Sample 10: Research Project - sensationalized rumors (or tabloids)

Sometimes you can actually have fun with research. I was able to trick some students on campus with false entertainment news. The conclusion of this research also showed me that results don't always confirm one's hypothesis.






Conclusion
Despite the fact that both the Jonas/Gomez story and the Will Smith story were false, approximately one third of the respondents thought the news story were true. Thus the hypothesis that online news sources will affect a story's believability with readers is only partially confirmed. Instead the results show that the format of each story is very identifiable. People in this age group are habitual Internet users with immediate access to news from standard news providers such as CNN.com and tabloid news providers such as TMZ.com. Not only are they able to identify the source they have also formed an opinion on whether they enjoy one or both of these formats. When the individual responses are looked at, if the story was enjoyed it was most often believed. And if it was not enjoyed it was most often not believed. But it was not just the connection between enjoying the story and believing the story that account for the study’s results. There is also the previous research study that showed that overexposure has made unbelievable stories believable. Today, the Internet, TV and magazines have overexposed viewers to sensational news stories. In addition, the exposure time of the survey could also have contributed to believing mildly unbelievable news. According to the study done by Gibbons, Lukowski and Walker, the exposure of 4 minutes or more expecially when the exposure is simultaneous will make unbelievable news believable. This study duplicates their results.
The questinnaire provided with these two stories allowed the respondent to choose “MAYBE” instead of just “YES or NO.” That was done in order to acknowledge that perhaps over exposure to celebrity news that is created via speculation instead of facts has desensitized the public to the point that a “YES or NO” answer would have been problematic for the respondent. When the surveys were analyzed the “MAYBE” response was even with the “YES or NO” responses for both the Jonas/Gomez story and the Will Smith story. Perhaps the first statement of the Jonas/Gomez story best describes this study result. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

Sample 9: Conducting Research - Impact of Karate Classes

The curriculum for Communication majors provides opportunities to conduct research at the under graduate level. The research required using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The research on the impact of karate classes gave me an opportunity to return to the Karate school where I had received my black belt. It was fun getting to see my former instructors and talking to the current students and their parents.


HYPOTHESIS
Children who participate in Martial Arts Classes are directly influenced to improve their academic, psychosocial and physical abilities.



III. DESIGN
I chose the descriptive method of research to either prove or disprove the hypothesis. The first decision to be made about the survey was whether the martial arts student, the student’s parent or a teacher should complete the survey. Because I believe that the parent is the person best able to observe a wide variety of changes in the martial arts student, I created a parental survey. Next, a list of potential changes was created by surveying the background literature about the affects of martial arts classes on children. Both positive and negative affects were included. Lastly, in order to prevent biasing the people surveyed, the survey allowed for three different options for each potential affect. The survey asked the parent to decide if the factor in question either improved (increased), worsened, (decreased) or no change. A comment section was available for the parent to provide explaination or expansion upon the three options. Demographic information required for this survey was: who filled out the survey, the mother or father; the age and sex of the martial arts student; and the length of time the student had attended the karate school.
As the survey was being created I decided that I needed an additional method of data collection to actually make the conclusion that the hypothesis was proved or not proved. The parental survey all by itself could not be used to identify or quantify the direct influence that the martial arts teacher has on the student. Through observation, I hope to document examples to support Dr. Binder’s conclusion, “it is likely that inclusion of non-physical aspects of the martial arts during training or the instructor’s positive role model or both play a role in promoting long term changes.” During my observations of five different karate classes over two days, I was looking for examples of the two tools of persuasion and examples of strategies of persuasion.

Sample 8: Barryade

After viewing our first commercial, we learned to improve our second collaboration. The script, the sound and the graphics were better.

Sample 7: Sonic Commercial

Our two man team created two television commercials. We needed to script, storyboard, film, act and edit. We needed a little help from our family and friends, but we are very proud of having seen our projects through from beginning to end.

Writing for Broadcast - Newscast

Writing, filming and editing on a school deadline is a lot like that in the work environment. You will see my reporting near the end of this 5 minute news cast.

Sample 6: Photo Shop Sports Illustrated

The New York Yankees are my favorite sports team. So when I was asked to create a magazine cover using photoshop, I could not resist.

Sample 5: Photoshop Mario

Photoshop is a very useful tool for professional and personal activities. This was made using three different pictures that I was able to make into one.