Research Proposal on Public Perception of Media's Presentation of Violent Crime

This research proposal aims to analyze the public perception of how media presents violent crime. It includes a qualitative pilot using media analysis and a quantitative pilot using a questionnaire. The research strategy is a mixed method approach, and the research design includes descriptive and correlational designs. The sampling strategy is random sampling, and the data collection techniques are survey and thematic analysis. The proposal also discusses the reliability and validity of the research.

Research proposal

Contents
Central Research Question..............................................................................................................1
Research Philosophy........................................................................................................................1
Research Strategy............................................................................................................................1
Methodology....................................................................................................................................3
Qualitative Pilot (Media Analysis)..................................................................................................4
Quantitative Pilot (Qualtrics)...........................................................................................................5
Critique............................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

Central Research Question
“What is the public perception of how media presents violent crime?”
Research Philosophy
For this present investigation which has central research question “to analyse the public
perception of how media presents violent crime”, the most appropriate epistemology research
philosophy is pragmatism. This philosophy is based on belief that if an idea is satisfactory and
practical then it must be accepted otherwise rejected. The rationale behind selecting this
epistemology philosophy is to incline it with the mixed research method which is selected as
investigation methodology technique in this research.
Ontology philosophy which is considered as most appropriate for this investigation is
multiple realities (Gioia, Corley and Hamilton, 2013). This philosophy is based on the subjective
approach which states that there are various realities which can be predictable for reducing the
contingencies. This philosophy is considered as appropriate because the it will assist the
investigator to balance between the secondary research and primary research which has been
undertaken in this investigation.
The philosophy is a belief of investigator about the way information against an area must be
collected. There are two categories of research philosophies which are epistemology and
ontology (Flick, 2015). Epistemology revolves around the area what is known to be true; few
philosophies which falls into this category are realism, relativism, rationalism, pragmatism and
others. On the other hand, ontology is the category which revolves around the study of reality
topics and area which already exists and investigator researches about the different entities of
those areas. Few of the research philosophies included in this category are idealism, materialism,
dualism, multiple realities and others.
Research Strategy
There are number of research strategies such as case study, focus group, observation,
interview, questionnaire etc. According to the current project questionnaire will be used because
it will help in collection of quantitative information in limited time period. Research strategy is
the detailed plan of action which assist in ascertaining the steps by which investigation can be
under taken. This strategy helps the investigator to enable a system and schedule which can be
used to classify and categorise each element of the research. There are various strategies which
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can be used to conduct a research such as primary method, secondary method and mixed method.
All these strategies are selected by analysing the nature of the central research question. While
selecting a research strategy, it is important to consider intended outcome and quality which is
required in the results of the research.
In this research, it is important to acquire effective and quality results for which mixed
research strategy is used. The central question of this investigation has two variables that is
dependent and independent; where public perception is a dependent variable which is based on
the independent variable of the way which media uses to present violent crime. In order to
analyse both the variables along with identifying the relation between these two, it is important
to select a research strategy which can help in identifying both qualitative and quantitative
aspects of these variables for which mixed method strategy is most suitable as it covers
secondary data collection by using literature review and primary data collection by using
surveys.
The mixed method research design includes the sequence question and the priority question
by which it will be easier for investigator to prioritise the elements of the research area and then
arrange them into sequence according to their importance and priority (Green, Camilli and
Elmore, 2012). The CRQ of this investigation has a distinctive independent variable for which it
is important to have a strategy which can help in effective analyse every aspect of this variable
on the basis of priority.
In the course of selecting an effective research strategy, it is important to analyse best
suitable combining technique of the data. There are broadly two techniques of combining the
data which are triangulation and complementarity (Kumar, 2019). In the case of triangulation
technique, investigator uses multiple methods to conduct research and overlap all the approaches
for the act of studying one area. This technique is also known as mixed methods in which
methods do overlap sometimes which even result in hamper of the investigation activity
(Scotland, 2012). In case of complementarity technique, investigator collects the data by dividing
it into categories on the basis of the features of the information is being procured. In this
particular investigation of analysing the public perception about media and how they present
violent crime, the data collection strategy of triangulation is used. The reason behind using this
strategy is to incline it with mixed method as triangulation technique allows to use multiple
methods which even can overlap.
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Methodology
Research design: In the case of quantitative pilot, the research design of descriptive will be
used as it allows the investigator to conduct a survey which is essential to be done in this case.
This is a logical framework which outline the project’s workings along with all the important
elements of the investigation which are used to make an investigation effective and free from
errors. This design is the blueprint on which structure and schedule of the investigation is based
(Mackenzie and et. al., 2012). There are broadly five types of research designs which are
descriptive, correlational, non experimental, experimental and review. In present investigation,
descriptive research design and correlational research design has been used by which media
analysis using three distinctive themes will be conducted along with questionnaire analysis. This
design will help in analysing the collected data effectively and in detail. In the present research,
two methods are used which are qualitative and quantitative. In the case of qualitative,
correlational design will be used and the reason behind selecting this design is that it helps in
observational study and it is important for conduct such study when analysing the media themes
of television, newspaper and radio.
Sampling: For this research which intends to analyse perception of public, the sampling
strategy of random sampling is used in which 50 random people from the public are selected and
used for conducting the survey. The rationale behind selecting this strategy is the nature of
central research question which requires random people so that their perception can be analysed.
It is the procedure of statistical analysis in which a small number of respondents are selected
from a large population (Mackey and Gass, 2015). The aim behind this process is to select a set
of respondents which can represent whole population so that it will be easier and cost effective
for the investigation. Sampling is usually used for small scale investigations and there are
various strategies by which the process of sampling can be conducted. These strategies are
simple random sampling technique, cluster sampling, multistage sampling, stratified sampling
and systematic random sampling. All these techniques of sampling are used according to the
nature of the investigation and the intended outcomes which researcher desires (Riedl, Davis and
Hevner, 2014).
Sample size is the act of selecting the number of respondents who will be used to
conducting the survey (Quinlan and et. al., 2019). For the present investigation, a total of 50
respondents will be used to ask 10 questions about their perception of how media presents
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violent crime. The reason behind selecting the sample size of 50 people is that it can assist in
procuring effective results and response.
Data collection is the procedure of collecting data from various sources. For the present
investigation, two data collection techniques are selected which are survey and thematic analysis
(McCusker and Gunaydin, 2015). The data collection technique of survey is used to conduct
quantitative analysis in which a questionnaire having close ended questions will be used. The
second data collection technique which is the thematic analysis is used to conduct qualitative
research in which three media themes are selected which are then analysed to using the
information in newspaper articles.
Qualitative Pilot (Media Analysis)
Theme 1 – How accurate people perceive the violent crime news presented in television
From the newspaper articles, it has been analysed that people highly trust the news which
they see in television. According to the article of C. E. Wilson and D. M. Howard, around 51.7%
viewers of television news are reliable on the violent crime news they see in Television. The
reason behind the high reliability status of the television news is the combination of audio and
video graphics which viewers experience and trust the visuals which they see. More than half of
the population has responded that they believe on the crime news which is presented in the
television as it also showcases the proof of visuals which incline people to trust.
Theme 2 - How accurate people perceive the violent crime news presented in newspaper
From the newspaper articles it has been observed that less number of people trust the
violent news which they see in newspaper. The statistics in the news article say that around
31.9% of the people believes on which they see in newspaper. The major reason behind low trust
on the violent crime news showed in newspaper is the lack of audio evidence. All the statements
from the witnesses are showed which are manually edited by the article editors leaves low
reliability and the viability of the news. The statistical figure of 31.9% is still considerate as the
newspaper is the oldest form of presenting news due to which there are still high number of
people which consider newspaper as a trusted mode of violent crime news.
Theme 3 - How accurate people perceive the violent crime news presented in radio
From the newspaper articles, it is evidently seen that there are low number of people
which trust the violent crime news presented by the medium of radio. The element which is
analysed to be the reason behind this low perceive ness is the lack of evidence and use of fake
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voices which are used by radio mediums in order to attract people. The cruelty of violent crimes
can only be judged when it is seen and observed by the people. Radio only provides audio by the
radio jockeys which re narrate the crime incident they observed which makes it a second hand
news and thus considered as un reliable by the majority of the population.
Reliability and validity or research: This part of research method is completely based on
questionnaire. It is an effective instrument of primary data collection which will help investigator
to test reliability and validity of data about the public perception of how media presents violent
crime.
Quantitative Pilot (Qualtrics)
Questionnaire
Q1. What is the percentage of people which trusts the news presented in Television?
a) 0-25%
b) 26-50%
c) 51-75%
d) 76-100%
Q2. What is the percentage of people which trusts the news presented in Newspaper?
a) 0-25%
b) 26-50%
c) 51-75%
d) 76-100%
Q3. What is the percentage of people which trusts the news presented in Radio?
a) 0-25%
b) 26-50%
c) 51-75%
d) 76-100%
Q4. What is the role of media in presenting violent crime?
a) Presents trustworthy news
b) Support their news with evidence
c) Provide immediate news
Q5. What are the modes of media which present violent news?
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a) Television
b) Newspaper
c) Radio
Q6. Which mode is the most trustworthy media of presenting violent crimes news
a) Television
b) Newspaper
c) Radio
Q7. Ways to analyse the perception of public about news of violent crime?
a) Social media
b) Peers
c) Experience
Q8. Does social media influences perception of people?
a) Yes
b) No
Q9. Does public perception is important to influence overall rate of violent crime?
a) Yes
b) No
Q10. Provide recommendations for influencing the public perception…
Critique
The above research proposal has few evident strong and few weak points which make this
investigation limited but effective for few people. The research proposal which has been
developed above has both qualitative and quantitative research methods which makes this
investigation inclined with both QUAL and QUANT (Miller and et. al., 2012). The proposal
developed above includes a thematic analysis in which three media themes are selected which
are later related with the central research question which fulfils the criteria of the research of
being trustworthiness and authenticity as all the content is procured from newspaper articles. The
above proposal also includes a questionnaire which has a total of 10 close ended questions which
increases the investigation’s reliability and validity.
Apart from the above strong points, there are few weak points as well which restricts the
usage of this investigation to the limited number of people. The major weak element of this
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research is small sample for the survey. For the entire population, only 50 people are selected
due to which problem of accuracy and authenticity can affect the outcomes of this research. The
element which could be improved in this research proposal is the media thematic analysis in
which three themes are developed. This section of analysis could be improved if the themes were
analysed using more newspaper articles.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Flick, U., 2015. Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research
project. Sage.
Gioia, D. A., Corley, K. G. and Hamilton, A. L., 2013. Seeking qualitative rigor in inductive
research: Notes on the Gioia methodology. Organizational research methods. 16(1).
pp.15-31.
Green, J. L., Camilli, G. and Elmore, P. B. eds., 2012. Handbook of complementary methods in
education research. Routledge.
Kumar, R., 2019. Research methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners. Sage Publications
Limited.
Mackenzie, J., Tan, P. L., Hoverman, S. and Baldwin, C., 2012. The value and limitations of
participatory action research methodology. Journal of hydrology. 474. pp.11-21.
Mackey, A. and Gass, S. M., 2015. Second language research: Methodology and design.
Routledge.
McCusker, K. and Gunaydin, S., 2015. Research using qualitative, quantitative or mixed
methods and choice based on the research. Perfusion. 30(7). pp.537-542.
Miller, T. and et. al., 2012. Ethics in qualitative research. Sage.
Quinlan, C. and et.al., 2019. Business research methods. South Western Cengage.
Riedl, R., Davis, F. D. and Hevner, A. R., 2014. Towards a NeuroIS research methodology:
intensifying the discussion on methods, tools, and measurement. Journal of the
Association for Information Systems. 15(10). p.4.
Scotland, J., 2012. Exploring the philosophical underpinnings of research: Relating ontology and
epistemology to the methodology and methods of the scientific, interpretive, and critical
research paradigms. English language teaching. 5(9). pp.9-16.
Online
Perceive ness of violent crime news by public. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/aug/04/public-perception-crime-higher>
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