With the ongoing lull in academic activities in Nigeria following the strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in February, organisers of the Jacksonites Professional Development Series (JPDS) have announced a spinoff webinar to focus on Mixed Methods Research (MMR) for postgraduate communication students in Nigeria as well as professionals with interest on research.
The first session of the new webinar series is billed for July 1st, 2022. It will have Prof. Charles Okigbo of the North Dakota State University who is the pioneer Registrar and Chief Executive of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) as the Lead Facilitator. He will be joined by Prof. Nnayelugo Okoro, Director of Graduate Research Courses, and Prof. Joseph Wogu, Head of Department, both of Mass Communication, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).
The MMR sessions will be moderated by Dr. Chuks Odiegwu-Enwerem of the National Open University of Nigerian (NOUN), Abuja.
Speaking on the forthcoming webinar, the JPDS Steering Committee Chairman, Prof. Chinedu Mba of the Algonquin College, Ottawa, Canada stated that the MMR Webinar Series in furtherance of the JPDS capacity building focus.
She added that the series is borne out of the need to acquaint participants with the best of global methods in communication research.
According to her, the MMR series is from under the Knowledge Hub-a brand of JPDS.
Speaking to the focus of the maiden webinar, Prof. Okigbo revealed that in the last two decades, there has been a phenomenal increase in interest in academic and professional circles and in communication because of the nationwide and global expansion in the uses of traditional and social media, and the demand for better research applications in commercial, corporate, and public communication situations.”
Corroborating him, Prof. Wogu noted, “this has led to the establishment of the Mixed Methods International Research Association (MMIRA), the Journal of Mixed Methods Research (JMMR/Sage Publications), the International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches (IJMRA), and various specialist webinars and short-term training opportunities.
Prof. Nnayelugo also noted that there is an urgent need to “adopt Mixed Methods Research approaches which yield better results than using only one type of data from one data-gathering method.’’
Providing more information on the webinar, Prof. Mba revealed that the webinar is opened to all postgraduate students in communication studies, the social sciences, education, arts and humanities, as well as for those facing challenges in designing their thesis and dissertation research using the most appropriate research methods as well as those academic and administrative staff who want to develop their skills in action research and management consulting practices.
She added that Management Consultants, PR Practitioners, Researchers as well as professionals in Advertising, Health Sciences, Environmental Sciences, STEM and Educators also stand to benefit from the programme.
She added that participation is free but registration is required. “Interested participants can register at jpdswb.com/kh.
Freelanews is the editorial byline of Freelanews.com, used for staff reports, news updates, press releases, and collaborative stories produced by the Freelanews Editorial Team.
