Response to Myself

Earlier in the week we all posed several questions to our classmates and ourselves, expecting to have them answered and I think through the reading and class discussion I can handily answer most of my own questions.

To my first question regarding timeliness of studies and how in depth they can go, there really is no set answer. Through the discussions of several theories, it has become clear that no method is perfect and all studies can be shattered by another study that is done with more thought or more research. We discussed Einstein briefly in class and one of his most famous quotes follows: “The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality…” This quote alone says it all.

We should never be satisfied with the information we are given through research. In saying that, I believe that every study has some form of heuristic value. No matter how valid or falsifiable a study is, it has the possibility to get our brains working. It is only when we stop questioning that our need for research has ceased to exist. To me, heuristic value is somewhat of a cyclical process because once the information has been displayed, even if we don’t realize it, the new information is locked in our subconscious.

Take the discussion we had in class about Political Economy of the Media. None of us really had thought about several corporations controlling everything that we see in the media, but as soon as the idea was brought up, there were hundreds of ideas running around in the classroom, trying to make sense of what we were discussing. It is through this and other examples that I say research is never finished and methods can always be improved upon.

As to my question regarding online survey vs. written survey, I feel a study is immediately assumptive if it expects all of its sample to be able to partake in an internet survey. With a written survey or telephone questionnaire, it is much easier for everyone to have an equal chance to answer. Researchers would be making the same assumption with an online survey as the researchers behind the cultivation theory, assuming everyone is the same, with no thought into background, ethnicity, etc. Although an online survey might be quicker, if you want to reach the best sample, other survey techniques would serve the findings better.