Breaking News Impact on Mental Health of

Journalists in Pakistani News Channels

Name: Shahbaz Ali Name: Dr Salman Amin

Roll No: 02 Designation: Associate Professor
Class: M Phil Mass Comm Department: Mass Communication

Session: Spring 2022-2024 Institute: Inst. of Communication

School of Mass Communication

Faculty of Humanities

MINHAJ UNIVERSITYLAHORE

HAMDARD CHOWK TOWNSHIP

LAHORE
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Research Proposal Form

Program: M. Phil
Session Spring 2022-2024
Subject: Mass Communication
Name of Student: Shahbaz Ali
Roll No: 02
Father’s Name: Meraj Din

The Title of the Research

Breaking News impact on Mental Health of Journalists in Pakistani News Channels

Introduction

Pakistan is considered to be relatively unsafe for journalists; however, little is

known about how working in situations that involve a high risk of trauma exposure
and personal threat impacts journalists’ mental health. The present study
aimed to examine the associations among reporting on topics that carry a high
risk of trauma exposure; work-related personal threat exposure; and symptoms
of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and stress in a sample
of Pakistani journalists. Participants completed online assessments to report
the extent of their exposure to trauma and threat in the last 6months with regard
to reporting on militancy, crime, bomb blasts, and natural disasters and exposure
to electronic, verbal, and physical threats; stalking; kidnapping; and detention.
Further, we assessed symptoms of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and stress using
self-report instruments. Of the 296 participants, 34.1% showed clinically significant
levels of PTSD, moderately elevated levels of depression, and severely elevated
levels of anxiety. Linear regression analyses demonstrated an association
between PTSD symptoms and a higher frequency of reporting on natural disasters,
β=2.40, p=.004,whereas symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stresswere
associated with a lower frequency of reporting on bomb and suicide blasts, βs =
-.93 – 1.61, p = <.001 – .047. Ideally, these findings will raise awareness about
their situation, inform prevention and intervention efforts dedicated to journalists’
mental health, and promote future research to elucidate the causal factors
implicated in mental health symptoms in this population.
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Objectives

1. Objectives must reflect and be aligned withtheprimaryaim(s)of theresearch

topic.

2. Objectives must also bemeasurableand bewritten in theprotocolof the research

methodology.

Socioeconomic/ Rationale /Practical &ScientificApplications

1. Contribution to the literature shouldbeobvious.

2. Socioeconomic, theoretical andpractical benefits/outcomes shouldalsobe

visible.

3. For research proposals related to the Science programsshalldiscuss the Scientific

Applicationsand not theSocioeconomic aspects.

Hypothesis/ResearchQuestions

• Hypothesis

1. Hypothesisisonlyrequiredincaseofquantitativeresearch.Incaseof

qualitative studies, describing theresearch questionsis sufficient.

2. Given hypothesisshould betestable, and not bewritten general ratherasnull

hypothesis.

Example

H01: Thereis no significant differencebetween _(the control and

experimental groups on theindependent variable)on (dependent variable).

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• ResearchQuestions

1. Research questions should be written as per the research standards and bealigned

with theresearch objectives, and research methodologyof thestudy.

2. Research questionsshould beprecise and selfexplanatory.

ReviewoftheLiterature

1. Previousresearchworksand studies related to thestudy under subject should be

reviewedtothe maximumand uptotherecent availablestudies. Previous research

works include published PhD thesis, Master/M.Philthesis, research papers and

books.

2. Previousresearchworkstobereviewed,couldbetheorybased/applied models or

concept based.

3. It should end in acritiquethat illustrates thegapsinthe research and not just

summaries of books/articles.

4. Forthe proposal of M. Philthesis, minimumnumberof referencesshouldbeten, and

forthe proposal of PhD thesis, the minimumnumberof references should be

25 but themostrelevant to the study.

Research Gap

1. Researchgapsshouldbehighlightedandcriticallyappraisedafterthereviewof

theliteratureunderthissection.

Research DesignandMethodology

1. A comprehensive and detailed description of theresearch methodology for the

study should beprovided.This section should clearly statewhetherthis study is a

Qualitative, Quantitativeor Mixed Methods Research.

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2. For theproposal of M. Philthesis, research methodology section should beone to

two pages long minimum and for theproposal of PhD thesis, research

methodology section should beminimum five pages long however thelonger, the

better.

3. Research methodology section shouldprovide enough information about the data

collection,sources of thedata, data type(primaryor secondary),population,

samplesize (for examplepopulation sizeor numberof citiesetc.), sampling

technique, variables(dependent and independentvariables) to be used,

questionnaire, estimation techniquesand softwareetc.

4. Inresearch methodology section, candidateshouldalso providethe rationale for

specificsamplesizeselection andthe sourcesselected fordata collection.For

example, in caseof Economicresearch why thecandidatehas selected so and so

country and not theotherand why thecandidatehas retrieved the secondary data

from World Bank Database and not from some other databases.

5. This section should provide thedetailsthat how theresearch objectives willbe

achieved; or incaseof hypothesis,how it willbetested.

6. Ifapart ofthe studyinvolves some survey through questionnaire, the

questionnaires to be usedshould be annexedwith theproposal.If the

questionnaireisadoptedfrom any previous study,proper referenceshouldbe given.

Ifcandidatehas developed anew questionnaireforthestudy, information related to

thereliability check and validity, rationale for selecting specific variables and

types of questions, should beprovided.

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DelimitationsandLimitations

1. In this section, a candidateshould write aboutdelimilationsof thestudy.

Researcher should also clearly mentionthe limitations he/she canfacewhile

collecting data and doingsurvey. For example, non availability of thedatafor

some specificyears, expected difficulty while getting the questionnaires filled,

non availability of relevant previous studies, or non availability of resources.

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ProposedChapters forThesis

ChapterNo.1 Introduction

ChapterNo.2 Historical Context/TheoreticlFramework

ChapterNo.3 ReviewoftheLiterature

Review of the literature could be expanded two chapters ifdeemed necessary

ChapterNo.4 ResearchDesignandMethodology

ChapterNo.5 Results andDisucssions

ChapterNo.6 ConclusionandPolicy Implications

LastSectionReferences/Bibliography
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References/Bibliography

Listallresources thatare cited in your researchwork. References and

Bibliographyshould bewritten according to APA Manual 6thEdition.

Examples forWritings

Referencing Journals Articles

Intext citation: Ruxton(2016)

Journal Article with DOl

Herbst-Damm, K. L., &Kuhk, J. A. (2005). Volunteer support marital status, and

the survival times ofterminally ill patients.Health Psychology, 24, 225-229. doi:

10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.225

Intext citation: Herbst-Dammand Kuhk (2005)

Journal Article withoutDOl

Labbo, L. D., Place,K.,&Soares, L. (2010).Fresh perspectives on new literacies and

technology integration.Voices From the Middle, 17(3), 9-18. Retrieved from

http://www.ncte.org/journals/vm/

Intext citation: whensignal phraseLabbo, Placeand Soares (2010) and when at the end

of thesentence(Labbo, Place&Soares, 2010).

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OnlinePublication WhereNoAuthoris Included

American Association ofCommunity Colleges. (2009). About community colleges.

Retrieved from http://www.aacc.nche.edu/Pages/default.aspx

Intext citation: American Association of Community Colleges (2009)

Referencing a book

Intext citation: Arnott (2017)

Referencing NewspaperArticles

Intext citation: Tillett (2018)

Referencing Materialfromthe WorldWideWeb

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Intext citation: American Psychological Association (2018)

Referencing conference proceedings

Intext citation: Bilakey,Guinea and Saghafi(2017)

MoreExamples ofIn-text Citations

Hereis anexampleofacitation used when the author(s) arenoted in the text: Hawley

andHarris (2006), for example, found thatstudents who believed they could face

challenges werebetter able to strategically anticipate and plan howto incorporate 2

challenges into theiracademicschedule,resulting in greater levels of success. Hereisan

exampleof a citation used when multiple references areincluded in asingle citation

(Gloria& Ho, 2003; Rayle, Robinson-Kurpius, & Arredondo, 2006; Rosenthal, 1995).

Notethat the citations arelisted alphabetically. Hereis anexampleofa citation for multiple

references in a single citation allby the same author (Pervin, 1968, 1989, 2001).

Hereis anexampleofacitation used whenareferences has morethan six authors

(Nicponet al., 2007).In this case, “et al”is used in placeof listing all authors.Hereis an

exampleof a citation foraquote; note that “thequote is provided andthen thereference

includes apagenumber” (De Raad&Perugini, 2002, p. 29).

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Name:

ResearchScholar

Reportof theSupervisor

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Supervisor Head,Schoolof
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WorkPlan

3rdSemester (16 Weeks)

04weeks LiteratureReview CommentsbySupervisor

02weeks Methodology Do
08weeks DataCollection Do
02weeks DataAnalysis Do

4thSemester(16weeks)

10weeks FirstDraft CommentsbySupervisor

03weeks SecondDraft Do
02weeks FinalDraft Do
01weeks SubmissionofThesis Do
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IMPORTANT GUIDELINES

Format your synopsis according to APA Manual6thEdition.

PaperSize

A4 sizebeused, norestriction is placed on drawings and maps.

Font, Sizeand Spacing

UseTimes New Romanfont, text size12 with doublelinespacing.

Indention

Write each paragraph with indention

No. ofCopies forMentorandBOAS&R

Fourcopiesformentor11 forBOAS&Rongoodqualitypaper(minimum80

grams)shouldbesubmitted.

Table 1

Format of Headings

Level Format

1 First Level Heading is Centered, BoldedandFirstLetterof Words

Capitalized

Text begins as anew paragraph.

2 SecondLevel HeadingsareBolded, FlushLeftandBeginning of Words

Capitalized

Text begins as anew paragraph.

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3 Third level headings arebolded, indentedandonly thefirst wordis

capitalized.Notethat third level headingsend with a period.

Note:For information on fourth level headings and beyond, pleaseseetheAPA 6th

edition Publication Manual.

Margins

All sections of themanuscript should havea1.5-inch margin on theleft sideand a

one-inch margin on thetop, bottom and rightsides. All text will only beleft justified.

PageNumbering

Pagenumbering starts with a “1”fromIntroduction page.

Note

1. For other information like format of table and figureetc., pleaseseethe APA

Manual 6th edition.

2. Research proposal and thesisshould follow APA 6thforIn-text citation,

references and formatting. Other referencing styles arenot acceptable.

3. Studies donein Urdu languagerelated to the Departments of Urdu, Arabic,

Islamic Studies should follow theUniversity’s prescribed referencestyle.