The Mass Communication Research Center is a focal point for research-oriented graduate education in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. It houses multiple research groups and provides resources for the study of mass communication content, effects, and dynamics. A collaborative orientation, joint research projects, open participation, student direction, and faculty mentoring characterize the approach of all affiliated groups. That is, the faculty and students affiliated with the MCRC take a cooperative approach to conducting communication research; have a policy of open participation and student training around joint research projects; begin with an expectation that students will be instrumental in setting the agenda and driving research activities; and rely on a core of faculty mentoring and interaction with students to develop their leadership and research skills. Multiple research groups are currently part of the MCRC and have regular meetings to advance these areas of inquiry.
The MCRC occupies two rooms on the fifth floor of Vilas Communication Hall. The primary MCRC Room in housed in 5011 Vilas Hall, and features a group meeting space with teleconferencing and videoconferencing capabilities and multiple computer terminals for various forms of computational social science research. Two high-powered workstations include programs like LIWC, Dicton, Wordstat, Leximancer, ArcGIS, Gephi, and Pajek for computational text analysis, geographic mapping, and network analysis, along with statistical software packages like SPSS, R, Stata, and Stat/Transfer. The secondary meeting room and resource center, the MCRC Annex, is located 5057 Vilas Hall. Both spaces can be reserved for one-time or reoccurring meetings. To reserve, please contact Dhavan Shah (dshah@wisc.edu) or schedule directly using the UW Outlook calendar system.
