Mass Communications, Ph.D.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will demonstrate effective writing skills. Students will be able to write clear and correct English. Beyond mechanical competence, their writings should reflect intelligent application of such concepts as diction, economy, syntax, sentence and paragraph structure, transition, organization and tempo. The writing should also capture color, lend credibility and create interest. The student should be able to present complex ideas in understandable terms.
• Students will demonstrate a thorough knowledge of advanced statistics and quantitative research methods. Students will demonstrate a familiarity with research designs, data collection methods (e.g., surveys and polls) and sampling techniques and will be able to organize and conduct complex market research and audience measurement studies. The students also will be familiar with and understand current journalism and mass communications research studies reported in Journalism and Mass Communications Quarterly, Public Opinion Quarterly </i> and other scholarly publications serving the discipline.
• Students will demonstrate a thorough knowledge of mass media theory and theory development. Students will be familiar with contemporary scholarship involving major mass media theories and theory-building.
• Students will demonstrate a thorough knowledge of mass media legal research methods. Students will be familiar with the process of legal research, including the use of cases, administrative regulations, law review articles and other resources available in the University’s law library and online
• Students will demonstrate a thorough knowledge of mass media historical research methods. Students will be familiar with the process of historical research, including the use of primary materials, appropriate databases and other resources available in the University’s libraries and online.”Students will demonstrate an understanding of the mass media as social institutions. Students will be able to relate mass communications processes and effects to politics, culture and society in general. Students will be familiar with attitude and public opinion formation. Students will be able to discuss such matters as violence in electronic media, freedom to advertise versus consumer rights and expectations, and issues related to audience diversity.
• Students will demonstrate a thorough knowledge of professional ethics and ethical issues. Students should be able to competently discuss current ethical issues related to the mass media, including conflicts of interest, sensationalism, misleading advertising, perpetuation of sexist and racist stereotypes in the media and relationships with news sources. Students should be able to think through and take a personal position on contemporary ethical problems and begin to develop a personal philosophy of professional behavior.
• Students will demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the theory and practice of university-level instruction. Current doctoral students will comprise the vast majority of the professorate in the years to come. Doctoral students, therefore, will be familiar with university-level teaching methods and philosophies. They will also be familiar with the academic culture and the obligations of faculty governance expected of faculty members in an institution of higher learning.