1. Overview of Assessment

Exams/Quizes: 

• Mid-semester oral exam (20%): Testing weeks 1 to 7.
• Final oral exam (20%): Testing weeks 1 to 13

There will be two 15 minute online (Zoom) oral exams (mid-semester and final). You will be provided with a list of practice questions, we will do practice exams in class, and the oral exams will each be 15 minutes Zoom appointments with Luke Ashton. Appointment times will be flexible to accomodate all students, both online and internal.

Group Project:

• Pilot Study Report and Presentation (Qualitative Analysis) (30%) 
• Final Report and Presentation (Quantitative Analysis) (30%)

This is a group project. Form your own groups of 1 (i.e. solo) to 6 students in Week 1, and register via link on iLearn. If you don't have a group, please post asking for other group members on iLearn discussion. 

For the first assignment (due in Week 8) you will submit a qualitative (analysing words, not numbers) analysis. For the second assignment (due in Week 13) you will submit a quantitative (i.e. statistical) analysis.

 

2. Instructions for Group Project

• A) PREAMBLE.

We will examine three major theories of BIAS in the media in modern society. These theories are: (1) the conservative (right-wing) bias model; (2) the liberal (left-wing) bias model, and (3) the pluralist (unbiased) model.  In all these models, the bias occurs without official censorship and with the media staffed by journalists and editors who work with 'complete integrity and goodwill'. The bias is said to be an unconscious process that leads to selection of topics, framing of issues, emphasis of stories, and focus of attention in a way that benefits the wealthy and powerful.

Model 1. The conservative (right-wing) bias model argues that the media is biased towards conservative/right wing ideas which benefits the wealthy and powerful. According to this view, the media will advocate conservative ideas: nationalism, low tax rates for the wealthy, free-markets, religiousness, 'family-values', traditional gender roles, racist/anti-mulsim views, conservative views on sexuality, anti-union views, pro-American alliance views on foreign policy, and support for 'dirty industries' like mining or coal. One might expect that certain news sources - like the Australian newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, and Sky News - would be more likely to have a conservative bias.

Model 2. The liberal (left-wing) bias model argues that the media as dominated by liberal/left-wing ideas which benefit out of touch, wealthy, but politically progressive/liberal elites. According to this view, the media advocates 'progressive' ideas: feminism, anti-racism, pro-equality, pro-redistributive economic policies, pro-gay/homosexual rights, pro-environmental, and anti-religious views. One might expect that certain news sources - the ABC, SBC, the Saturday Paper - would be more likely to have a liberal bias.

Model 3. The pluralist (unbiased) model conceptualises the media as democratic, open, and providing fair treatment of all important ideas and opinions. In this model, the media is functioning fairly and as one would expect a good media system to work. One might expect that certain news sources - the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age - would be more likely to have a pluralist approach.

How to test these views.  The way we can best test which of these theories is correct is to:

1. TWO (MATCHED) CASE STUDIES. Choose two case studies that are objectively very similar, but which will be treated differently if the media is conservative or liberal biased.
2. MEASURE BIAS. Measure the bias, by looking at the amount of coverage, the prominence of coverage, and the type of language and framing of these two case studies.

• B) RESEARCH QUESTION.

Choose two case studies from the mass media in Australia and test one of the two models (conservative bias or liberal bias) using the matched-case method. Does the pattern of media coverage of your case study conform to that model? Which model is better at explaining your evidence?

You should choose two case studies that are largely identical except that if the conservative bias or liberal bias model is correct then one of your case studies should get very biased media reporting. 

 

• C) EXAMPLES.

Example 1. Male and Female Politicians (conservative bias).

1. Topic. For example, you might choose to study the topic of 'media coverage of male and female politicians' and you might choose conservative bias as your theory to test. 
2. Case studies. You might choose the following paired case study: the treatment of the NSW Premiers, Dominic Perrottet (a man) versus the treatment of Gladys Berejiklian (a woman) during their first month in office. 
3. Theory. If the conservative bias model is correct, then you argue that we should expect a bias in media coverage in favor of Perrottet (because he is a man) and less favorable to Berejiklian (because she is a woman). 
4. Hypotheses. In particular, you might expect (i.e. your hypotheses are that) there will be bias in the media that takes the form of:
   1. Quantity. Less coverage of Berejiklian (i.e. less stories, less words in stories, less front page stories)
   2. Positive media. Less positive coverage of Berejiklian (i.e. less stories with positive adjectives like "competent", "decisive", "warm", "astute". Less stories about the success of her government)
   3. Negative media. More negative coverage of Berejiklian (i.e. more stories emphasising "incompetence", "problems", "uncertainty", etc.)
   4. Personal life. More negative coverage of the personal life of Berejiklian, and more positive coverage of the personal life of Perrottet.
   5. Sexist sterotypes. Coverage of Berejiklian that imposes sexist sterotypes and expectations on her but not Perrottet (e.g. emphasising family responsiblities, clothing and appearance, warmth and care, emotionality, and so forth of women but not men).
5. Data collection. To test your five hypotheses, you collect a random sample (a truly random - i.e. selected with random number generator) of 50 articles from the first month of Berejiklian's term as Premier, and a similar sample from the first month of Perrottet's term. 
6. Qualitative (i.e. with words) analysis. For assignment 1 (qualitative analysis), you read and discuss patterns in the media coverage, and then present your findings as a series of quotes/excerpts from medial articles which shows the five trends/hypotheses (or shows that you were wrong and that the trends don't exist). 
7. Quantitative (i.e. with numbers) analysis. For assignment 2 (quantitative analysis) you will count the occurrence of particular articles or words, and test whether there is a statistically significant difference in coverage of Berejiklian or Perrottet. 

Example 2. White vs Islamic Terrorists (Liberal Elite Model)

1. Topic. For example, you might choose to study the topic of 'media coverage of white and islamic terrorists' and you might choose the liberal bias mode as your theory to test.
2. Case studies. You might choose the following paired case study: the treatment of (white) Christchurch mosque gunman, and the (muslim) Lint Cafe Seige gunman. 
3. Theory. If the liberal bias model is correct, then you argue that we should expect a bias in media coverage so that coverage of the Christchurch mosque gunman (committed by a white person) is more negative than the treatment of the Lindt Cafe Seige gunman (committed by a muslim person).
4. Hypotheses. In particular, you expect (i.e. your hypotheses are) that the media will be biased in the following ways:
   1. Quantity. More coverage of Christchurch (white) mosque gunman (i.e. less stories, less words in stories, less front page stories)
   2. Negative media about gunman. More negative coverage of Christchurch (white) mosque gunman (e.g. use of words like "barbaric", "massacre", "unforgivable", etc.) 
   3. Media coverage of police. More positive coverage of police in reporting of Christchurch (white) mosque gunman (e.g. use of words like "fast response", "competent", "brave", etc.), and less negative coverage of police (e.g. use of words "slow", "confused", etc.)
   4. Legitimate grievances. More space given to the 'legitimate' grievances of Lindt Cafe Seige (muslim) (e.g. understandable anger at racism, invasion of Iraq, etc.) and less given to 'legitimate' grievances of Christchurch (white) mosque gunman (e.g. migration, cultural change, problems with Islam). 
5. Data collection. To test your four hypotheses, you collect a random sample (a truly random - i.e. selected with random number generator) of 50 articles from six months after the Lint Seige and the six months after the Christchurch mosque attack. 
6. Qualitative (i.e. of themes with words) analysis. For assignment 1 (qualitative analysis), you read and discuss patterns in the media coverage, and then present your findings as a series of quotes/excerpts from medial articles which shows the four trends/hypotheses (or shows that you were wrong and that the trends don't exist). 
7. Quantitative (i.e. with numbers) analysis. For assignment 2 (quantitative analysis) you will count the occurrence of particular articles or words, and test whether there is a statistically significant difference in coverage of the two massacres. 

 

• D) POTENTIAL TOPICS.

It is recommended you pick one of the following topics, but you may also choose one of your own.

Compare one or more Australian newspapers treatment of: 

• A male and a female politician of similar standing (e.g. both Prime Ministers, Premiers, MPs, etc.)
• The 'Teal' candidates and The Greens in the last Federal election
• Deaths from ecstasy (MDMA) and alcohol
• The Greens vs United Australia (Clive Palmer's party) in the last Federal election
• The treatment of West Papua by Indonesia vs Uyghurs by China
• Deaths of Palestinians and Israeli's in the current Gaza war
• Christchurch vs Lindt Seige killings
• Anti-lockdown vs anti-climate change protestors
• The Yes and No cases during the recent referendum
• Helping the poor via charities vs unemployment benefits
• 'Robodebt' vs 'Home Insulation' scandals
• Your own topic, but please use a 'matched-case' method (comparing two groups who are largely identical, except that one is 'worthy' and the other is 'unworthy').

• E) METHOD.

It is recommended that you focus on the treatment by one newspaper, such as the Australian, the Daily Telegraph, the Sydney Morning Herald/the Age, the Australian Financial Review, or the Guardian (Australia).

You should use the database Factiva (which Macquarie University has a subscription to) to get all newspaper articles printed on a particular topic within a selected date range. It is recommended that for the first assignment (due in Week 8) you try to pick a topic and date range that will give you about 50 to 100 articles.

It is recommended that before you finalise your topic (by around week 3) you explore (scope out) - using Factiva - a couple of different potential topics and look for patterns you find interesting. 

• F) ANALYSIS.

We will work on your assignment each week in class, and a lot of important information about the assignment will be delivered in class.

For the first assignment (due in Week 8) you will submit a qualitative (analysing words, not numbers) analysis.  For the second assignment (due in Week 13) you will submit a quantitative (i.e. statistical) analysis.   

• G) FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS.

Please be aware of the following important details:

1. 12 MINUTE PRESENTATIONS. For BOTH Week 8 and Week 13 you will deliver a 12 minute presentation with powerpoint slides.
2. WEEK 8. The presentation in Week 8 should be a qualitative analysis (analysis of words using themes)
3. WEEK 13. The presentation in Week 13 should be a statistical analysis (analysis using numbers). :
4. ALL PRESENT FOR EQUAL TIMES. All group members should present for equal times
5. SCRIPT. You should also submit a SCRIPT of your talk, which should be around 1,400 words + tables and figures.
6. ZOOM. Presentations will be via Zoom, though if internal students would prefer face to face this can be arranged.
7. OUTSIDE CLASS TIMES. Presentations will be outside class times, in 'Marking Consultations' of 30-60 minutes (depending on group size). Groups will book these online closer to submission date.
8. SAMPLE SIZE. You should aim to have around 50 to 100 newspaper articles you code for the Week 8 presentation, and 50 to 100 articles you analyse for the Week 13 assignment (it can be the same 50 to 100 articles). However, this is a minimum and you are welcome to code more articles if it is appropriate. If you find there are too many articles for your topic, then you can either shorten the date range you are looking at, or pick a random (truly random, picked with a random number generator) sample of the articles you find.
9. RANDOM SELECTION OF ARTICLES. You should NOT just hand pick the first 50 articles you can find. You need to make sure the 50 articles are REPRESENTATIVE of all the articles in the media. The way you make sure your sample is representative is by RANDOM SAMPLING and/or SELECTING ALL ARTICLES IN A SHORT WINDOW OF TIME. For example, you might be studying treatment of Aboriginal Australians in the media, and find that there are thousands of articles in the last five years. You might narrow it to a one month period, e.g. Feburary 2022, and then find that there are 200 articles. You would then want to cut that down to 50 articles by making a list of all 200 articles, numbering them from 1 to 200, and then using a random number generator like this one - https://www.random.org/ - and generating 50 random numbers between 1 and 200 and analysing the 50 articles which correspond to those 50 random numbers. 
10. ATTACHMENTS. Bring the following attachments to your presentation (if you are presenting on Zoom, please email or WhatsApp the files to Luke), AND ALSO upload to iLearn via Turn-It-In (this is a Macquarie requirement, to check for plagarism):
    1. SLIDES: Your presentation slides
    2. SCRIPT: 1,400 word script of your presentation (please include tables and references, but these don't count towards word limit).
    3. DATA: In Week 8: Your newspaper articles with highlighting (coding). In Week 13: Dataset as SPSS file + Codebook

3. Marking criteria for group project

A) Group mark (25%): One quarter of your grade will be awarded based on the quality of the total product as a whole.

B) Individual marks (75%): Three quarters of your grade for the group project will be awarded based on the quality of your individual contribution. This will be judged on:

• A description of each individual's work that is attached to be beginning of each report
• You are encouraged to allocate each group member at least one theme to qualitatively analyse (for Week 8) and statistically analyse (for Week 13). This will allow all group members to clearly show individual contribution to the report.
• A peer evaluation, which will be confidential and completed online after submission of each report (week 8 and 13). 

C) Grading criteria for presentations

1. WRITING/PRESENTATION: Clear, straight-forward writing and verbal presentation.
2. MOTIVATION: Identifies and justifies choice of research question and topic.
3. LITERATURE REVIEW: Clearly explains the theory/ies or ideas to be tested, and identifies relevant previous research on the topic.
4. METHOD: Clearly articulates a method to collected and analyse data to answer your research question, including:
   • 4.1. CONCEPTUALISATION & OPERATIONALISATION: articulates hypotheses (if necessary), conceptualisations of variables/concepts, and operationalisation of variables/concepts,
   • 4.2. DATA COLLECTION: Summarizes techniques for data collection, and methods of sampling.
5. DATA ANALYSIS: High quality data analysis that clearly analyses and presents the evidence for the main findings of your research and seriously considers alternative theories and contradictory evidence.
6. CONCLUSION: Summarizes findings and discusses academic and policy implications.

Late Penalty

"Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a mark of '0' (zero) will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical issue. This late penalty will apply to non-time sensitive assessment (incl. essays, reports, posters, portfolios, journals, recordings etc). Late submission of time sensitive tasks (such as tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, scheduled practical assessments/labs etc) will only be addressed by the unit convenor in a Special Consideration application. Special Consideration outcome may result in a new question or topic"

I) SEMINARS

RECORDED LECTURE. There will be a 1 hour recorded lecture uploaded to iLearn in advance of the class.

FACE TO FACE SEMINAR. There will be a two hour face-to-face seminar will be focused on activities related to your group project, and be heavily practically oriented and helpful for applying the concepts of the lecture to your final project.

ZOOM (OPTIONAL) SEMINAR. There will be a two hour Zoom seminar, which it is optional for online only and internal students to attend. It will be a repeat of the face to face seminar, with both a small lecture and activities related to the final project.

II) ATTENDANCE + PARTICIPATION

There is no attendance or participation requirement for this class. This means that students enrolled in face-to-face classes are free to choose to not to come to the seminars. You simply need to keep up with the recorded lectures so that you can complete the mid-term and final oral exams, and also complete the two major projects, due in Week 8 and 13.

III) COMMUNICATION

DISCORD SERVER: Because this class is so heavily practical and the assessments involve significant independent group work I have found that the best way to organise communication is to set up chat groups (like WhatsApp or Facebook chat groups).

In previous years we have used WhatsApp, but it has been recommended that to protect student privacy (so as not to need to share mobile numbers), we use a Discord Server. This is very similar to WhatsApp (actually most similar to Slack) and can be used on in a browser, on your laptop, and/or on your mobile phone.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. DOWNLOAD. Please go to discord.com to download for your computer and/or to the Apple/Google Store for your mobile app, and download Discord.
2. SET UP ACCOUNT. Please set up an account. Please use your real name so that I know that it is you and it is easy for others to tell who you are. Please treat this like work and be professional with your name.
3. JOIN CLASS ON DISCORD. Then please message me on Discord and/or use the link in iLearn to join the '2022, SOCI2000' Server.
4. TELL ME YOUR PROJECT GROUP. Once you have a project group, please message me on Discord with the names of your group members. I will then set up two groups for you: One with me and all your group members, and one without me. This will allow you to chat privately (I promise not to monitor your chat unless there is a major disagreement within your group), and also to a chat to ask me questions and have discussions about your group project.

If you have questions or need help, please message the Discord chat with me in it, and I will aim to respond ASAP, and at the latest within 24 hours.

CONSULTATIONS: For consultations, I will be available immediately after the seminar, and otherwise on Discord. If we need to, we can set up time for a Zoom chat or for you to come to my office. 

IV) TEXTBOOK

BUYING TEXTBOOK: This is the textbook:

• Neuman, W. L. (2013). Understanding Research: Pearson New International Edition. Harlow: Pearson Education UK. 

Read the ebook for free at the MQ Library here: https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au/lib/MQU/detail.action?docID=5175361

Buy ebook from Pearson here ($60):

https://www.pearson.com.au/products/M-N-Neuman-W-Lawrence/Understanding-Research-Pearson-New-International-Edition-eBook/9781292033648?R=9781292033648 

READING THE TEXTBOOK: Please read the required readings before coming to class (internal and zoom students)

V) PROJECT GROUPS

FORMING PROJECT GROUPS: Please find a project group. You can do on the discussion chat on iLearn or within Discord once you join.

Please register your project group by messaging me on Discord.

PARTICIPATION IN PROJECT GROUPS: Please participate and contribute to your project group fully and seriously or you will be penalised in your peer review mark. This includes coming to class (for internal students), as we will do significant project work in each class (we will do workshops at the end of each class, applying the knowledge from that week to your project).

Lecture (pre-recorded + repeated in first hour of seminar)

Week	Lecture Topics	Key Concepts
1	Introduction to Unit Introduction to Major Project Theory and Data in Social Science Introduction to conservative-bias, liberal-bias, and pluralist models How to Use Factiva to Access Newspaper articles	paradigm explanation theory data social science qualitative analysis quantitative analysis	qualitative data qualitative analysis a good topic simplicity conservative-bias liberal-bias pluralist model
2	Two Examples of Model Presentations How to Choose a 'Good' Topic for your Project Advice for Timelines, Roles, Decision Making in Your Project Groups A Gentle Introduction to Statistics	qualities of good topics simple topic important topic interesting topic independent variable dependent variable matched cases	descriptive statistics inferential statistics conceptualisation operationalisation population sample quantitative data structure rows (of dataset) columns (of dataset)
3	Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis	codebook - qualitative focus groups in depth interviews ethnography why qualitative research? naturalism participant observation field site - field work open-ended survey questions documents and archives purposive sampling (in qual research)	saturation sampling (in qualitative research) memos themes triangulation jotted notes memos direct observation notes tape recordings gatekeeper informant building rapport ernest novice appearance of interest attitude of strangeness prompts
	Qualitative Data Analysis	coding open coding axial coding selective coding writing up qualitative results codes become subheadings inductive theorising deductive theorizing
	Developing a clear, concise writing style	write before you are ready write to communicate use real life models choose a structure fundamental unit of composition link through repetition PEEL one paragraph one point topic sentences instant thesis generator definite, specific, concrete language avoid dead metaphors and cliches examples, analogies, etc.	cut excess words vividness active voice\passive voice not vague verbs coordinate ideas in similar form kill your darlings avoid jargon, foreign phrases, scientific words vary sentence length
	Conducting a Literature Review	methods section results section good quotes/excerpts conclusion section important topic, demonstrating citation manager Wikipedia	refining search terms higher/lower level of abstraction motivations for a study, where to find paragraphs in literature reviews peer reviewed academic publications DOI checking for quality of journal
7	An Introduction to Quantiative Research: Measurement + Sampling	objectivity replicability selection of sample naming themes Measurement: unit of analysis hypothesis dummy binary interval ordinal nominal multi-item scale single item scale index reliability validity	Sampling: purposive sampling quota sampling haphazard sampling snowball sampling hidden populations systematic sampling random sampling cluster sampling stratified sampling census sampling frame sampling element target population population universe population parameter sample statistic confidence interval
8	PRESENTATIONS - NO CLASS
9	Conducting Ethical Research + A Gentle Introduction to Statistics (continued)	Part 1 - Ethics Autonomy/respect Beneficence Justice Informed consent Risks to participants Privacy Anonymity Confidentiality Deception Illegal vs Unethical research Types of harm: Psychological, Physical, Legal harm, Social harm Vulnerable populations	Part 2 - Statistics Descriptive statistics Inferential statistics Central tendency Mean Median Mode Variation Standard deviation Standard error Population parameter Sample statistic Research hypothesis Null hypothesis Central Limits Theorem Confidence interval P-value Z-score (t-statistic)
	A Gentle Introduction to Statistics (continued)	Univariate statistics Bivariate statistics Multivariate statistics All concepts in Week 9
11	How to do all the Statistical Analysis for Your Final Projects - A Step by Step Guide	Interpret a comparison of proportions Interpret a comparison of means (don't need to understand Leven's test) All concepts in Week 9
12	An Introduction to More Advanced Statistical Techniques	Correlation coefficient Pearson's correlation coefficient Interpreting: statistical significance direction effect size Small, medium, large effect size Correlation matrix Heatmap	Linear regression Dependent variable (y) Independent variable(s) (x) Coefficient (slope) (b) Intercept (constant) (c) P-value (sig.) R squared (R2)
13	PRESENTATIONS - NO CLASS	PRESENTATIONS - NO CLASS

 

Readings

Week	Readings
1	Neuman: Ch 1, Why Research.
2	Neuman: Ch 2, Planning a Study.
3	Neuman: Ch 10, Observing People.
4	Neuman: Ch 8: Research with Nonreactive Measures (section on content analysis only). Methods101.com (Week 5)
5	Harrigan, How to write a short paper Strunk & White, ‘Elementary principles of composition’ in Elements of Style. (available via Leganto on iLearn) (or just Google). Orwell, Politics and the English Language. Posusta, Steven. 1996. Don't Panic: The Procrastinator's Guide to Writing an Effective Term Paper. Bandanna Books, Santa Barbara.
6	see Neuman: Ch 2, Planning a Study (reading for Week 2)
7	Neuman: Ch 5, Measuring Social Life.
8	PRESENTATIONS - NO CLASS
9	Neuman: Ch 4, Sampling. Neuman: Ch 6, The Survey
10	We will largely use the lecture slides, but there is additional material on methods101.com.au . See also Neuman Ch 4,5,6
11	We will largely use the lecture slides, but there is additional material on methods101.com.au . See also Neuman Ch 4,5,6
12	We will largely use the lecture slides, but there is additional material on methods101.com.au . See also Neuman Ch 4,5,6
13	PRESENTATIONS - NO CLASS