Conversation with Dr.Assaf on Research

On Friday, October 20th

Introduction:

On Friday, October 20th, we had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Assaf. Some background on  Dr. Assaf is that she earned her Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis in disabilities studies from Chapman University. She also holds an M.A. and a B.A. in Communications with an emphasis in public relations from Cal State Fullerton. In addition, she is an Assistant professor from the Department of Communications at California State University Fullerton. She teaches public relations and entertainment courses in the undergrad communication program. 

Read more…: Conversation with Dr.Assaf on Research

During the interview, she spoke on various research topics, such as mental health, social media, and sports in the eyes of communication and the impact/effect. The inquiry was based on her experience conducting research, the type of study it was, why she chose to research that topic, problems during the research process, interesting findings from the research, and advice she would give new researchers and students. 

Q: Can you give us a quick summary of your research?

Dr. Assaf’s research consists of mental health and mass media with a spefic focus on the representation of mental health on social media platforms. Using a qualitative research approach, she dives into the intricate ways in which mental health and various disabilities are portrayed in the media. Dr. Assaf uses her background in disability studies to help navigate her through her research. A central theme of her research follows the concern of misrepresentation of mental health in the media, prompting her investigate more about the issue. 

Q. How did you come up with this research? What is the reason for choosing mental health?

Dr. Assaf stated that the reason for coming up with this research was because it was an academic requirement for her graduate program. She stated, “a lot of communication is coming out on stress and mental health.” Secondly, she was diagnosed with anxiety and depression; a family member was also diagnosed with other mental health issues. Dr. Assaf shares that mental health has been overlooked/underrepresented and wants to bring awareness of mental health. It was joint research by having mass media and mental health in her research. 

Assaf, E. A. (2020). Hidden Power: Journalistic Representations of Mental Health Labels[Doctoral dissertation, Chapman University]. Chapman University Digital Commons. https://doi.org/10.36837/chapman.000137

Q. How did you conduct your research? Surveys, interviews, groups?

In one of her research studies, she used a lot of content analysis but also used it as qualitative research. She stated she liked storytelling because that is a way she communicates with people better. Also, getting to know other’s stories. Regarding content analysis, Dr.Assaf analyzed in her research study how phrases and words were used in the texts using articles based on how authorities like police officers and law enforcement communicated on mental health. 

Q: What problems arise when conducting your research?

While conducting her research, Dr. Assaf discussed the problems that she faced. She explained how her main problems came from the committee’s that she worked for. They wanted her to prioritize things they thought were important and interesting, rather than ideas of her own. She went on to explain how people in charge had specific requirements to be met which sometimes conflicted with her research process. Some examples were stringent guidelines and a rigorous review process in which she had to abide by. If an editor wanted something changed, she would have to change it. While sometimes Dr. Assaf found herself annoyed with these rules, she admitted there were times where the feedback improved her study. In terms of textual analysis with publicly accessible content, Dr. Assaf noted she had to avoid hyperlinks since they were subject to editing or had a possibility of “dying.” She considered screen grabs and pdfs as more reliable alternatives. Despite these challenges, Dr. Assaf relied on her creative problems solving and adaptability to overcome these obstacles. 

Q: What has been the impact of your research?

Dr. Assaf’s research has had a great impact on various aspects of her academic and professional career. It played a major role in her having her current job as a professor and graduating with a doctorate degree. Her interdisciplinary approach has allowed her to have meaningful conversations with a variety of different groups such as students, faculty, mental health advocates, journalists, and many more. Dr. Assaf aims to inspire and bring positive change to her peers while fostering awareness at the same time. As her research continues to develop, Dr. Assaf hopes to expand her outreach to a larger audience while making a significant contribution to the work she is passionate about.

Q: What were the most interesting findings in your research? 

Upon hearing this question, Dr. Assaf reflected on her authoritative research in journalism. She initially was researching representations of mental health in journalism. With a deeper approach, she started to look directly at who was making the quotes and comments or which people were specifically cited. She noticed a common factor that all of these people had. She found these people to be law enforcement and legal individuals like lawyers and judges. Dr. Assaf realized that journalists would normally be receiving their quotes from these authoritative figures and found it interesting considering the role journalists have as the “gatekeepers”. Another thing that Dr. Assaf found interesting, although it wasn’t a finding in her research but through a literature review, was that 6 out of 10 people don’t read beyond a headline. She considered this problematic as headlines can give a false view to what the whole article is actually about. She talks about how this is typical of people as it is realistically hard to expect people to read everything that they come across. Through her research she found that people can have strong opinions just based on a headline, which is where it can seem more alarming. By only reading the headlines, people are not including the context, which Dr. Assaf believes in the key to understanding information. 

Q: What advice would you give to new researchers?

The first piece of advice Dr. Assaf would give to new researchers is picking a topic that is worth your interest. Doing a full blown study that could take months or years to do, she explains that you would need to research something that you could sustain your interest in for the duration of the study. She talks about how a short-lived interest would make it harder to finish the study since it’s harder to put in research and effort into a topic that you’re interested in anymore. From generally doing the study, to trying to get your research published, and revising for the publications, it takes a lot of time to complete your research. She said that “it’s a time-consuming process..you want to make sure that you’re still interested in it years down the road.” She added another piece of advice, which is that your data set is appropriate for the time period that you are conducting your research. She talks about finding that “sweet spot” of having enough data to look at and analyze, where your findings are also substantial, but also not overwhelming yourself with so much data that you can’t complete within a certain time period.