Preparation for theme 3

Select a research journal that you believe is relevant for media technology research. The journal should be of high quality, with an “impact factor” of 1.0 or above. Write a short description of the journal and what kind of research it publishes.

I chose the Journal of Communication (with an impact factor of 2.011), which is a a journal containing communication theory in both social and cultural fields as well as computer-mediated communication. In other words, it's a journal with a wide coverage of communication theories.

Select a research paper that is of high quality and relevant for media technology research. The paper should have been published in a high quality journal, with an “impact factor” of 1.0 or above. Write a short summary of the paper and provide a critical examination of, for example, its aims, theoretical framing, research method, findings, analysis or implications. You can use some of the questions in Performing research article critiques as support for your critical examination.

I picked the article "To Your Health: Self-Regulation of Health Behavior Through Selective Exposure to Online Health Messages" (October 2013) by Knobloch-Westerwick, Johnson and Westerwick from the journal above, because I think it touches an interesting subject; the choice to listen or not to listen to health advice when it may conflict with your behaviors or beliefs.

It investigates the problem of reaching crucial target groups in online health campaigns. The authors conduct a study with 419 participants where source credibility affected three different defined motivations; bolstering, self-motivating, and self-defending. The method involved users in browsing topics for a specific set of time after which behaviors and perceptions were analyzed. The problem I find with this method is its very artificial method sampling, by having the users in a lab environment and browsing each topic for a set duration of time, far from a natural environment. Another point of critique lies in its very limited age and behavior diversity, all participants being young students with heavy Internet usage, which may not reflect the general populace.

The results support the notion that self-bolstering was reinforced by selective message exposure when the user was already familiar with messages that confirmed their own health behaviors. Self-motivation also came in effect for people falling short of promoted health behaviors, among others.


Briefly explain to a first year student what theory is, and what theory is not.

Theory is made up from several components. One may consider citations, diagrams and data theory in itself, but theory is in fact made up by many of these components. Theory answers (or tries to answer) the question "Why?" by analyzing, explaining, predicting or designing. Hypothesis could be looked upon as the "pre-form" of theory in that it gives a prediction of results, but doesn't really answer the question on a deeper level of logic. And so theory may be an explanation of results that is possible to test.


Describe the major theory or theories that are used in your selected paper. Which theory type (see Table 2 in Gregor) can the theory or theories be characterized as?

According to Gregor, there are four different types of theory. The one I think fits the research paper above best is Prediction in how the authors set up a testable environment with some predictions before-hand, but fail to provide more diverse study participants and to explain all results thoroughly. However, the paper does fall close to Explanation and prediction (EP) due to to some specific explanations in its discussion.


Which are the benefits and limitations of using the selected theory or theories?

The good thing is that the theory is possible to test further to verify and build upon these foundations. By illuminating specific problems and giving some insight in specific cases, one can also tailor a design proposal built on these predictions.