UGANDA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

NAME: NALWOGA SHARON

REG NO: S19B04/108

COURSE UNIT: RESEARCH METHODS

LECTURER: MR KIVA JOSEPH

HOW COVID-19 DOWN HAS AFFECTED THE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF
MEDIA

COVID-19 is an ongoing global pandemic disease which is caused by Corona

virus of unknown origin that causes acute respiratory illness that can be
severe. This virus was first identified amid of an outbreak of respiratory
illness cases in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. It was first reported to
the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 31, 2019, however on

January 30, 2020, the WHO declared it a global pandemic [ CITATION

Dav21 \l 1033 ]. The symptoms of COVID-19 include; fever, cough,
headache, breathing difficulties, fatigue and loss of appetite

[ CITATION Dav21 \l 1033 ]. These symptoms may begin one

to fourteen days after exposure to the virus. Media is any form of
communication that delivers information. Examples media outlets include
newspapers, radio, television, magazines and internet sources like blogs or

online publications[ CITATION Mac18 \l 1033 ]. The main

importance of the media is to inform or communicate with the greatest
number of people possible, all at once. The public relies on the media to
learn about social and political issues, entertainment, important world
events, popular culture and local and global news. Media started with print

media, radio, television and then social media [ CITATION

Mac18 \l 1033 ].

The large majority of media around the world have felt the impact of the
pandemic (COVID-19). Some see their revenue increase, others decrease,
others are struggling to keep up with the many information by the public to
conduct their work and others are delayed in conducting their work safely
hence severely affected. There has been a widespread cancellation of
events, lowered consumer spending outside the home due to closures,
advertising revenues have steeply declined [ CITATION Mac18 \l
1033 ].

Before COVID-19 media used to earn a lot of money where by so many

companies were using the media in advertising their products and as it is
well known that media most especially broadcasting media earn money
through advertising which really increase on their profits. So with this media
was performing so well financially considering the amount of money they
used to get from their clients.

However due to the outbreak of COVID-19 the financial performance of

media lowered down. This can basically put on the loss of customers
audience and so many others. It should be noted that media houses for
instance broadcasting media earn income through advertisement, however,
during this period of OVID-19 where everything was put on total lock down,
so many companies were closed, there is no way people could advertise
something which is not even working and others resorted to online
advertising where people could promote their business on social media
platforms like watsapp, facebook and so many other which really shows that
the media is currently performing bad financially.

Media houses have faced a lot of financial problems during this COVID-19
pandemic; however there is no or very little studies that really examines
how they are financially doing during this pandemic hence a need for this
research.

Objectives of the research

Research objectives describe concisely what the research is trying to

achieve. They summarize the accomplishments a researcher wishes to
achieve through the project and provides direction to the study. A research
objective must be achievable, i.e., it must be framed keeping in mind the
available time, infrastructure required for research, and other
resources[ CITATION QAF19 \l 1033 ]
So this study will achieve the following objectives

To find out the effects of COVID-19 on the sales of the media

To find out how much profit does the media earn during this period of
Covid-19 and what it used to earn before the pandemic.

Research questions

A research question is 'a question that a research project sets out to answer
so in this case the study will answer the following question

How COVID-19 has lowered the profit of the media?

How much do the media spend?

How much profit does the media house earn monthly in this covid-19 period?

METHODOLOGY

Introduction
This section presents the methodological approach that will be used to
answer the research questions. It spells out the research design , area of
study, study population, sample size determination, sampling techniques,
data collection procedure, data collection methods, data management and
ethical considerations.

Study Design

A Research Design is simply a structural framework of various research

methods as well as techniques that are utilized by a researcher.A research
design provides the glue that holds the research project together, it helps to
structure the research, and shows how all of the major parts of the research
report work together to try to address the central research questions. The
study will employ a descriptive cross-sectional design. The choice of
descriptive survey research design is made in a study when the research is
interested on the state of affairs already existing in the field and no
variable would be manipulated[ CITATION Tea21 \l 1033 ].

The Study Population

Target population refers to a complete set of individuals, items with
some common observable characteristics of a particular nature distinct
from other population. This definition ensures that population of interest
is homogeneous. The population of this study will be the media houses
members.

Sample Size

In this study data will be obtained from 300 financial managers one from
each media houses will be selected as key informants to be interviewed
since they posses great knowledge about the financial performance of
media.

.Also 15 members from the media workers will be interviewed.

Sampling technique

Stratified random sampling will be used to select the 512 respondents from
which quantitative data will be got. Under this method selection of study
respondents will be done by a Probability Proportional to Size (PPS)
sampling method. Probability proportional to size (PPS) is a sampling
technique for use with surveys or mini-surveys in which the probability of
selecting a sampling unit is proportional to the size of its population. . The
key informants will be selected purposively, this methods allows selecting
only those respondents who can serve the purpose of the study.

Source of data
In this research, data will be gathered from two sources and that primary
source and secondary data sources. Primary data is a systematic process of
gathering and recording data from the first hand sources, primary research
involves collecting data about a given subject directly from the real world.
Primary data sources present information in its original form, neither
interpreted nor condensed or evaluated by other writers. On the other
hand, secondary data is the process of gathering and recording data from
already published resources. Sources of secondary research used for the
study will include journals, books, public library material, and research
reports.

Data Collection Methods and Instruments

Questionnaire survey

Questionnaire surveys are a technique for gathering statistical information

about the attributes, attitudes, or action of a population by a structured set
of question[ CITATION VPr09 \l 1033 ]

It is cheap because it does not involve call backs unlike telephone

interviews. It removes the research bias since there is no face to face
interaction. It also encourages participation because respondents can
answer the questions at their own convenience. Some people answer
personal and embarrassing questions more willingly and more accurately
when not face to face with the interviewer who is a complete stranger,
more valid answers are received because of anonymity and cheaper
than other methods of data collection. The method will involve
designing close and open ended questions about the study and these will
be printed as questionnaires and delivered by the researcher and his
team to the various respondents select for the study

Data collection procedure

To ensure a well-coordinated data collection process, the following

procedures will be followed: A pre-test of the data collection tools will be
conducted to test their reliability. After that, then I will be set to begin
data collection. I will obtain a letter of introduction from the department,
which will be used to get permission to conduct research. After being
granted permission, then I will then embark on the process of collecting
data.

Data Quality Control

This will be done as a way of eliminating or reducing errors in the study

instruments. In order to ensure quality of the research findings, the
researcher will conduct both the validity and reliability tests as indicated in
sub sections below.

Validity of the research instrument

In this study, validity will address the trustworthiness of my interpretations
and generalization. It will also help in accounting for personal biases which
may influence the findings. It will also help to acknowledge biases in
sampling to ensure sufficient depth and relevance of data collection and
analysis. To establish the validity of the instruments, the questionnaire will
be given to the Supervisor and academic colleagues for comment to verify
its ability.

Reliability of the research instrument

Reliability refers to the extent that the instrument yields the same results
over multiple trials[ CITATION Sta19 \l 1033 ]. Reliability of an instrument
indicates the stability and consistency with which the instrument measures
the concept and helps to access the goodness of a measure. The
questionnaire will be piloted to ensure reliability of the questions asked.

Data Analysis
Completed data collection tools will be double checked by the before data
entry. Data will be entered in to SPSS version 20 for cleaning and analysis,
data will be prepared for analysis by recoding them as per the requirement
for the analysis.

Limitations to the study.

The study is likely to face a problem of not finding all respondents in the
study area especially the company financial managers who often have fixed
programs in doing their works. To solve this, the I will arrange with them to
fix appropriate time in order to collect reliable and valid information.

The researcher may face a problem of some respondents not providing

information for the study as information relating to the study variables,
however to this, researcher will endeavor to explain to them that the
information was only for the academic purpose while making them to
understand the study variables.

The study is likely to be expensive in terms of transport, and stationary

costs given the distance from the university to the study area is a bit long.
However the researcher will try to mobilize financial resource for the study
to be completed successfully.

Ethical Considerations

I will ensure a high level of confidentiality to the respondents during and

after the research and that the research findings will be purely for academic
purposes and the researcher will be seeking knowledge and experience on
how covid-19 has affected the financial performance of media in Uganda.
The respondents’ consent will be sought before data collection and they will
be assured that their identity would not be revealed after the study without
their consent.

LITERATURE REVIEW
REFERENCES

David J Cennimo, M. F., & Chief Editor: Michael Stuart Bronze, M. (2021,
October 22). https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/2500114-overview.
Retrieved October 25, 2021, from Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Dictionary, M. (2018, February 2). media. Retrieved October 23, 2021, from
https://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/media

Edu, T. L. (2021, October 25). Types of Research Design. Retrieved October

26, 2021, from https://leverageedu.com/blog/types-of-research-design/

FORUM, Q. (2019, March 7). What are research objectives? Retrieved

October 25, 2021, from https://www.editage.com/insights/what-is-
research-objective
Preston, V. (2009, March 2). Questionnaire survey. Retrieved October 24,
2021, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-
sciences/questionnaire-survey

Ressolutions, S. (2019, May 3). Reliability and Validity. Retrieved October

25, 2021, from https://www.statisticssolutions.com/reliability-and-validity/