can it still be in the line of communication?im planning not just to be focus on the marketing strategies but also identify the relationship between a product with high nutritional content and the level of persuasive strategies that have been use . the question is how will i measure it? tnx
Id rather focus on the “health claims” of a certain advertisements examples of health claims are “builds strong bodies,” or “good for you.” “provides essential nutrients”, than the nutritional content since i think it needs a thorough measurements. other suggestions please. will i still need to have a survey from children? or just focus on the content analysis itself?
Cathy, now you’re thinking. I suggest you don’t deal with nutritional content as you are not a nutrition major. Go ahead with your plan to analyze health claims of ads and do a survey of children too. I don’t think it makes sense to relate a product’s nutritional content with level of persuasive strategies.
BTW, I don’t need an acknowledgment in any one’s thesis.
thank you ma’am, now i am enlighten, my title now is Information content of food advertising to children,here are my objectives.
OBJECTIVES
1. To categorized the Food advertisements being aired during primetime
2. To identify the types of food products that is frequently being aired during primetime.
3. To know and compare the types and amount of food advertising intended only for children and the food advertising intended only for adults (20-64 years old).
4. To identify the persuasive appeals being use in the food advertising being aired during primetime.
For the Health/Nutrition Appeals, the specific objectives are:
a. To know the proportion of food advertisement that promotes physical activity.
b. To know the proportion of food advertisements that uses health benefits or offer specific health claims.
Cathy, you need to merge some of your objectives where possible and clean up your grammar. Communication students are expected to have error-free English. Fix your objectives 3 and 4. They’re mixed up. I thought your focus is children, how come you’re also interested in food advertising for adults. Sort this out in your mind. Discuss this also with your thesis adviser.