This seminar series addresses some of the most important challenges faced by researchers and students involved in academic research. The seminars will be held by Prof. dr. Costis Dallas, who is a Head of the Digital Cultures and Communication Department.
It covers different aspects of research planning and design, from the initial identification of a topic to final publication of research results. It focuses on identifying issues actually encountered by researchers and providing practical guidance for planning and conducting research, supported by best practices and lessons learned from international experience. It will be of benefit to established researchers conducting and publishing peer-reviewed research, doctoral students at different stages of the PhD dissertation process, and Master’s students in preparation for thesis work.
1. Using AI tools in research ethically (Wednesday, 13 December 2023, 3pm – 4:30pm)
2. Taming the research process (Wednesday, 14 February,3pm – 4:30pm)
3. What makes a topic researchable? (Wednesday, 20 March 2024, 3pm – 4:30pm)
One of the greatest challenges for researchers is to make progress from identifying an interesting domain of study, or having an initial hunch or intuition, to defining a topic that is actually suitable for scholarly or scientific research. This seminar focuses on identifying criteria for what constitutes a good research topic, on introducing related notions such as “study objective“, “research question”, and “hypothesis“, and on discussing ways to define a sound research topic in the context of different methodological traditions.
This is the third seminar of The Practice and Process of Research, a seminar series (2023-2024) organized by the Faculty of Communication, Vilnius University. Instructor: Prof. Dr. Costis Dallas.
The seminar is taking place in the Faculty of Communication, 214 a. (Freska room), Saulėtekis av. 9.
REGISTRATION (the call for registrations is open until 18 March 2024).
4. Writing a literature review (mid-April 2024, date and time TBD)
This seminar introduces two different kinds of literature review, systematic and critical, and their suitability in the research process. Based on examples from recent international dissertations and articles in peer-reviewed journals, and tapping on the potential of generative AI and other digital tools, it presents the essential characteristics, methods, concrete steps, and ways of presenting prior scholarship in these two literature review genres.
5. Qualitative interviewing in research (mid-May 2024, date and time TBD)
Sayings of people in the staged context of a conversation with researchers have been a useful source of knowledge in diverse disciplines, from history to psychology, sociology, and of course also information and communication studies. This seminar introduces the different reasons for conducting an interviewing study, identifies some important theoretical and methodological implications, outlines the steps and activities involved in conducting, transcribing and analyzing interviews using appropriate digital tools, and highlights the differences and main traits of selected qualitative interviewing approaches such as life histories, episodic interviews, and focus groups.
6. Research ethics in practice (mid-June 2024, date and time TBD)
Conformance with specific conditions and criteria on how research is conducted and reported has been an increasingly important requirement by universities, funding institutions, and academic publishers. This seminar introduces two important dimensions of research ethics considerations, criteria, and good practices: how to address research evidence that touches on personal information of human subjects, and how to address proper attribution of authorship and intellectual contribution by authors and others in dissertations and published research.