Impact of communications research on society

I believe that it is always good to have communications researchers impress upon undergraduate students the difference that communications research can make on society. 

 It was good to have Dr. Amanda Watson from the Australian National University come do a session with the CA4 students during my tutorial class on the impact of research on society. She was in Madang doing her research and is a visiting academic from ANU. We had invited her to come talk to our CA4 student on the importance communications research on society. 

She spoke of two examples of her research work on the Sim card registration in PNG that happened a couple of years ago and also on the Coral Sea submarine cables. 

-Here is her work on the submarine cables published on Marine Policy, Volume 178, August 2025: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X25001502?via%3Dihub 

Here is one of the research on the Sim Card Registration published in the Pacific Journalism Review, Volume 26, Issue 1, 2020: here https://scispace.com/pdf/mobile-phone-registration-in-papua-new-guinea-will-the-75yxa2gtg3.pdf

She also pointed out that as final year research students, there is an opportunity to showcase their work through writing journal articles, symposium presentations, etc so that the public becomes aware of their research. 

 

She pointed out that the recommendations part of their research should highlight changes thus could impact society such as policy changes, further research, practical work and methodological changes. 

Dr. Amanda once taught in the CA Department here at DWU sometime around 2004-2007. She is currently a visiting academic maintaining the partnership between DWU and ANU. 

Presenting Passion, Purpose, and Research

 Tonight marked the end of a long process to getting communication arts students to focus their research into communication/media studies. 

After Dr. Aime passed on, I was given the research unit to teach. One of my first steps was to make sure that students focused on their area of study - communication/media. Over the years, many students had placed their focus of their research into social areas. They did their research on water and sanitation, domestic violence, elections, primary school education, language loss, gun violence, etc. These were good areas to look at but they often missed having a communication or media component to it. Why study communication/media over 3-4 years and not focus on its key aspects?

So in semester 1 of 2025, when I took this students for a unit called CA418 Media and Communication Theories my main focus was to help students understand that they could use media/communications theories as a lens to look at communication/media problems in their respective social study. For example, if a student decided to study how students in primary schools used their lunch money, then the student would choose a communication theory to examine the problem. This process of learning was hard because it meant looking at definition of theory, their components and then understanding how they could use them. This led to the development of theoretical and conceptual frameworks in their research. 

Then in Semester 2 in PG317 Research Methods, the students were then introduced to the concepts of rationale for research, research perspective, research design and methods. The unit was coordinated by Sr. Miriam Dlugoz and department in our Faculty had a tutor. I took on the role of the tutor. I also began to look at social research a bit more and books by Creswell and also Crotty became important reading material for me. At the end of semester, they were to write a research proposal and get ethical clearance from the Faculty Research Committee to endorse and approve their study. 

Over the holiday the students collected data and when they returned for first semester in 2026, they took the unit PG427 Data Analysis and Report Writing. In this unit they began to prepare their data, analyse their data and then develop their findings using themes (thematic analysis). Again it is an intensive process which required a greater understanding of how data analysis works and how it can have an effect on their findings. At the end of the semester, they have to produce a 6,000-8,000 word report. I often use the term dissertation but maybe a better word would be just a report. 

So tonight was the night where they presented their research findings to the fellow students including their friends, family and supporters. It was great to see them present and many presented really well. 

The CA4 Class of 2026

One of the presenters sharing their research 

For undergraduate students, this is their first taste of academic research. Some may find their passion in this kind of work and others might not and gravitate towards other journalism skills. Its been a long couple of semesters for these students but its been worth it. For myself this research methods and writing process over three semester has actually made me appreciate the importance of proper academic research. I knew a small bit about research but this couple of semesters have actually helped me understand the research process better. 

MFD at Lutheran Day 26

 Yes it is another Media Freedom Day!

This year I was assigned to Lutheran Day Primary School. I went with the students and they did their thing and I took pictures. I'll let the photos do the talking here:

I love these young people' energy. They are excited and ready to go. Its always a pleasure to teach them.