Izabella Hernandez, Pamela Serna, Sophia Morales, Rachel Rosales.
Our group chose to interview Bayla Gomberg, a communications scholar with a master’s degree from California State University, Fullerton. Bayla shared her journey through communications research, which began with her undergraduate studies as an advertising major. Initially drawn to social media topics, she developed a strong interest in understanding body image, the influence of celebrity culture, and the effects of parasocial relationships in online spaces. Her early curiosity about how social media affects self-perception and identity sparked a desire to conduct research on these themes.
During our discussion, Bayla explained how she approached developing a focus for her projects, describing the challenges and rewards of honing in on specific areas within communications. For Bayla, finding her research path meant paying close attention to the questions that intrigued her. She connected each topic with a research question, then linked that question to a specific behavior, allowing her to dive deeper into the nuances of social media’s impact. By following what interested her most, she built a foundation for exploring new ideas, seeking to understand the complex interactions between media and individuals. This method, she emphasized, was crucial in guiding her studies and refining her focus.
Our conversation offered a valuable look at Bayla’s commitment to exploring real-world questions through academic research, and it underscored the importance of personal passion in selecting and sustaining a research focus. Her journey highlights how pursuing specific questions can illuminate larger trends in communications.
During our conversation, Professor Gomberg highlighted her experience with research and particularly content analysis. She elaborated on image collection for content analysis and creating themes and ideas based off of findings. In her specific area of study she mentions research on body image and the brand Skims. Through the content analysis that was conducted Professor Gomberg looked at different brands that sell shapewear and the different images that could persuade people. When explaining this process she also emphasizes the use of decoding and how it’s important when creating different analyses from the different images and content collected. Bayla also recommended using theories that you understand and know to apply rather than one that you are not as familiar with.
When asked about any challenges she may have faced when collecting data she specifies a few different scenarios. When collecting data at the University level Professor Gomberg says having a wide age range in the population was difficult. Since most students working on a group project range from 18-24, similarly, the people taking the survey were the same age because it’s either peers taking the survey or the people you interact with on social media who are also a similar age. When it comes to content analysis Professor Gomberg explained how “objective opinion” became an issue because when looking at content and different images it’s difficult to not view it with your own opinion. She advises to be critical of the images you are analyzing for content analysis. Finally, when it comes to conducting focus groups at the college she states that it can be expensive and time consuming. Getting everyone to agree on times and be able to meet can be a hassle. Bayla also elaborates on how the opinions of the focus group members can affect each of their responses. If they feel judged, embarrassed, or like they are not in a safe space, their answers may not be as truthful. She addresses this by stating the importance of being organized with your questions, and creating a safe environment where the participants can freely and truthfully provide the data needed.
Professor Gomberg provided much needed insight of the importance of content analysis and how to navigate the difficulties that come with trying to collect data and gather volunteers to participate.
https://www.semrush.com/blog/dynamic-content/
Professor Bayla Gomberg has really given us some valuable insight into how to conduct a research project and the benefits and challenges that come with it. For instance, in selecting participants for surveys or focus groups, she says that it really depends on what your research question is. For example, if your research question focuses on social media, then you would find your research participants on social media. Or if you are looking for someone who has seen a particular movie, there might be a possible chance that they might not be on social media, so you would have to extend your search to a physical place such as Walmart or better yet, a forum or a website that does movie reviews. Then you would have to find a specific target audience for your research like a certain age demographic and you would hope to collect “enough people in that age range.” Professor Gomberg has also advised us to not limit your survey research to one website and instead post it on a bunch of different websites because you want a good population and/or sample size from around the world or nationwide. The main important lesson she told us she has learned about participant recruitment is to be organized and to “be on the same page as your other researchers.” And that you’re always trying to get to your target audience and understand them from their level; rather than just being “the researcher on the other side of the screen.” In the end, you are trying to get the most authentic response from your research participants.
For specific tools and/or software she uses for data organization and analysis, she recommends using Qualtrics through the Cal State Fullerton website. As you can easily type out which question you want and get the answers selected; you could also design it to make it look professional and once it is posted, you could actually see the responses coming in live as you want to make sure that people are “learning and doing what you need them to do.” She mentions that with Qualtrics, since you are using quantitative data, it tells what the results equal to a certain amount of percentage and it does all the math for you, so you are not spending a lot of time adding up the responses that amount to the percentages. Finally, you could change those results to what is more visually pleasing to the eye and what could you understand better through pie charts, graphs, etc. For presenting the results, Professor Gomberg used Google Decks and copied and pasted the results onto those decks and explained what the results mean.
Additionally, what Professor Gomberg recommends to ensure that your data findings are reliable and reflect accurate insights, is to look at the data, the research question, and the majority of people who responded in a specific way. However, she emphasizes to look at the responses that were the opposite result of what you were expecting or have a very low percentage as well because, in her own words, “just because something is a majority, does not mean that is everybody and that is not the most important part of the research.” You have to look at the minority results and ask yourself, why did so many people not find it this way? Or not behave in this sense? As it really depends on what you’re researching, it is important to look at both sides of it and to “dive deep” into the participant’s answers rather than just looking at the numbers. The true explanations of your percentages is what brings your research to another level, in contrast with just saying, “here’s the results!”
In sum, Professor Gomberg’s answers on conducting your own research was really helpful and insightful to our future research projects within the communications major.
Some of the main takeaways I had after our discussion with Professor Bayla Gomberg were that the most important part of doing research is ensuring that you are organized and have a plan before you even start collecting different kinds of data. She especially emphasized the importance of being organized in group projects as well because, when working in a group setting, it can be very easy to get lost. By making sure that everyone is on the same page, everything will be more cohesive when it comes to the way you work together, conduct research, and write your essay.
One statement that Professor Gomberg made that really stood out to me was when she said, “The theory drives the research and really provides support to the entire argument you’re trying to make. Without the theory, the argument wouldn’t really be an argument.” This highlights the importance of understanding the theory you are using and explaining your results as if you were explaining them to a two-year-old, making them clear and concise. She also mentioned that it’s okay to keep it simple when conducting a study; for this reason, it’s fine to choose one specific aspect to deeply explore in your research. Focusing on one variable can help break things down, and it’s okay not to address every single question you posed in your research unless specifically recommended by a professor.
Overall, she advised us to research different topics and challenge ourselves to collect data in various ways, such as through focus groups and exploring different subject areas.
Link to our youtube interview with Bayla Gomberg:
The Society for Communications Research 