ADVERTISING & PUBLIC RELATIONS SENIORS:
CONSIDER A MASTER'S DEGREE IN INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION:
http://imc.comm.fsu.edu |
I. ..........CONTACT
INFORMATION AND COURSE MATERIALS
Instructor
Dr. Barry S. Sapolsky
Office: ..........................UCC-3129
Phone:......................... 644-8774
Office hours: .................Tu/Th 1:30-2:30
p.m. and by appointment
Email:...........................bsapolsk@mailer.fsu.edu
Course Website:
http://comm2.fsu.edu/faculty/comm/Sapolsky/adresearch/adresearchsyllabus.html
Class meetings:
Tu/Th 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. UCD 1103
Required Text:
Marketing Research 7 (McDaniel & Gates).
This book should be available at the FSU bookstore.
Additional Readings Available on course Web site
Graduate TA:..... ........ ..Jia
Lu (JL05k@afsu.edu)...
.............
II. COURSE
DESCRIPTION
ADV4500 introduces students majoring in Advertising
and in Public Relations to commonly-used research methods including
survey research, focus groups and content analysis. Students will learn
the research process and how to apply it to advertising and
public relations
strategies and goals. Prerequisite: ADV3000 or PUR3000.
III. COURSE
OBJECTIVES
Students in ADV4500 will learn the basic principles of:
A. Survey research, content analysis and
other quantitative methodologies,
B. Qualitative research including focus groups
and observation research,
C. Primary research data analysis
IV. COURSE
POLICIES
A. Class attendance
Class attendance is strongly encouraged but
is not mandatory. However, students will be responsible for all
material covered in class. There will be frequent in-class exercises
and quizzes. Students not in attendance will receive a
zero (0) for these exercises and quizzes. Being
tardy for class or missing class for any
reason (for example., field trip, illness, family obligation)
does not qualify a student to complete an activity or quiz at a
later time..
B. Exams
There are no make-up exams
except for students having a documented
illness or family emergency. [Documentation consists of a formal note
from a physician in the former case; a family member in the latter
case.]
No other reasons will be considered for missing an exam -- field trips,
weddings, family vacations, etc. will not be reasons for a make-up
exam. Students must take the exam on the day it is scheduled. Work
or personal/family obligations will not be acceptable reasons for requests
to take the exam at another day/time. The university sets the day/time
for the final examination and faculty are not permitted to diverge
from this day/time. There will be no exceptions
to this policy.
C. Group project
All students on a project team are expected to contribute
equally to the project. Mid-term and final peer evaluations will be
the primary means for your instructor to assess the relative contributions
of team members. Groups that miss deadlines for various components
of the project will have points deducted.
D. University
Policies
You should be aware of university policies regarding
(a) Undergraduate Final Examinations, (b) Grade Appeals,
(c) First Day Attendance, (d) Class Attendence, (e) ADA
and (f) Honor Code. Information on a. - e. can be found
on the Course Announcements page (link: University
Policies).
V. ADA STATEMENT
If you have a disability or condition that
compromises your ability to complete the requirements of
this course you should (1) register with and provide
documentation to the Student Disability Resource Center and (2) bring
a letter to the instructor indicating the need for accommodation and
what type. This should be done during the first week of class. All reasonable efforts will be made to accommodate your
needs.
For
more information about services available to FSU students with disabilities,
contact the Student Disability
Resource Center in 08 Kellum Hall (644-9566 (voice or 644-8504 (TDD) The
Center can be reached by email at: SDRC@admin.fsu.edu
and its web site is: http://www.fsu.edu/~staffair/dean/StudentDisability/
VI. HONOR
CODE
Students
are expected to uphold the Academic Honor Code published in The Florida
State University Bulletin and the Student Handbook. The Academic Honor
System of The Florida State University is based on the premise that
each student has the responsibility (1) to uphold the highest standards
of academic integrity in the student's own work, (2) to refuse to tolerate
violations of academic integrity in the university community, and (3)
to foster a high sense of integrity and social responsibility on the
part of the university community
To read the complete
FSU Academic
Honor Code:
Honor Policy
VII. EVALUATION
Evaluation of students will be based upon performance
on the following:
| Midterm Exam |
30% |
| Final Exam |
25%
|
| Research Project |
30% |
| In-class exercises and quizzes |
15% |
Grading Standard: Students will be assigned
points for each component listed above. The Department of Communication
is committed to reducing grade inflation in its courses. To that end,
a department-wide grading standard has been adopted to insure that an
"A" is reserved for outstanding performance. "A"
and "A -" grades represent work whose superior quality indicates
a full mastery of the subject. An "A" represents work of extraordinary
distinction.
Students will be assigned points for each component listed
above. The percentage of points
required to receive various letter grades is as follows:
| A |
94% |
B- |
80% |
| A- |
90% |
C+ |
77% |
| B+ |
88% |
C |
74% |
| B |
85% |
C- |
70% |
VIII. GROUP
RESEARCH PROJECT
Students will work in small teams (approximately 5 -
7 students) to design and conduct
a survey research project. More
detailed information about the Group Project appears on the Assignments
page of the course Web site. The Group Research Project will also
be used to assess how well students in Advertising and Public Relations
meet the research data analysis learning objective associated
with the State Mandated Academic Learning Compacts (SMALCs).
Thus, the project will be evaluated in two ways: (a) for a portion
of the course grade and (b) for SMALCs.
The criteria for SMALCs
are listed below. They provide the student with a helpful guide to
what is expected for an evaluation of Excellent, Good, Adequate or
Poor on the assignment.
IX. OTHER
A. E-mail
Students will be asked to provide Dr. Sapolsky with
their email addresses on the first day of classes. Students are
strongly encouraged to use e-mail to communicate questions to Dr.
Sapolsky. In addition to turning in a hard copy of the final project
paper, students are required to forward
the paper to Dr. Sapolsky as an e-mail attachment.
B. Course Announcements
On Dr. Sapolsky’s web site,
click on “Courses” and you will see Announcements regarding the course.
Be sure to routinely check this page for updates, changes, etc.
C. Course Website
The course website will contain additional readings,
links to helpful Websites and other resources.
D. "Secret"
Student Code Number
Your instructor will post student grades on the
Announcements page using a "secret" code number
provided students. By the end of the second week of classes
student who wish to have their grades posted on the course
web site should e-mail the instructor a 5-digit number.
By providing your instructor with this code number
you are giving your instructor permission to post your
grade on the Assignments page.
E. Student
Requests for Letters of Recommendation
On
occasion, students request Dr. Sapolsky write them a letter of recommendation
for graduate school, law school, scholarships or jobs. Before he
will agree to write a letter (and he does so on a case-by-case basis),
at a minimum the student must have received
an "A-" or "A" in this course. In addition, Dr. Sapolsky
must have reviewed at least one written work the student completed
at FSU. With
the request for a letter the student must also provide an updated
resume.
X. STATE
MANDATED ACADEMIC LEARNING COMPACTS (SMALCs)
In 2005, FSU began a program to measure how well undergraduate
students are accomplishing key learning objectives in their majors.
ADV4500 is the class in which analysis
of data will be assessed for Advertising and Public Relations majors. The group research
project will be used as the indicator of how well students
master this objective.
Research is a topic that requires hands-on learning.
You will be asked to complete a comprehensive project that will
give you “real
world” research experience. This
assignment involves an actual client and represents a substantial percentage
of your final grade.
GRADING FOR PROJECT COMPONENTS
Relative to the State
Mandated Academic Learning Compacts (SMALCs)
your research project will
be evaluated in terms of how well you demonstrate mastery of analysis
of survey research data.
Your SMALCS score will be calculated in the following manner:
|
...Analysis |
| 1 |
Analysis software has been correctly used to generate
results. |
| 2 |
Appropriate tables and graphs in report quality
format are created. |
| 3 |
Draw appropriate conclusions, and discuss implications
and significance from evidence provided by “data.” |
| 4 |
Accurately and succinctly summarize key research findings. |
| 5 |
Identify weakness/shortcomings of the research method,
instrumentation, sample, etc. based on results/conclusions. |
SMALCs scores will be reported
to the Department of Communication which will generate and submit
learning objective progress reports to the University Administration.
These progress reports are completely anonymous and contain only
summary information measured across a number of different classes.
Your name or your specific grade will not be mentioned in any way
in the report.
Grades
(for SMALCs) will be assigned according to the
following guidelines:
| Mastery at the: |
Analysis |
|
A level (Excellent)
(9-10 pts)
|
●Work reflects exceptionally strong
effort in drawing conclusions and implications from research
●Outstanding use of analysis software
●Data tables are “report quality”
●Excellent use of graphing
●All research questions clearly addressed
by analyses
|
|
B level (Good)
(7-8 points)
|
●Work reflects good effort in drawing
conclusions and implications from research
● Good use of analysis software
●Data tables are “report quality”
● Good use of graphing
●All research questions addressed
by analyses
|
| C level (6-7 pts) |
●Work reflects an attempt at drawing
conclusions and implications from research
● Adequate use of analysis software
●Data tables are near “report quality”
● Adequate use of graphing
●All research questions addressed
by analyses, but analyses lack depth
|
|
D/F (Poor)
(0-5 pts) |
●Work reflects little or no attempt
at drawing conclusions and implications from research
● Inadequate use of analysis software
●Data tables are not “report quality”
● Inadequate use of graphing or no
graphs present
● Research questions not addressed
by analyses and/or analyses are shallow and lack focus
|
