Status, Problems and Opportunities of Mass Communication Research as a Social Science Discipline in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper has noted that the social scientific paradigm of mass communication research originated in the United States and has generated sufficient theoretical and methodological backgrounds to form a guide for founding and organizing a mass communication research in Nigeria. The paper examined the status of mass communication research in Nigeria, and identified some technical and systemic problems. Specifically, the study found that theoretical propositions used in mass communication research in Nigeria mostly do not reflect rigorous understanding of the theories and, therefore, add nothing to the theoretical front, as most of the theories were wrongly used and cannot generate empirical data to be translated inductively. An institutional apparatus for a national level model institute of journalism and mass communication research was proposed as a strategy for developing the social science discipline of mass communication research in Nigeria. The paper concluded by identifying various opportunities within the field of mass communication theory as a research agenda for the proposed institute.