This course is intended to be a lab where students can execute their critical thinking and creative abilities in exploring the fascinating world of mass communication research. While the main purpose is to expose students to the fundamentals of social scientific research methods and to familiarize them with a variety of research techniques in mass communication research that are useful to media professionals (e.g. surveys, experiments, content analyses), students will also be encouraged or required to critically evaluate published research articles and creatively design their own research project.