Qualitative Data Analysis – DIGI 720

CG • Section 8WK • 11/08/2019 to 04/16/2020 • Modified 09/05/2023

Course Description

The types and uses of social, mobile and online metrics, the use of big data in shaping the user experience.

For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog.

Rationale

A doctoral education in communication equips the student with the advanced understanding of interactive digital technologies that is sine qua non to success as an advanced communication strategist and scholar during the digital age. This course advances this objective by equipping the candidate with analytic literacies to identify problems, design interventions, and generate solutions to improve policy or practice.

Course Assignment

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

In this course, the student will participate in two Discussions which will require an original 4 to 6 minute video. The student must then post a reply of at least 75 words to every classmate.

Module synopses challenge the student to demonstrate that he or she understands course readings and instructional videos, how they relate to each other, and how they relate to and add value to the study and practice of digital analytics. After reviewing the week’s readings and videos, the student is required to compose and submit a brief essay (500–800 words) which expresses a thesis statement about the materials, and then backs this statement with documented textual support from each of the readings and presentations. The student must conclude the essay by explaining, briefly, why the content of these materials is important in one’s study of analytics.

The student is required to research, evaluate, create, and present to his or her peers a two-part Online Marketing Plan for a non-profit organization of the student’s choosing.

Online Marketing Plan 1: Organizational and Digital Profile Assignment

The first part of the project requires the student, using extensively documented digital resources, to present the organization's history, stated mission, and organizational structure, any noteworthy third-party news, web, or other database references to it, a sketch of its financial health and of its resource allocation, and a description of the organization's existing social media usages (website, social media sites, mobile apps, etc.). The first part must be 600–700 words and be written in APA format.

Online Marketing Plan 2: Digital and Analytical Prospectus Assignment 

The second part of the project requires the student, as an extension of the first project part, to devise and to submit an extensive 15–20-page proposed Online Marketing Plan for the organization. The plan project must include discussions of such tools and techniques as website content, analytics and search engine optimization usage, search and display marketing, social media marketing, video marketing, email marketing, content marketing, and mobile marketing.

The student will prepare an APA-styled, MS-Word-formatted, research-supported essay in which he/she, with properly documented supports from ONLY the readings and videos from the first four modules in the course, to explain to a readership of college students what analytics are, what their potential uses and/or research applications are, and why having understanding them is important for communication professionals who devise and implement marketing, media, and/or promotional plans for employers and/or clients. The assignment should be completed in current APA format and should be 4-6 pages, not including the cover page and references page. An abstract page is not required.

The student will write an APA-styled, MS-Word formatted academic paper that abstracts three published articles from scholarly journals on digital media analytics as a communication phenomenon or as a data-gathering tool in the study of human communication. The abstract will be followed by a prospectus that discusses each article’s implications for future communication-related research.