From experience in having to use the diary method I realized format is important in being successful, lots of detail doesn’t essentially mean the diary will be more informative or superior to another as “very long lists may be off-putting”. If a diary is easy to follow the whole process will be much more efficient. It was also evident after completing the research proposal that one week was an appropriate amount of time to collect a sufficient amount of data to realize daily patterns of media use.

During exclaims that everyone has multiple identities and through this he explores the concept of “hybridity” which is effective in challenging the problems that surface with the identification process. An example of this given by During is when he states “it matters a great deal whether an American black person is called a nigger”, although there is one classification for the general group, the people within the group can be identified through many difference races such an African American, Indian, American black etc. Furthermore identities are forever evolving and shaped greatly by our personal understandings and the environment around us, as who we are as a person. Identity has evolved in history which has greatly effected culture. During also emphasizes that one cannot escape their own identity as it is with us from when we are born and it is impossible to live without it. I think that to some extent our identities are shaped by society e.g following trends, however I believe we also play a significant part in creating our own identities as most people have different values and beliefs that make them different to the person next to them.

Throughout peoples’ lives their identity is always altering and mutating and being manipulated by choice or not. It is evident that teenagers going through there teen years they are trying to find their identity. People dress different or follow different life paths in order express their place in society.

The media these days also seems to influence people much easier than in the past. Materialism is a factor that greatly affects the individual peoples identities. New styles or ways of speaking or acting are introduced into society by the media. TV shows have celebrities expressing these new identities and once entertained people try to replicate and fit in.

Yet there cannot be generalization of all society. People build and express their own identities day in day out. And I emphasize identities because of the multiple identities we all hold. “Hybridity” as explained is the variety in people and the multiple identities they have. A lot of the time a persons’ identity is assumed yet there is also another background identity or more to the story which the surface doesn’t tell.

From what I have seen in order to complete a good research process the subject has to be good and dedicated to filling in the diary. Personally I am very bad at keeping up to date with a diary and find myself trying to catch up and remember what I was doing or had done earlier. And so it is essential to get a reliable source who in my case can be dedicated enough to complete a one week diary.

I think the main point of information from the reading is that the diaries should not be only used as the primary source in a research project but used in conjunction with other methods to get a more in depth and detailed conclusion. People find it easy to write down a review of their lives and when combined with something like an interview this resource becomes invaluable as the interviewer and interviewee can draw from the diary information in order to make the interview more comfortable and informative.

As an interviewer, drawing from the subjects’ dairy allows them to get settled into the interview as they can easily relate to what they have already written. And from there it is the job of the interviewer to continue discussing these topics and to probe deeper.

Qualitative research

Weerakkody provides us with various  methods on how to approach the interview we should be undertaking for our research paper with our research subject. The most helpful ones were the interview structures.

There are three types of interview structures:

• Structured: This type of interview has been well prepared and have the same consistency with all participants (the way the interview is undertaken). This will be beneficial for a qualitive research paper, as participants should be answering with specific and detailed answers.
• Semi-structured: This type of interview is probably most common. Most interviewers will have prepared questions, but sometimes will be given answers that need further elaboration. It is necessary for interviewrs who are undertaking this type of interview to have background knowledge of what type of answers they would like to receive, so in the case of a very short answer, they can ask the participant to elaborate further.
• Unstructured: I personally will try to avoid this one, but it’s just basically a list of questions that will be used in the interview, and cannot acquire further elaboration.

Also, Weerakkody gives us the types of questions we should be using during our qualititive research.

• Descriptive: These require a more opinionated responses compared to others, and will be very useful when collecting views on how media affects their everyday life.
• Structural: These are more specific questions, which focus on a certain key area of a discussion in which an interviewer may want to address.
• Contrast: This a comparative approach, where the interviewer will ask the participant to compare a form of media with another.

This week’s readings were based upon our research paper, and I found them really useful as it gave me a clear direction to where I wanted my lead my research paper.

Through this reading and explanation of the different styles of research interviews including structures, semi structured and unstructured, I have decided to use the semi-structured in my assessment. This interview protocol Weerakkody describes the advantages to be that it provides the researcher “freedom and flexibility” (167) to add and divert from prepared questions. Also he argues that is provides a “mixture of both the respondent’s and researcher’s point of view” (167) compared to a structured interview which mainly consists only “the researcher’s point of view and language rather than those of the respondents”. (167). He also outlines different types of descriptive, structural and contrast qualitative interview questions such as “experience question” and “natural language questions”.

Depth Interviews seems to be the best type of genre of interview to apply for this assessment. It applies the semi-structured format and Weerakkody states that it is “often used in media and communications research” (178) he goes onto explain how it is an attempt to obtain the opinion of the respondent on a topic and “seek as much detail as possible about the research subject’s view on the topic via their opinions expressed” (178).

Weerakkody argues the advantages of using the interview process is that it best suited for individualized and sensitive issues, while the disadvantages lie in the interviewer’s bias by using things such as “loaded or leading questions” and the interviewees “social desirability effect” where they try to make themselves look good or give the answers that they think the interviewer wants to hear.

The second reading outlines how to write a qualitative research paper, which is extremely helpful when it comes to our assessment. Liamputtong states that “There are a number of techniques to observe when writing good qualitative research papers,” (317) and then goes onto explain these. He points out how qualitative papers tend to be longer than quantitative and include quotes and extended case studies as examples of their theoretical frameworks. He also goes to explain the different structure strategies that one can apply in writing their paper: -

1. Findings are given without comments of interpretations and then the interpretations can be discussed later on in the discussion section
2. Interpretations can be added to a point in order to make connections between lines of evidence and then further detail in the discussion section
3. The results and discussion of each point may need to go together if an in-depth discussion is required

Liamputtong argues that we are writing for an audience and we must cater our paper to that audience. This includes which format we apply, as either an article or report. He also emphasizes the point that we must “construct writing that is as ‘readable’ as possible” and that our argument must take the reader step by step through our points and that understanding is the key in the communication process.

Ultimately Liamputtong argues that “It is our moral obligation to write after we have completed our research” (329) making us aware that this process we go through important and must be refined in order to “communicate the important issues from our research to wider audiences” (329). This is the ultimate key and purpose behind any research and must be kept in mind at all time. Our purpose is to inform a wider audience and thus our format, layout and language must reflect this.

The readings by Werrakkody and Liamputtong explore qualitative research and qualitative writing while including the process of how each is undertaken which will help in our final assessment.

Weerakkody examines different methods of research interviewing which can be employed in different circumstances depending on the amounts and depth of information wanted.  These levels include:

Structured interviews can be closed or open ended questions which are mainly used as quantitative research and “carry the researcher’s point of view and language rather than those of the respondent.

Semi-structured interviews differ from structured in the way that they allow more flexibility in the way the questions are worded and asked, they are usually open ended.

Unstructured interviews are of a qualitative nature and require additional study as they are only suggestive to the topic being explored rather than have set questions which enables the interviewer to use any language he/she would think necessary in gaining the most information.

Weerakkody also discusses the important methods needed to be undertaken by the interviewer in order for an interview to be most effective and successful. He states, “the most important aspect…is to be able to listen to the interviewee.” Engaging with the answers shows interest verbally and with body language and also means you can learn more about the interviewee as well as add to the depth of your future questions.

Weerakkody also states that there are also advantages and disadvantages of qualitative research interviews. Although qualitative research is suitable for “controversial, sensitive or confidential issues” it is however open to interviewer bias and also the social desirability effect, “that is interviewees trying to make themselves sound good”. Overal they can also be time consuming and costly. Further explored are the genres of qualitative research which include ethnographic conversations, narrative interviews and post modern interviews which are used in social science research.

To finish, Liamputtong details qualitative writing which is an important aspect of research as the information collected has to be transformed into reports to be read. Qualitative and quantitative writings are different from each other as qualitative writing contains a persuasive argument to reinforce the topic and contest opposing information put forward.

The discussion in the lecture enabled me to realise how much more there was to advertisements. When we watch television, we merely just watch advertisements and think nothing of them. However, these advertisements have many hidden meanings and intentions from the producers to the consumers.  This is done through the signifier (the physical form of meaning) and signified (the associated meanings). For example, in the tutorial, we discussed how femininity and masculinity is portrayed by the media. Femininity includes the colour pink, flowers, long hair etc, whereas masculinity is portrayed through strength, toughness, muscles etc. These are consequences of  ‘overused representations’ by the socio-cultural methods of language.

We need to realise that there are many factors which contribute to how we interpret messages that are placed within advertisements. Media producers, as well as journalists, have taken advantage of this through the use of manipulation of signs and words. They contribute to the moulding of conventional meanings throughout society.

It was refreshing to read the article “signs and meaning” as it, unlike every other week’s reading, didn’t refer to media technology.  Instead Schirato and Yell’s article explored semiotics (the study of signs), the role and meaning of signs in our everyday life and how they contribute to our understanding of media.   

The creator of any sign such as a poster or logo will always have an intended meaning to convey as well as a specific interpretation they want from their audience, however depending on social, cultural political contexts reception will vary from person to person. This is evident in the text,   

“Communication cannot be completely controlled by the intention of the sender”.

“The meaning of a word is determined entirely by its context. In fact, there are as many meanings for a word as there are contexts of its use”.

The demographic factors such as age and sex will influence how a sign is understood. For example a teenage girl who takes her boyfriend to the movies and during the ads the screen turns red may have feelings of love be evoke while her boyfriend may relate the colour with violence.  Therefore the reception and significance of a sign is not in the hands of the creator but in those who see it.

The notion described above (how media is interpreted by different audiences) was originally a method demonstrated by Ferdinand de Saussure who interpreted semiotics/meaning as, “produced through language systems based on a notion of difference rather than identity’. He breaks the language system down into three parts including signifier, which is the written or spoken word and also how it is visually represented at that time. Also there is the signified which is the meaning or idea expressed and thirdly the sign which is a combination and interaction of the signifier and signified.  Saussure illustrates the sign as an outcome of an arbitrary relationship between the signifier and the signified. For example the signifier of the word “chair” and the concept of “chair” when combined represent a sign.

It is obvious that Schirato and Yell emphasize the significance of semiotics in interpreting media in our lives, everywhere we look there are signs whether they are intended to create meaning or not. I don’t think the purpose of a sign is to just show an idea or meaning for an advertisement but is mainly used to evoke emotions. Different contexts and experiences of a person impact their perception of a sign which is what separates one interpretation to another.  Each audience determines the significance of a sign as to how they personally observe it.

To sum up, it’s crazy how hugely media impacts the meanings that we relate to our experiences, language and words and how an idea of a word can be a sign of media interpretation instead of personal understanding and observation.

Schirato, Tony & Yell, Susan “Signs & Meaning” Communication and Cultural Literacy: An Introduction. Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 2000, 18-33