The Society for Communications Research

Interview With Robert Meeds: Qatar and News

November 5, 2024 oliviamorris123Leave a comment

By: Olivia Morris, Sheyda Ebrahimi, Cyrus Tavakkoly, & Mhaczyne Chu De Castro

November 5, 2024

Q1: What was your time like in Qatar?

So I lived in Qatar for 4 and a half years, got there on New Years Eve in 2010 and left in the middle of 2015 for 4 and a half years. My son was born there. It was a very interesting place to live, I mean it’s hot and dusty; uber conservative but it has a thriving expat community. The money was way better than I’ll ever make in any other academic appointment. You can travel and all that kind of stuff so it was a very cool place to live.

Q2: What made you come to the conclusion that you wanted to conduct research about how people received their news in Qatar?

The real practical reason was that Qatar University had very good funding for conference attendance, only you had to have a paper accepted. So I was trying to figure out a paper to write to get accepted to these various conferences that would be in Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan, and these places I wanted to go so I started writing papers. In my main area- Advertising research, that’s not really a very big or popular research in the Khaleeji Region in the middle east and so I was trying to figure out something else to do and I found out that there was this really good data set that was available that nobody was using and I thought, well, i’m going to look into that because it was a really rich resource, that people weren’t using and so, I kinda just thought I would troll it for data and see what I can find.

Q3: What type of sampling method did you use to collect the participants?

So this methodology was the research; the surveys were conducted by a professional survey research group. A research foundation that was funded by and housed at Katri university, which is where I work. So there were these people that had worked for top-notch research companies in the US and then, Europe and had this research background, and so, they got grant money from the Katri foundation, which is a very large and wealthy organization that funds a lot of prosocial things in Qatar, and one of the things they wanted to do is fund what they call omnibus survey of life in Qatar. And I don’t know if any of you have ever heard of the general social survey in the US; it is a really big survey that sociologists have been doing, probably since the 1970s, and so they do this survey or modules of it every year. And over time, they’ve developed this incredible database that can show trends data on how values and attitudes and all kinds of things are changing in US society over a period of time because they keep adding to it and also ask a lot of the same questions from year to year so this survey in Qatar was modeled after the US version of the general social survey.

So if you mention that to Dr. Du, I’m sure Dr du will be well aware of the general social survey. And so, anyway, they had all this funding to do this research, and they surveyed, I believe it was over 2,000 people, about 2100 people on this portion of the survey that I was working on the data on, and these were all done in in-person interviews and using a computer-assisted personal interviewing device, so basically, it’s a data collection device on a tablet that administers the survey. Exactly how they sampled it, I’m not entirely clear. It could be that I knew and I don’t remember it could be that I just never knew because in-person sampling, sampling for in-person surveys, often becomes a function of multiple different techniques. One is called snowball sampling, which is where you get some people and then they refer you to others, and refer you to others. That’s not a real statistically strong method of sampling. Could’ve been convenient sampling; I imagine they did hang out at a lot of coffee shops and restaurants, and they did hang out in the malls and things like that and just invited a lot of people, and then there was probably also some invitation through email, text messaging, phone calls, to get people to agree and then let the interviewees come to their home so it was probably, for something that big, a combination of sampling methods.

Q 3.1: Just a follow-up question, in the pre-test assessment, you ruled out migrant laborers from the analysis. Did it affect the overall results?

Probably not because, first off, to understand who the migrant laborers were, and I don’t know if you are that familiar with the population compositions of countries like Qatar and Dubai, things like that. They have, so Qatar for instance, was a population of about 2 million people when I lived there; only about 15% of the population were Qatari nationals. So national citizens from Qatar. The rest were people that were brought in there to work and then they kind of classified the people who were brought into work into two very broad categories. There were the expatriate workers which I was one of those, but these would be mostly people who were working in kind of professional jobs. Management, a lot of stuff in the energy sector. Medicine, education, those are expat workers. Most of the expat workers were from other Arab countries. In the MENA region, North Africa, around the Mediterranean basin, and things like that where you tend to have pretty high levels of education among the Arab-speaking population, but then there were also plenty of European expat workers and things like that. Those were the two groups that were included in the survey. The migrant workers are largely laborers, and they would be, and I don’t know if you’ve followed this, it was kind of a big controversy during the World Cup, but it’s quite controversial how migrant workers are treated in these countries. There’s a lot of promising higher wages than they actually get delivered, there’s a lot of, they get them into the country and then essentially, confiscate their passports so that they can’t leave. There are a lot of human rights issues there, and the people doing this survey wanted and did a lot of interviewing migrant workers to get their perceptions of life in Qatar. However, on the variables that I was looking at as far as media consumption and things like that, there just wasn’t enough. They weren’t even asked those questions because they didn’t have them; they mostly lived in communal housing and did not read newspapers, had very little access, had no general media, and very little general media consumption. Had they had media consumption and been able to be in the survey, may have been a completely different set of results. But they also would’ve been very reluctant to honestly answer questions.

Q4: When conducting this research, how do you determine the sampling error percentage?

So, technically, every question in a survey has its own sampling error, but we usually report the sampling error broadly based on the sample size. I looked it up right before because I couldn’t remember, but the equation… Have you taken any statistics in your research methods class? Okay, so sampling error is calculated using a z-score, which is a standardized score with a midpoint of zero, and each standard deviation is one, or minus one, two, minus two, etc.

The sampling error is calculated as Z, which is based on your confidence interval, and for most surveys, you want a confidence interval of plus or minus 5%. What that means is that within this confidence interval, if people are rating something on a scale of 1 to 10 and the mean is 7, you’re confident that the true mean is within 5% of 7. That’s what a confidence interval represents. So, you take your confidence interval and multiply it by the standard deviation of the population for the variable you’re considering. The standard deviation of the population is divided by the square root of the sample size, and that gives you a percentage.

Q5: Given the nature of the research, did you find it easier to conduct the research using quantitative or qualitative methods?

I’ve always been a quantitative researcher, that’s how I was raised. And with a data set like this it’s intended for quantitative analysis.

Q6: Could you explain the importance of media framing and agenda setting and how that can influence the public’s opinion?

It’s a theory often used in mass communication context and they’re related. The whole agenda setting framework which started I think in the 19780s McCombs and Shaw had a famous article that kind of started this agenda setting model, but there had been for many many years research into people that were thinking that the media in general and news media in particular had these major effects on what people believed, how they voted, how they thought about things, and the research simply wasn’t supporting it. There just was this idea of these major Grand effects, which kind of grew out of the post WWII framework where sociologists and researchers were really concerned about how somebody like Hitler could come along persuade an entire population of country to believe that a set of people were bad and needed to be removed and needed to be exterminated, right. And researchers were like how can somebody be that powerful through their use of the media and they started thinking that media had these profound effects on people but it isn’t necessarily the media that is having these profound effects. And so the agenda setting model kinda started with the idea that maybe the media don’t tell you so much about what to think, but they are pretty good at informing you or informing you in terms of what you think is important. Not so much what to think, but what to think about. If you were to look at political polling right now leading up to the presidential election and I am not sure exactly the order of the top 5, but the top 5 issues across the broad samples of American voters would be the economy, immigration, climate change is actually in the top 5, democracy itself is in the top 5, and I can’t remember the 5th one but that could be an agenda setting effect, depending on what news media you are most paying attention to, which ones they cover the most could influence you in which order is most important So that’s the idea of agenda setting. Framing then gets into how do they characterize the issues and that’s where you get more into liberal media, is it mainstream media, is it conservative media and they may cover the same topics, but they are going to put a vastly different spin on it depending on the political leanings of the people running these news organizations, but also to an extent of the political leaning of the audiences, and trying to feed them information that is consistent with their world view and all media do that so that’s the relationship between agenda setting and framing.

Q7: What language is the news given in in Qatar?

So in Qatar, I guess it depends on which media vehicle you’re talking about. Most of the newspapers were in Arabic only, and then there were two English-language newspapers. Al Jazeera, which is featured pretty prominently in this article, is headquartered in Doha, Qatar, and is quasi-funded by the Qatari government. Al Jazeera essentially has two networks: an English network and an Arabic network. They have different managing editors. The whole top structure is unified, but they are essentially different news divisions under the same name. So, there are different reporters, camera people, producers, and programs between Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera Arabic. Some of the other TV news networks mentioned would be mostly or completely in Arabic, but they come from other countries like Saudi Arabia.

Q8: I think you talked about this a little bit earlier, but based on the research that you conducted in your results what type of surveys would you recommend we use in order to receive the most effective and accurate data?

Meeds: So tell me a little bit more about what you’re doing

Cyrus: Yeah so we wanted to interview students about like where they consume their media and if it shapes their opinion, or we can find that out when we ask them, but we didn’t know the best way to do that, like we could probably go on campus

Olivia: We were also thinking we could do a google survey and send them because we all have different classes and Discord chats we can send them in there but I feel like we would need to have a some sort of incentive for them to do the survey, but i feel like thats a good way to get more people to do it in a different demographic of people if we were to send it out that way instead of going up to everybody on campus and having them answer questions right then and there, would you think that would be a good idea?

Meeds: It very well might be. Are you talking about doing a survey then?

Olivia: Yes making a survey and having them fill it out.

Meeds: Ok so like a quantitative survey you could set it up in qualtrics. You could also go through survey monkey which is pretty cheap, and you can limit it to college students

Olivia: Ok, so narrow it down so it’s not so broad.

Meeds: Right I would have that conversation with Dr. Du, who is more engaged in survey methodologies than I am, most of my research has been behavioral experiments so this whole thing of doing secondary analysis on survey data was a jump in a different direction for me. I’m not a survey researcher. She knows you won’t have a lot of resources and you’re not going to get a huge random sample of respondents.

Olivia: Right and she told us from the beginning that the survey would probably be the easiest for us since one we don’t have a lot of time and two it’s just the easiest way to quickly receive the data that we need so I think she’ll be happy with the survey.

Q9: Why do you think Qatari nationals trust Al Jazeera more than other news channels?

Well, Al Jazeera is kind of the home media. It’s headquartered in Doha. It’s a point of national pride. I mean, Qataris are very proud that Al Jazeera is theirs. And so, they, and I assume they still do, but it is kind of a point of national pride, so it would be natural that they would trust that more so than news sources that were from outside the country. Al Jazeera has been criticized quite a lot for being very pro-Qatar in their editorial stances. As you might expect, but that didn’t necessarily bother the Qataris, so they tended to trust it.

Q10: At the end of the study it was deemed that television was the dominant source for news, looking back from those 10 years how that has changed in both the US and Qatar?

Meeds: the influence of newspapers have a very long and rich heritage in Arab countries even though the models of freedom of the press are quite different than what the US press system was founded on and this was a 2013 paper and I was doing this stuff probably in 2012, which is one of the reasons why I don’t remember it real well, I don’t remember what I had for dinner last night laughs. But even then the influence of newspapers was waning in 2012. The influence of Al Jazeera in particular in television news was very strong but people were starting to consider Facebook as kind of a source of news information, so now Facebook is a bit pase and I’m sure it is in Qatar as well but Twitter was also used quite heavily so I’m sure that if you were to look at it now you would see a lot more reliance on social media for the source of news. I would guess Al Jazeera is still pretty strong in Qatar, but may not be as strong in other Arab countries. One of things about social media that often gets overlooked in it’s role in providing information in developing countries and 3rd world countries is that a lot of people in North Africa, East Africa where there’s a lot of political strife and also a lot of poverty- they may not have access to much traditional media, but they all have phones.

Cyrus: That’s interesting

Meeds: That is a really big link to the outside world and as cheap as phones are, that has made a lot of information available to many many people who maybe didn’t get much information before.

Cyrus: And I did a slight dive into how people- college students specifically, and how they get their news, and most of it has been through social media whether it’s Instagram, or Youtube, a lot of it being third party sources, unlike older generations that use traditional like TV or newspaper and I thought it was pretty interesting how it can shape their perception of world foreign affairs that are going on today

Meeds: Very much so.

Our Interview With Meeds

Interview with Jasmine Phillips Meertins on Institutional Barriers in Relationships with Incarcerated Partners

November 5, 2024November 15, 2024 ceciliaordaz8Leave a comment

ceciliaordaz8

By: Jizelle Hernandez, Alejandra Rodriguez, Cecilia Ordaz

Jasmine Philips Meertins, LinkedIn Profile

Overview

Dr. Jasmine Phillips Meertins is an assistant professor in the Department of Communications at California State University, Fullerton, teaching digital foundations and public relations courses. She holds a B.A. in political science from Yale University, an M.A. in international affairs from George Washington University, and a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Miami. Prior to working at CSUF, Dr. Phillips was an assistant professor at Nevada State College, teaching courses such as Public Relations Campaigns, Case Studies in Public Relations, and Social Media. She was also a Director of Education Abroad at Virginia Commonwealth University and Assistant Director of Study Abroad at the University of Miami, where she led marketing communications to promote international program participation. Dr. Phillips conducts research at the intersection of communication, culture, and media, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods.

During our interview, we focused on Dr. Phillips’ research study, “Institutional Relational Maintenance Barriers and Perceptions of Relationship Quality Among Women With Incarcerated Partners,” which she conducted with her colleagues, who are also scholars with different academic backgrounds. The study highlights how institutional barriers in the prison system affect the relationship quality of women whose male partners are incarcerated. The research focuses on how these barriers impact women’s emotional connections and perceptions of their romantic and co-parenting relationships. Through both quantitative and qualitative methods, Dr. Phillips and her colleagues found that these barriers contribute to women feeling emotionally distant from their partners.

Q: What inspired you to explore the impact of institutional barriers on relationships of women with incarcerated partners?

This research opportunity came about when a colleague of Dr. Phillips, who works in the criminal justice field, approached her with the idea of collaborating on a research project. Dr. Phillips, a scholar in communications, and her colleague recognized the potential for a collaborative approach to studying issues at the intersection of their two fields. They began brainstorming ideas to find a topic where communication and criminal justice issues overlap. They identified an area of interest: how institutional barriers can impact relationships in the criminal justice system. They specifically discussed how communication challenges within the prison system affect relationships between incarcerated partners and their families. This collaborative process allowed them to develop a unique research topic that combined their expertise, leading to the study of “Institutional Relational Maintenance Barriers and Perceptions of Relationship Quality Among Women With Incarcerated Partners.”

Q: What were the demographic characteristics of your study sample, and how did you select participants?

For her study, Dr. Phillips focused on a predominantly female sample. The critical criteria for inclusion were that the participants had to be non-incarcerated women in a romantic relationship with an incarcerated male partner. Additionally, the women also had to have a child with their incarcerated partner. Dr. Phillips did not exclude participants based on age, race, or other demographic variables. The study aimed to capture diverse experiences and perspectives among women navigating relationships with incarcerated partners by maintaining this broad inclusivity. The study allowed for a more comprehensive understanding of these women’s challenges and relational dynamics.

Q: What specific data collection methods did you use to gather information from participants?

Dr. Phillips and her colleagues did not collect the data for this study. She explained that, as a researcher, she had initially assumed she would always gather her own data. However, she learned that in some cases, researchers analyze pre-existing data rather than collecting it firsthand. Dr. Phillips and her colleagues used data from a broader research project focused on incarceration, parenting, and partnership. Gaining access to interview people who are incarcerated or those visiting jails and prisons can be challenging, so they analyzed the interviews the original study conducted. Overall, learning that analyzing existing data was an option was an important insight for her research approach.

Q: Can you describe the process you went through to develop your survey questions? How did you ensure they accurately captured the participants’ experiences?

Dr. Philips discusses the limited control she had in developing the survey questions, which were primarily close-ended, allowing participants only three response options. She emphasizes that in the field of social sciences, complex variables like attitudes, perceptions, and feelings can make it challenging to verify the accuracy of participant responses. By using close-ended questions and Likert scale options, however, the survey design simplified data collection and analysis, providing a more straightforward approach to gathering responses across these nuanced variables.

Q: Why do you prefer qualitative research over quantitative?

Dr. Phillips notes her abilities to be limited in numbers. Therefore, she prefers qualitative research because it enables a more in depth exploration of complex issues. While she acknowledges the strain that a barrier like incarceration could create on interpersonal and romantic relationships, she believes that the emotions and personal stories exist and are important to outline through qualitative methods. She also appreciates the human aspect of qualitative research, it values the meaningful conversations that reveal the participants’ genuine emotions and feelings.

Q:What challenges did you face during the research process, particularly in collecting or analyzing data?

She describes that sometimes you start out with a research question and it doesn’t yield the anticipated results. Initial questions can oftentimes not align with the data that is collected. Dr. Phillips notes that researchers may “reverse engineer it”, by coming up with the results they want and then go on to asking the question. What she and the team did was look at the data set and analyze it in different ways with the hope of uncovering a distinction. Generally, there were certain variables they found not to be significant at all which would result in omitting them or refining the research question in order to understand the data from a different angle.

Phillips Table #1 :Statistical Data

Phillips Table #2

Q: Did you encounter any limitations with your data collection methods? How did you address these limitations in your analysis?

As Dr. Jasmine Phillips mentioned in the interview, one limitation of this study is that the data used was quite old between 2008 and 2014. This made the data less relevant and less applicable to current situations. Dr. Jasmine Phillips also pointed out that this is a quantitative study. There was no way to follow up with participants to clarify or further explore their responses. This made it challenging to understand the reasons behind participant’s answers. In addition, Dr. Jasmine Philips emphasized that the study was a snapshot of one day. It was difficult because it didn’t allow her or her colleagues to track participants from the beginning of their relationships or observe how their views might differ before or after. Dr. Jasmine Phillips concluded her answer by mentioning that this was a longitudinal study and would have been insightful with more varied data.

Q: What specific challenges did the participants identify as most significant in maintaining their relationships with incarcerated partners?

Dr. Jasmine Phillips highlighted that while phone access in prison is often seen as a basic issue, it is a significant problem. Many prisons still restrict phone access; when it is available, the cost is astronomical because two or three companies control it. She continues to say that this burden falls heavily on the families outside, particularly on the primary person with income, such as often being women who are also responsible for taking care of children and planning visits. Dr. Phillips added that she supports free phone calls for prisoners and mentions that maintaining contact through these phone calls can play a crucial role in preserving relationships.

Q: How can the study findings help create better support or programs to help women communicate and maintain their relationships with incarcerated partners?

Dr. Jasmine Phillips pointed out that the high cost of phone calls for prisoners harms both relationships and society. While it benefits corporations, it certainly doesn’t help the individuals or families involved, especially when we live in a period where you can easily talk to someone halfway across the world for free. She emphasized the absurdity of continuing to restrict prisoners’ access to communication, as they are already incarcerated and facing numerous challenges. She continues to mention that several states, including California, have begun to address this issue. She believes this is an important issue to pay attention to.

To Conclude…

Dr. Jasmine Phillip’s research highlights how prison-related barriers like expensive phone calls hurt relationships between women and their incarcerated partners. These challenges often create emotional detachment between families, resulting in a loss of connection. Dr. Phillips states that making communication affordable or accessible would help these relationships flourish. As states across the country, including California, begin to address this issue, many families have hope that there will be a better support system for prisoners and their families.

Full Interview with Jasmine Phillips

Dr. Kressler “Learning Are Way Through Critical Development For social Justice”

October 23, 2024October 23, 2024 aaronclayton43185d2b36Leave a comment

By: Aaron Clayton and Justin Tenorio

My partner and I had the honor of interviewing Dr. Benikia Kressler. Our interview was about an article she published titled “Learning Our Way through” Critical Professional Development for Social Justice in Teacher Education. During our interview, we not only got to see her results from the study she did involving faculty members. But also, how as an educator in one of the largest universities in the country, she noticed we teach in a culturally, experientially, and ideologically diverse context. And like her colleagues nationwide, they bear witness to the tensions and traumas associated with the current U.S. political climate.

Continue reading →

Dr. Elise Assaf on Journalistic Representations of Mental Health

April 12, 2024 daisyled02Leave a comment

Daisy Ledezma, Yashlyn Villarrubia, Cecilia Wang

When Professor Assaf was in Cal State Fullerton, her major was undeclared, so going into education in communication was not her intention. She knew that she had an interest in writing, design, journalism, and advertising. It was in her advertising class where she learned about public relations. Her dad was not thrilled when she found her interest in public relations and told her to get her masters. She was working in the public relations industry while doing her masters. She realized that working in the classroom felt right than working in the field. The drive was there but also, she had a job where she hated it so it solidified her decision. When she told her advisor that she was interested in teaching, her advisor told her a couple classes in which Assaf started teaching in Comm 446.

For her doctorate program, she did not feel like any of the programs felt right to her but eventually she was put into disability studies because she wrote an essay that focused on the impact of mental health in college students which led her into the education problem. Prior to her research, she had not looked into mental health or disability but found interest in it. Assaf found connections in media studies with mental health and disability

Q1: What made you choose the topic of mental health for your research?

Professor Assaf shared that the topic of mental health is very personal to her as she has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety at different points of her life. Her family members as well have been diagnosed with mental health diagnoses including schizophrenia. She is well versed on what it is like to experience it and that created an interest in better understanding the other side of it. She talked about when mental health topics are brought up in tv shows or movies she always pays close attention to why and how it is being brought up. She also pays attention to the stereotypes and storylines that are brought up with it. She always wondered where stereotypes came about since her brother’s diagnosis of schizophrenia because the first thing people would ask her is if he was “dangerous”, which was not the case for her brother.

Another part that went into her choosing mental health for her research paper was because she felt that newspaper articles were a decent entry for this area of academia. They were easily accessible and easy to create copies of them to code on her computer. In doing that she came across a statistic stating, “6 out of 10 people don’t read beyond a headline.” It shows how people’s lives are being changed about a topic without very much information about it.

Q2: In your research you cover representations of mental health in online newspaper articles from 3 national publications; the Washington post, the New York times, and USA today. How did you narrow down just to those three outlets?

Her study is a multisite case study which is intended to be a deep dive for each of publications. In order for there to be enough data it had to be more than one online news publication. She initially intended it to be east coast, west coast, and middle America situation. However, this bigger study was done as her dissertation, so she had a committee, a chair and two committee members. One of the committee members was married to a health care reporter at the LA Times which meant that she would have had his articles in her data set which was a conflict of interest leading her to readjust. She found the data on the top ten national publications in the United States, and she went from there.

Q3: How did you decide on conducting qualitative research with this topic? Do you prefer it over quantitative?

Not being a fan of numbers herself, Assaf took a qualitative research approach to her research. Assaf talked about preferring stories, language, and context when looking at information; qualitative research made that available to her. Allowing her to dig deeper, she could tell a larger story in her research with her data.

Q4: Your research paper has many different sections and is very detailed. How long did it take you to conduct your research from start to finish?

Assaf began her research by identifying what publications she would be focusing on and proceeded to create parameters for her data set. Parameters included how many articles she would be reviewing as well as the length. Her research surrounds newspaper articles, which are accessible by the article; she had to particularly keep an eye out for collection dates when reviewing articles. After an initial submission, she was urged to continue her research to find more information and draw a more valuable conclusion. After more research and new qualitative techniques in practice, she finished her research. The entire process totaled about a year and a half, not accounting for publication and editing.

Q5: When collecting your data, how do you go about which data is worthy of including into in your study?

It’s necessary to collect all the data that qualify and code everything. Assaf mentioned that you shouldn’t be biased in your study because it’s problematic. Even in the end of your coding, the end result can be nothing remarkable and seems like common sense but the way you did everything in a methodology way proves your findings better. It just means if you need to make any changes in the future.

Q6: You used coding during your research, how did it benefit your findings?

Professor Assaf mentioned how it was necessary for her qualitative research to use coding. If doing interviews, you’ll eventually use coding for the findings and it’s important to use data as it is useful when doing research.

Q7: What made you focus on news outlets specifically, instead of say, social media platforms?

At the time she was in a class her first year of her doctorate program and the statistic that she stated previously regarding 6 out of 10 people don’t read beyond a headline lead her to begin a pilot study in that class which is where her interest began. Another reason she chose news outlets was because they are publicly accessible while social media posts tend to more questionable and tend to be private or blocked. She shared that she does find social media interesting and has since then looked at research involving social media, at the time it made more sense to go the journalistic route. She believes that journalists are considered gatekeepers as they are knowledgeable about the things, they are writing about which gives a lot of weight to give in to what they are writing and publishing. The impact it can have on audience members can be significant with understanding what they are communicating.

Professor Assaf’s research is fundamental now, where headlines are prominent. With mental health being a less taboo conversation than times past, it is important that the media communicates and has this conversation with its audiences appropriately. Instead of actively pushing the relationship between aggressor and mental health through head-turning headlines, the stories being told mustn’t be misrepresenting the individuals.

https://videopress.com/v/uf7mBv3w

Psychological Reactance and its Relationship with Advertising Frequency – Robert Meeds Interview

April 12, 2024 jogarro58590c0198Leave a comment

By Jordan O’Garro, Anais Sanchez Luis, Kayla Coye, & Pravin Ko

The conversation we had with Professor Meeds regarding his study highlights significant shifts in the dynamics of online advertising since 2007, driven by the rise of social media, personalized advertising algorithms, and the popularization of mobile internet browsing. Contextual advertising, which was not popular in 2007, has become the norm, powered by cookies and personalized algorithms that tailor ads to individual interests and behaviors. While this has raised privacy concerns, it also means that ads are more likely to be relevant and engaging to users. Professor Meeds explained how the use of mobile devices in accessing online content has transformed the advertising landscape. With more users viewing ads on mobile devices, advertisers have had to adapt their strategies to suit smaller screens and shorter attention spans. This shift requires more concise and visually appealing ad formats to capture users’ attention effectively. For the psychological perspective, there may not be significant differences in how individuals process online ads compared to 2007, the context in which they encounter these ads has evolved. Users are now used to receiving personalized content tailored to their interests and behaviors, which may influence their expectations and responses to advertisements. Overall, the relationship between social media, personalized advertising algorithms, and mobile internet browsing has altered the way online ads are created, delivered, and consumed. Advertisers will continue to refine their strategies to adapt to these changes, understanding the psychological factors influencing users’ responses to ads remains important for effective advertising campaigns in the digital age.

Conducting the interview with professor Meeds gave us more insight on the perspectives around the transitions of information processing of advertisement. There has been a remarkable difference between the dynamic of advertisements from 2007 to 2024. The study he conducted with Li C has shown that out of the three examinations exposure conditions, psychological reactance, and advertising frequency, psychological reactance exposure restricted an individual’s freedom to control invasive ads. It has been tremendously affected within all age groups due to the advancement of technology. Many users including older groups have now generated a sense of internet use which allowed them to encounter psychological reactance. Thus, likely increasing a poor reaction to the ads. The reaction to ads can affect internet users by age. Meeds argues that individuals who are more psychologically reactant might get more pronounced with age. During the time the study was conducted, older users found being interrupted by advertisements had driven negative responses. However, individuals of all age groups have differences in which they would perceive ads. One critical influence of these advertisement placements can lead to a more positive response. For example, in the study more conditions of exposures appearing in favorably areas can lead to better responses. The first examination, exposure conditions would lead more to positive responses. The study indicated that ads presented in the interest of the individual showed that they were less evasive and favored by the individual and likely getting exposure to the ads. With evolution of technology the dynamic of information processing has shifted towards all age groups in adapting to draw in users that’s not as evasive.

Interviewing Professor Meeds regarding his research revealed insightful perspectives on how online advertising has evolved. Specifically, the increasing concerns over privacy and data security. He highlighted the growing array of options available to regulate exposure to ads, such as adjusting settings and utilizing ad blockers. Using this method has led to significant drop in ad visibility. He noted that people who are more likely to experience psychological reactance could find advertisements extremely bothersome or intrusive, especially if they are exposed to them frequently. This observation implies that when individual worries about privacy grow, they might take more aggressive measures to protect themselves from unsolicited advertising, which could have an effect on how effective online advertisements are. Another crucial point of this shift was lack of ads regulations. Since the study was carried out during a time when effective control was lacking, Professor Meeds emphasized the necessity of strong regulation in the field of online advertising. This lack may have contributed to a sense of annoyance among consumers. Furthermore, he highlighted the importance of balancing advertising strategies with consumer preferences and privacy concerns. Overall, integrating both of the factors can result in an effective online ad.

Meeds highlights in this interview the slow re-TV-ification of streaming services and how ads appear on some streaming services, even if it’s a service you pay for. However, since people have come to expect little to no ads to pop up on their streaming services, it can have a negative effect on the population’s psychological reactance. In the past, ad breaks were common and many would be upwards of 2 minutes which you don’t see a lot of these days. And because people had come to expect these breaks they would use the time to go grab a snack or go to the bathroom so they never missed a second of the show they were watching. The emergence of streaming services has allowed for people to now binge their media on demand and when that gets interrupted, people who are psychologically reactive may react negatively because they are in an environment where they aren’t expected to be interrupted and yet it happens. He also discussed that the future (and frankly the present) of digital media will begin to be dominated by mobile advertising. He warns that because so many ads are now running through mobile devices, more and more research on information processing through the mobile advertising experience must be conducted. He also suggests that there is new research coming out that people’s attention spans have generally gotten shorter since the original study was conducted so that tendency to get sidetracked must also be taken into account if research was to be conducted in today’s landscape.

In conclusion, this interview helped our group understand the psychological reasoning and background for the shift in what is considered normal media and advertising consumption activity. As we see a rise in what some may call “screenagers” or those who are too attached to digital devices and are unwilling for that connection to be interrupted, Meeds’ research should be used as a warning that the phenomenon of psychological reactance could easily be shifting through to the younger generation.

https://videopress.com/v/SHuW3d2w?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

Our Meeds Interview

Interview with Julio Reyes: Social Media and the Pandemic

April 12, 2024 gluna22Leave a comment

Image of Julio Reyes, Radio Specialist

April 12, 2024

By Graciela, Sophia, Tinny, & Sally

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about what being a media specialist is?

Julio Reyes, the Radio Media Specialist at Titan Radio, California State University of Fullerton’s radio station, has been in in the media specialist business for 10+ years now. He says the his role right now is more on the aspects of radio broadcasting and television and sending out some sort of product for target audiences to consume. Alongside his role, he oversees the radio station and helps the student workers, all while teaching them skills in broadcast and communication. He says the biggest role in his positon is making sure everyone knows how to communicate with each other and the proper way to do it since the way communication has changed since covid. He mentioned how before covid, we would have had our interview with him in person, but since covid, there is barely any in person meetings they’re all on zoom or google meets.

Q: Over the years, have you seen a decrease in the viewership from radio to streaming.

He says since he works in the industry he has a biased view on this situation. He says there has been a decrease that has been seen, but the media world is also in the middle of evolving into this new idea of streaming. He says many people are saying broadcast radio is dying, which is true, but not the way that they think. It’s evolving from its old ways and bringing an upcoming into something new and exciting for the newer generation. He says it’s not the older generation creating this new idea for us, he says its our generation that is shaping the way for this new way of viewer and listenership.

Q: Being a media specialist, I assume you’re on social media a little bit, have you noticed a change in the way people socialize with the increase in popularity in social media from before covid and after covid?

Mr. Reyes said there is definitely a switch in how people, young and older generation, socialize with each other after covid. He said in his free time he plays guitar in a band, and before covid people would constantly be talking to one another at his shows, and now after covid, it is like pulling teeth to get people to have a conversation with one another without pulling out their phones. He says social media takes a big part in it because there is less repercussion for what you say on the internet rather than in person.

Q: Can you tell us a little more about your educational background and about any research you’ve done in your field?

Mr. Reyes attended the California State University of San Bernandino and received a Bachelors in Communications and Mass Studies with an emphasis in Media Studies. As he was studying at CSUSB, he worked at the school radio station while simultaneously working two other commercial radio station jobs. He concurrently gained field experience in both high desert and low desert, Palm Desert and Victorville. Mr. Reyes was able to experience dramatically different interactions with a diverse group of people. For instance, in Palm Springs, he was able to work with an LGBTQ+ radio station. This was a completely different dynamic than Victorville, which is a very conservative area and population.

Q: What radio stations did you work for and what kind of content did you put out?

While attending CSUSB, Mr. Reyes was a production coordinator for the Coyote radio station at CSUSB. After graduating, Mr. Reyes worked for the KQPS, channel Q at the Palm Springs electronic music station and did promotions while working there. He worked a similar position at the El Dorado Broadcasters in Victorville, which is a cluster of five radio stations. While working for these radio stations, Mr. Reyes gained insight on how people think, work, and how music brought people together.

Q: How has it been working at the CSUF radio station and have you noticed any trends in the media that we put out?

Mr. Reyes really enjoys working with CSUF’s Titan Radio station, his colleagues, and the students. He says that it’s been very challenging and equally as fulfilling of an experience. As for the trends he has exhibited while working at Titan Radio, Mr. Reyes states that he has seen the typical, common trends with young people. He says that the younger audience are the “taste-makers” and that they know the ins-and-outs of trends and what’s cool or not. A common trend he’s seen personally with the Titan Radio students is that they like to experiment. He emphasizes that the students’ ambitious mindsets allow for creativity, whereas in contrast to traditional radio stations, there is little to no creative freedom/expression.

Q:How do you stay informed about emerging trends in media and technologies?

Julio has stated that he pays attention to what the students are doing to their communication to the words they say from everything. What he attempts to do is to see what young adults are listening to in music and tries to keep an open mind to everything.

“So a good example is when I first started working here, a band called The garden was super big. And I would listen to it. And I’d be like, What the heck is this, I can’t understand this. But even now, like, after a while, and I’m late to it, I’m late to everything”

Q:How do you stay creative and innovative in your media work?

Julio states that he attempts to convey this message to a lot of the students, especially the students that he sometimes sees as a little blocked and creative. “One to always keep growing, you know, no matter what the age, I think you can always keep growing. And as far as artistically is, you know, you have your career path, you have your professional side of yourself, right” he states. He always tells students, you know, do what you want to do for your career, for your accounting, if your communications PR, great, that’s awesome. But remember to also have this linear parallel line of something you love to do, whether it’s art, whether it whatever it may be. He uses the example of when he was working at Titan Radio he always had a show going on. His show would include him bringing in different local Djs from the dance scene and he gives them a platform by interviewing them. Even if it was his job to do so it was still doing something that he loved and is passionate about. And when you do that, you find more fulfillment, and you end up being happier, even though it’s work sometimes

Q:How do you determine the most effective social media platforms for a specific target audience?

He said he was not sure if he could answer this question but he could in a different way. But he states that the social media platform that he has found staying alive the the app “X” formally known as “Twitter” before its rebranding. He says how it has been around since Facebook and it is still being used especially by newer generations from what he has observed from. He later states that many apps have passed its popularity such as Facebook, Myspace, BeReal, and possibly instagram sharing that same fate. At the moment it seems that “X” and possibly TikTok are the two apps left to still have a growing audience. Although he believes that TikTok will be the next to die out from its social media popularity.

Q: How has the role of social media evolved in facilitating socialization following the COVID-19 pandemic?

He said social media during the pandemic (covid 19) keeps us connected with the world, people we did not get to see, family, and friends. A lot of people who are artists have been supported by others, even strangers or friends they haven’t seen for a long time, which has led them to become famous. Therefore, many tiktokers became famous artists during and after the pandemic with a lot of eyes on them. Besides that, the bad side of social media during the pandemic was when people were stuck in their houses and people in the same house were stuck in their rooms.

Q: In what ways has social media both positively and negatively affected the quality of social interactions after the pandemic?

He said the positive thing would be FaceTime with family or friends that live far away from you. In his opinion. He likes Facetime more than texting, because when he can see people’s voice tone and reasons from a person he calls. In Facetime, it’s better not to misunderstand content such as “I’m fine” when texting, which is different from “I’m fine” when talking. Negatively, some people do not think before they upload the video to express their feelings/ emotions at that point. For example, they just feel sad, and then put the video on social media and the internet.

Q: Have you observed any significant shifts in social media usage patterns or preferences among different age groups as a result of the pandemic’s impact on socialization?

According to Julio, parents worry so much about their children that they ask them to turn on their location or FaceTime to find out if they are drunk or not. He said it’s bad in the way that the kids would wonder why they need to do that. Growth could be inhibited by too much micromanagement. The lesson cannot be learned unless they go outside the world and overcome the challenges around them, even if they are traumatized. Despite this, there is a need for time for each generation to get used to certain things in the new generation; for instance, he stated that his parents enjoyed using TikTok.

Here is a video of our Full Interview:

Interview with Dr. San Bolkan, College Teacher Misbehaviors: Direct and Indirect Effects on Student Communication Behavior and Traditional Learning Outcomes

April 12, 2024April 12, 2024 briannaruiz2226Leave a comment

By America Maples, Brianna Ruiz and Hayden Fundament

COMM 410 – 02, Roselyn Du

For the past couple of months, our team has been preparing to conduct a study at California State University, Fullerton, or CSUF. To minimize setbacks and errors, we have spent time understanding the process of conducting studies and what it entails. Producing quality research requires both time and attention, and we want to save time fixing mistakes that could have been prevented. That’s why we contacted Dr. San Bolkan, a California State University, Long Beach professor, for some advice based on his study, College Teacher Misbehaviors: Direct and Indirect Effects on Student Communication Behavior and Traditional Learning Outcomes.

Dr. Bolkan’s study investigated the impact of teacher misbehaviors on student outcomes in communication courses at a mid-sized Eastern university. Drawing upon a theoretical framework of relational power and instructional influence, the study examined how teacher misbehaviors, directly and indirectly, influenced student communication behavior and traditional learning outcomes. The study involved 343 undergraduate students from various communication courses who completed a series of validated instruments to measure teacher misbehaviors, student resistance, class participation, cognitive learning, affective learning, state motivation, and student communication satisfaction. Path analysis was conducted to analyze the relationships between variables, revealing that teacher misbehaviors, directly and indirectly, affected student outcomes, mainly through affective learning. The findings underscored the importance of addressing teacher misbehaviors to foster positive student engagement and learning outcomes in the classroom.

In our interview with Dr. Bolkan, we learned more about the process of conducting a study of this nature and the potential complications a researcher can run into.

Sampling Methodology:

Can you describe the motivation behind conducting this study and why you chose to focus on teacher misbehaviors?

Dr. Bolkan was a student who continued his education through undergrad, master’s programs, and more. He had always assumed teachers should be good becuase of their role as healpers and leaders. However, he found his own experiences challenged that assumption. There were also times he would hear stories through friends, classmates and students that challenged these ideas as well. This was the motivation that propelled Dr. Bolkan to conduct this study with his own students.

Were there specific criteria used to determine eligibility for participation? If so, what was it based on, and why was it chosen?

Within this study there wasn’t any specific criteria he and his partners were looking for when choosing the participants. The participants were chosen out of convenience as they were students in his courses. These students were given an extra credit incentive to participate in the study. According to Dr. Bolkan, one of the problems with choosing participants is finding people who will take your study and take it seriously. The ideal study would have been to survey students across the U.S. The next best thing is to get students in classes or in a class where they must participate in a participant pool. All in all, working within the constraints of what he had and working with the students he had access to, the pool was still large enough to be general to the population. Still, the sampled students are less than one hundred percent, which is the weakness of the study.

Data Collection Methods:

What methods were used to collect data from participants?

When it came to deciding what kind of methods to use for this particular study, Dr. Bolkan used survey methods with existing measures. These survey methods were chosen because he knew they had specific statistical properties that were perfect in collecting the type of data he needed. He calls them “survey items that are a part of questionnaires” that people have developed previously.

Measurement Tools:

What specific measures were used to assess the attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions of teachers?

While Dr. Bolkan states, they measured many different things and used a behavior scale to record misbehavior. Other measurements were recorded for personal resistance, participation, and overall course satisfaction. By having many students fill this out, there was a better general understanding of results rather than relying on one person’s responses to these questions.

How were these measures developed or adapted for the study?

While Dr. Bolkan states he has done his measurement development pieces as a researcher and professor, he relied on the work of science and built off the work of others. He used them to benefit his research since they were validated methods, in the way he needed them to find the relationship between the variables because that was the interest.

Timing and Duration:

How were the timing and duration of data collection determined?

As Dr. Bolkan mentioned, this was a survey study, so there wasnt a big concern about timing and duration. He and his colleague gave students extra credit and had them access a link to answer the questions. Sometimes, they would have students take a test based on a video just watched, and in that case, timing is essential to ensure students stay on the video and not walk away from the test, which could cause problems within the data. The test they used for this research was used for one semester and given to students in that time frame, so there wasnt any real need for timing and duration measures.

Data Analysis Techniques:

What statistical methods were used to analyze the data?

Dr. Bolkan used measurement of reliability of the tools to see if they were operating in the way expected which is also what he calls reliability analysis.

Could you walk me through the data analysis process, particularly how you conducted the path analysis and assessed the model fit?

All of the data and variables that were collected were put into various softwares to be sorted and organized. Specifically SPSS was used in order to input data from the path analysis and was then assessed by the software if the model was fit when compared to the initial model. Using his study, he could show us how teacher misbehaviors directly affected student learning and impacted the dependent variables.

Interpretation of Results:

How did you approach any problems or limitations that were encountered while conducting the study and/or when interpreting the results?

Whenever any limitations or problems were found within the study, they were reported right away in order to be properly observed. Any of these outcomes were put in their own limitation section that were separated from the sample. Much of the data collected was perceptual so often with these findings, it was important to recognize there should be a body of research to help multiple outcomes and not just a specific study. Dr. Bolkan recommends to read multiple studies in order to gain a more general and correct understanding of teacher misbehaviors and their effects on students as a whole.

How do you envision this research contributing to the field of education?

According to Dr. Bolkan he doesnt see his study or any study on this topic contributing to the field of education at this point and he had a great way of describing why. From his insight as a professor, the professors who believe in the point of this study are the good teachers who don’t necessarily need to learn anything from it. The professors who should be reading studies like this are the ones who don’t care enough to go looking for them. So essentially this study isn’t reaching its target audience.

Ethical Considerations:

How were participants informed about the purpose and procedures of the study?

At the beginning of the survey all students were presented with an informed consent document to accept. There is an institutional review board which needs to review and approve the aspects of the study before hand in order to determine if there was anything that could be harmful in any way to any individuals involved in the study. The only guidelines that were set in place was students were not allowed to describe any identifiable information that could be sensitive towards instructors to keep the study as anonymized as possible.

Our interview with Dr. Bolkan!

Interview with Dean of Communications, Dr. Bey-Ling Sha, on The Fundamentals of Conducting Research

April 12, 2024 deantran24bd2b193eb9Leave a comment

By Isabel Lerma, Jadyn Stowell, Dean Tran & Serina Smith

We had the privilege of interviewing our Dean of Communications, Dr. Bey-Ling Sha, an award-winning, published public relations practitioner, educator, and researcher. She received her bachelor’s in Public Relations & French at Purdue University, her master’s in Journalism, and her Ph.D. in Mass Communications at the University of Maryland. Sha has been very active within the PR world. She has been Editor in Chief for the Journal of Public Relations Research, Chair of the Board of Directors in the Union of Pan Asian Communities, and a member of the College of Fellows of the Public Relations Society of America. A handful of her studies have emphasized gender and interculturality within the field. As an Asian American woman, her impact in PR has done much for AAPI and female representation throughout the trajectory of her career, from published research to books, being a professor at SDSU to now being a mentor for students here at California State University, Fullerton. Before conducting the interview, we researched Dean Sha’s background, which helped us develop questions. We came across two articles, one of her own research, “Future Professionals’ Perceptions of Work, life, and gender issues in Public Relations” dating back to 2005, and a research study conducted by now Dr. Nicole Lee “The Role of New Public Relations Practitioners as Social Media Experts,” in which Dean Sha collaborated and oversaw the research process.

We discovered that research does not base progress on key performance indicators but is an ongoing process to find answers for said subject topic. The research concepts are not predicated upon performance bases but more so upon developing growth toward finding answers to research questions through research. Adequate questioning starts the research process with the proper direction for finding answers. They also help reevaluate how the research is being conducted by discovering previous information as a foundation to further develop research findings.

Dr. Sha then goes into how the research was conducted with background information in the public relations sector from the 1980s and 1990s to give a foundation for this research study that was conducted in 2012-2015. She then goes on to share that Dr. Lee found that social media at the time was new to the industry and that many entry-level practitioners were appointed the technician roles by the more senior positioned leaders. The executives and leaders did not grasp this new concept of social media at the time, placing the duties on younger, more entry-level practitioners to execute more managerial roles and responsibilities.

With the Dean’s level of experience and knowledge, we asked broader questions during our Zoom session with her to further develop our study topic and apply what we have learned to our research study.

Questions

Q. How would you recommend starting the research process from scratch?

First and foremost, Bey-Ling Sha mentioned that when starting research, it is essential to have a question to which you want to know the answer. Research, as a whole, is all about finding answers to our questions. Different aspects, such as the target population, help you start the research process. The target population is the one who enables you to answer the question.

Q. What aspects of human relations intrigued you the most in research?

Bey-Ling Sha is a higher education leader, and her studies focus on public relations and communications. Overall, how people relate to each other with respect to people’s different identities intrigues her. The Purdue alumni is now the Dean at CSUF and does not participate in as much research as she used to, so when students like us want to discuss her past research, it allows her to work out that part of her identity again. Bey-Ling Sha expressed her thoughts on how vital human relations are in the present world.

Q. How would you recommend splitting responsibilities between partners to complete the specific study you set out to conduct?

Splitting responsibilities all depends on the kind of study and the questions being answered. Everyone has different abilities and strong suits for contributing to the specific research, and it comes down to who you are working with. Bey-Ling Sha explained that there may be a huge data set, and the studies have various authors. To split everything, the writers will rotate authorship and help each other. Ultimately, it comes down to who’s idea the study was and who drives the question.

Q: How would you recommend splitting responsibilities between partners to complete the specific study you set out to conduct?

Q. What research methods do you prefer using from a personal perspective?

A common problem that researchers face is fixating on a specific or preferred research method in a research study. Dean Sha stressed the importance of assessing different research methods to find the one that would yield the best results. Research studies could be conducted in many ways, and conducting research that will answer your research question would be the best way to start.

Q. What type of research topics pique your interest?

Dean Sha has extensive experience in PR and finds topics within the scope of PR to be the most interesting. She is particularly interested in organizational relationships and relationship building.

Q. If a Wikipedia page were created about you, what would you want on there, and what would you want to be known for?

Dean Sha emphasized that she would rather be known for her contributions to CSUF as a mentor and dean rather than for research studies or literary work. Though she has been productive and ambitious on her path to her role as dean of communications at CSUF now, she finds her work as a college dean the most rewarding.

How people relate to each other now is increasingly important because often, what is happening is we don’t really take the time to find out who people really are. We are more reacting to who we think they are.
-Bey-Ling Sha.

Example of Findings in Bey-Ling Sha’s 2005 Study:

Conclusion:

Dr. Bey-Ling Sha has a lengthy background in PR work which deemed her the perfect candidate to enlighten us on all things research. Her published research has emphasized interculturalism, gender roles, and identity and how they are foundational in the public relations field. Our interview with her allowed us to gain perspective for our study through her hard work and experience as a seasoned professional.

Unburdening Mental Health: Dr. Elise Assaf on Media Portrayals

April 12, 2024April 12, 2024 londongebanLeave a comment

By London Geban and Dave Christian Gammad

We had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Elise Assaf, an assistant professor specializing in public relations and entertainment within the undergraduate communications program at California State University, Fullerton. Dr. Assaf holds a Ph.D. in Education from Chapman University, an M.A., and a B.A. in Communications from Cal State Fullerton, combining her academic pursuits with a diverse professional history in public relations. Her research focuses on media representations of mental health, using qualitative methodologies such as content analysis and critical discourse analysis to investigate how language influences public perception. Dr. Assaf’s professional journey includes significant roles in public relations and media campaign management across various sectors, including healthcare, real estate, and lifestyle, enriching her knowledge of the dynamics of media influence. We explored her 2020 publication, “Mental Health as a Burden: Journalistic Representations of Mental Illness on Family, Society, and the Individual,” which examines the portrayal of mental illness in major media outlets and its broader social implications.

Interview With Professor Pete Evanow, and Ford Bronco: The Original SUV.

April 12, 2024 sfalvarez13Leave a comment

By Sergio Alvarez, Jordan Hawley, Nathan Carreon, Nicholas Karoglu

Professor Pete Evanow, M.S

Its a privilege to interview someone like Professor Pete Evanow, a professor at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), who brings over two decades of expertise in teaching within the College of Communications. With a focus on writing for advertising, Professor Evanow has been a full-time lecturer for 23 years, offering invaluable insights into the dynamic world of marketing and communication.

During our conversation, Professor Evanow shared his wealth of experience gained from working in advertising for motorsports, racing teams, and notably, Ford Motor Company. His hands-on involvement in crafting campaigns and strategies for these high-profile entities has provided him with a deep understanding of effective advertising techniques that resonate with audiences.

In addition to his teaching and industry experience, Professor Evanow founded his own advertising company in 1996, specializing in marketing Nissan’s high-performance parts. This entrepreneurial venture further enriched his knowledge of the advertising landscape, giving him a unique perspective on both corporate and independent advertising endeavors.

A notable achievement in Professor Evanow’s career is the recent publication of his third book, titled “Ford Bronco.” This accomplishment underscores his commitment to thorough research and data-driven storytelling, essential skills in the ever-evolving field of advertising.

Throughout our interview, Professor Evanow’s passion for advertising and dedication to fostering a new generation of communicators shone through, making our discussion both enlightening and inspiring. His blend of academic knowledge and real-world experience makes him a valuable resource for anyone interested in the art and science of advertising.

Ford Bronco: The Original SUV by Pete Evanow

Q: How did you conduct research for Ford Bronco: The Original SUV?

Professor Evannow first started his research for this book by diving deep and learning more about the original Ford Bronco released in 1966. He learned that the Bronco car became a part of Fords agenda in 1962, and he was even fortunate enough to have a meeting with one of the original designers of the Ford Bronco which he was able to learn all the minute details about when Ford originally wanted to produce an SUV for commercial purposes. The rest of Professor Evannow’s research came from analyzing the Ford Motor Company’s extensive historical archive which he stated was really easy to access, and had deep information for him to analyze. All in all he conducted his research by scheduling interviews, meeting numerous Ford Motor Company representatives, and analyzing Ford’s historical archive.

Q: What hardships did you face when researching for Ford Bronco: The Original SUV?

Surprisingly when researching for this book Professor Evennow did not face a big number of hardships, except for acquiring permission to use certain images in the book. For example he stated that he wanted to use some photographs from his personal favorite films but the price the film studios were asking for so that he could use those photos however he pleases was way out of his budget. So his solution to this hardship was just to use the website known as Gettyimages.com which is a service that allows users to use photos free of charge, and Professor Evanow was even able to get some of photos from his favorite films to use for the book thanks to this service. He even donated some photos of Ford Bronco users that wanted to be featured in his work free of charge. Fortunately for Professor Evennow this was the only hardship he had to face while researching for this book.

Q: Why do you think Ford decided to bring back the bronco? How did they justify bringing this vehicle back?

When asking this question I expected to hear about statistics,surveys and in general research on how Ford was able to justify bringing the Ford Bronco back. Though the answer I received was quite simple, because people wanted them. The Ford Bronco was discontinued in 1996, due to a change in consumer wants and needs. Ford brought back the Ford Bronco in 2021, after years and years of constant asking Ford provided. Professor Evanow, having worked at Ford, seemingly knew the Ford Bronco would return one day, as American consumers were slowly demanding a large off-road vehicle that wasn’t a Ford truck. This is one of few cases where much research did not have to be done to justify a large business expenditure, as the hype of the Ford Bronco was already there.

Q:With Gas Prices on the rise, is there a decrease in sales of the Ford Bronco?

I assumed with the high cost of gas prices, this would impact the sales of the Ford Bronco. Professor Evanow stated that high gas prices did not impact the sales of the Ford Bronco in the slightest. There were no details provided, though he once again stated that the hype and tension surrounding the return of the Ford Bronco was simply overpowering any financial doubt that a consumer would have besides the cost of the vehicle. Professor Evanow also stated that this is only a California issue with high cost of gas prices, as California has the highest tax of gas in the country.

Professor Pete Evanow, author of the book Ford Bronco: The Original SUV, shared some fascinating insights that shed light on his personal and professional journey with this iconic vehicle. Our conversation began with a reflection on another legendary car, the Shelby Cobra. Evanow clarified that although it’s technically a sister company to the Bronco, there’s an intriguing connection. His book’s co-author was named after Carroll Shelby, which illustrates the intertwined legacies of these classic American vehicles.

When asked why he chose to write about the Ford Bronco, Evanow revealed a personal nostalgia linked to his own experiences. “I owned a Bronco back in 1992,” he confessed, expressing regret over selling it. He noted how, over the years, the Bronco has not only maintained but increased in value. A testament to its lasting appeal and durability. This personal history with the Bronco clearly fueled his passion for the subject, making the book not just a professional project but also a personal homage to a beloved classic.

Despite the book only being published two weeks ago, Evanow was eager to discuss its early reception. He hasn’t received direct feedback from readers yet but shared his excitement about the book’s positive trend on Amazon. This early indication of interest suggests that his work resonates with both long-time enthusiasts and new fans of the Bronco, highlighting the vehicle’s enduring legacy in American culture and automotive history. Evanow’s reflections provide a unique glimpse into the world of automotive writing and the personal connections that often inspire it.

Our Interview with Professor Pete Evanow