CommRes in the 1960's

In the 1960's, researchers initially focused on the essential elements of the communication process. Their initial efforts focused on media studies were to determine the comprehensibility of informational materials, and the style (so that it should faithfully adhere to the meaning of its content) of the presentation of such materials to the consumers.

With greater amount to spend for financing fieldwork, communication researchers focused on the audiences/recipients of messages. Their studies covered the multi-disciplinary studies of the first audience, the barrio interpersonal network, and different ways of message perception, such as how professionals, in particular, act as receivers of information. As the researchers gained skills and expertise in research methods through these studies, their interest turned to the sources/producers at the urban level.

To recap, the type of studies done were:

1. studies of communicators/sources of information
2. message studies
3. media studies
4. studies on audience/receiver of information or messages

The following are methods and techniques the scholars used during their course of study:

1. historical studies (useful in origin, growth, and development of communication media in the country)
2. media studies
3. case-study approach (valuable in analyzing particular communication patterns and behaviors; also, useful for generating benchmark data at a small-scale level before doing a large-scale survey)
4. surveys (useful in exploring the causes of phenomena affecting the communicaton process, and in determining skills and levels of knowledge, and attitudes and habits of audiences relating to communication media and messages)
5. experiments (enables the study of and comparison between the effectiveness of varied communication activities)
6. content analysis (interpretation of media/messages)
7. readability studies (researches developed these to make readers readily understand written work)
8. feasibility studies (useful in predicting how viable it will be to set up communications institutions for carrying out new action programs)

The materials and finding of the researches conducted were used to develop priorities and needs of an individual or community, as institution building requirements, to professionalize the print media, and to solve communication problems.

The problems which deemed to be solved by these researches were hardly understood communication messages, non-existence of benchmark information, limited physical reach of messages, lack of informational and educational materials for classes and on the development orientation of media, and limits to press freedom.

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