This article argues that media researchers should pay closer attention to the benefits and potential pitfalls of using business press and industry trade journal reports to inform academic research. To date, the use of these secondary sources in scholarly research concerning media industries has received little interest, as demonstrated in a preliminary examination of how academic literature and research methods textbooks treat the business press and trade journal reports. The authors call for a dialogue on this significant oversight, and offer suggestions for how researchers might begin addressing it as media across the globe grow in scope and influence during the 21st century.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore whether public relations professors’ presence on social media and the inclusion of a social media assignment influence students’ perceptions of a course.
Design/methodology/approach
The experimental portion of this investigation consisted of a 2 (the presence or absence of a professor’s social media accounts) × 2 (the presence or absence of a social media assignment) factorial design resulting in four conditions.
Findings
The presence of a social media assignment positively influences students’ intent to register for a public relations course.
Research limitations/implications
The manipulation of a professor’s social media use and the inclusion of a social media assignment might have been too subtle. A more explicit scenario might elicit more reactions from the participants.
Practical implications
This study discussed key findings and best practices for professors who may want to use social media and the use of social media assignments in the classroom.
Originality/value
This experimental investigation emerged from a distinct need to understand whether university students expect their professors to engage in social media activities.
Graphics accompanying online news articles were manipulated between static and dynamic formats. Eye gaze, perception, and memory data were collected as was participants’ arithmetic aptitude (AA). Results suggest that although dynamic graphics are negatively evaluated, high arithmetic aptitude participants attend and recall dynamic graphics more so than those with lower AA who are drawn to and recall better static visuals. Memory and attention to graphics detracted from memory and attention to story text and vice versa.
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