Assistant Professors David Bockino and Qian Xu shared their respective research highlighting a variety of topics, including new institutionalism and journalism education, smartphone usage, and the online discussion in China regarding genetically modified foods.
While attending the conference of nearly 2,500 scholars from more than 40 countries, Bockino presented two research papers, titled “Indian Field Notes: New Institutionalism and Journalism Education” and “The Noble Path: Using Habitus To Explore The Motivations of Journalism Students.”
According to the “Indian Field Notes” abstract, Bockino utilized “the theoretical framework of new institutionalism and a qualitative empirical study of three Indian journalism schools to explore the manner by which influences from the organizational field of American journalism education have permeated cross-nationally.”
Bockino’s second paper, “The Noble Path,” addresses the “methodological and substantive limitations of previous cross-national studies of journalism students.” The paper’s findings recommend that placing journalism students into large, generalizable categories marginalizes their heterogeneity and unnecessarily simplifies their motivations to pursue journalism.
In addition, Xu presented a paper investigating smartphone usage titled “Effects of Heuristic Cues on User Perceptions via Location Check-ins: An Approach to the Interplay of Dual Process and Persuasion Knowledge Models.” According to the paper’s abstract, the study, which included 221 college students, “examined the effects of two technological affordances inherent to the operation of location check-ins—bandwagon and location cues—in addition to the moderating role of tie strength specifically on Facebook.”
Xu co-authored the smartphone study with Assistant Professor Hyang-Sook Kim of Towson University and Assistant Professor Karina Kim of California State University, Dominguez Hills.
Xu also partnered with Associate Professor Nan Yu of North Dakota State University to present a poster, titled “The Myth of Genetically Modified Foods: Public Debates Over Risks, Opportunities, and Responsible Parties on Chinese Social Media.” The two researchers investigated the public discussion about genetically modified foods on a leading microblogging platform in China.