Theme 3: Research and theory (before)

I believe the journal called “Journal of communication” edited by Malcolm Parks is important for media technology research while all sorts of communication is a central area in media technology. The journal publishes articles about communication theories and research. Some examples of articles are insurgent propaganda, cultivation theory, interactivity in online news discussions, the twitterization of news making, social networks and popular understanding of science and health and the power of writing in organizations: from letters to online interactions. The journal is published every second month and is peer-reviewed and has the impact factor of 2.011.

“The benefits of Facebook “friends:” social capital and college students” is a paper about finding out the relationship between the social network site Facebook and the formation and maintenance of social capital.

The paper proposes several hypotheses which are clearly stated. It is a bit unclear in the beginning, while they are written after a quite long introduction. The hypothesis are as well not gathered together, but separated by text.  On the other hand, the relationships between them are well outlined as well as the explanations and theoretic parts. The main hypothesis are “Intensity of Facebook use will be positively associated with individuals’ perceived bridging social capital.” and “Intensity of Facebook use will be positively associated with individuals’ perceived bonding social capital.”The background information is integrated in the introduction and hypothesis questions. This is at first sight a bit confusing, but the structure suits the paper. The research method used in the paper is quantitative methods since they use a survey for collecting all kinds of data from the college students regarding they use of Facebook and internet and personal information. To measure different aspects, they use scales which are clearly shown. Graphic pictures are used to present the data. The figures are very small, which make them difficult to read and understand. The data is also integrated in text. In the discussion the main question is discussed. The findings are as well brought up and also some theoretical findings. A slightly odd thing is that limitations and future research is also included in the discussion. These parts should maybe have been in the end of the paper. One of the main conclusions is that there is a connection between Facebook usage and social capital which is also positive (which is stated in the hypothesis). Overall a good research paper and is easy to follow. 

1. Briefly explain to a first year university student what theory is, and what theory is not.

Theory is explanations of something, tested through scientific methods. Theory is how something can be done and why something is what it is to get an understanding. Theory is not only statements, hypothesis, methods or just data.  

2. Describe the major theory or theories that are used in your selected paper. Which theory type (see Table 2 in Gregor) can the theory or theories be characterized as?

The major theory in the paper is that Facebook usage has positive connections with the social capital and is in some way proved by the survey and the analysis of the collected data. According to the table it would probably be the number three “Prediction” while it says what it is and has testable propositions but does have well-developed justificatory causal explanations.

3. Which are the benefits and limitations of using the selected theory or theories?

A benefit of the theory “prediction” is that “it says what it is” and can give an answer and state. The limitation of the theory on the other hand is that it doesn’t use any well-developed justificatory explanations which mean that the theory can’t apply on every similar case and make a generalization.