Sixty Journalism Students to Present at Spring Research Symposium

Utah State University journalism students are reading academic journals, creating surveys and analyzing data in preparation for poster presentations for the Spring Research Symposium on April 8-9.

Sixty students from the department of journalism and communication will be presenting research focused on social media.

Aggrey Otieno started as a professor in 2022 and has integrated these presentations in his courses including communication research methods, introduction to social media and social media and public health campaigns.

“Personally, I’m excited to see this number of students going to the symposium,” Otieno said. “I initially thought I would have five students, maybe three students would be involved.”

The students are working on data collection right now, and “then I can become the devil’s advocate to make sure they have some grounding,” he said.

Brian Kirk, a junior studying journalism, is working on a presentation called “Morgellons Disease: An unfortunate misunderstanding.” He anticipated researching Morgellons disease would be easy, but he later learned it is a rare disease and limited studies have been done about it.

“I’ve learned in multiple classes that a good data set is about 10,000 people or 10,000 subjects. In the case of Morgellons disease, there are only two or three studies done on it,” Kirk said. “There could be underlying co-morbidities behind the problem like schizophrenia.”

To navigate limited studies, Otieno introduced Kirk to a systematic literature review approach guiding him to use medical journals as primary sources.

“Those factors are how doctors discuss the disease with patients,” he said.

Kirk originally came to Utah State with a dream of a sports broadcasting career. That changed when he learned about academic research. The interest started in Otieno’s communication research methods class.

“He had a really good way of framing it and it clicked with me,” he said.

Despite choosing a challenging topic, Kirk embraces the challenge.

“I might as well swing from the fences,” he said.

Jane Schmidt, a sophomore studying public relations, is working on a study called “How Influential Are Influencers: Does Following Social Media Activists Increase In-Person Activism in Young Americans?” She is interested in the topic because she saw a lot of engagement with the Black Lives Matter movement and #MeToo movement on social media.

“I’m wondering how many people are committed to going on strike or something off their phones,” Schmidt said.

Looking ahead, Schmidt is considering a career as a writer or a multimedia communicator after she graduates. She knows the research skills she’s learning will help her in whatever field she chooses.

“Learning how to create a [methodological study] from the back end shows you what it takes to create a legit study,” she said. “Now, I can look at studies now say, Nope, this doesn’t have enough respondents.”

As the symposium approaches, both Kirk and Schmidt feel a mix of excitement and nervousness.

“I'm excited because it’s a nice topic and I'm excited to talk about it,” Schmidt said.

Kirk echoed her enthusiasm, though with some apprehension. “Excited but absolutely terrified,” he said.

Despite the nerves, Kirk is excited to have a path that contributes to new knowledge.