Having an academic degree in Communication Studies, Dr. Hedrick has taken qualitative and quantitative research methods (two separate graduate-level courses), Communication Philosophy, and Teaching Pedagogy while at Bowling Green State. This is primarily a teaching-centered orientation, as opposed to either a research or professional orientation. His Master of Journalism degree from Temple, however, is a professional degree, as is his A.A. in computer graphic design.
As an illustration of the relevance of these differences, graduate students at Temple were encouraged to join AEJMC and attend those conferences, engaging themselves there, while BGSU COM faculty members were almost entirely NCA-affiliated, with only a few of professors being members of AEJMC. The critical perspective, along with the interpretive paradigm, is the focus of much of the research at NCA, while the functional or positivist paradigm is more dominant in AEJMC research (as compared against NCA).
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