This year-long project taught me about the research process, including: reading and writing for research, consolidating information, presenting findings, problem solving and collaboration.
The goal of this research project was to track the diversity in the college newsroom. To measure the diversity, we also had to take into consideration the diversity of the college to see how well the population was reflected in the newsroom.
Throughout the research process, we found that there was much more research conducted on diversity in the professional newsroom and that many journalists start their career in college. We found that those who had leadership positions in college, moved on to the professional field. This was an important finding because if the leadership is not diverse, then the entire industry would be less diverse.
These findings, and others, were presented at the College Media Association convention in NYC. The survey findings were not analyzed yet, as there were problems distributing them on time. Instead of dwelling on what went wrong, we presented our predicted findings and welcomed advice on our project. We received feedback that can be implemented on how to improve our research.
I met with my faculty member weekly and we split up the responsibilities to complete the project timely and efficiently.