Research
The Online Safety and Media Regulation Act requires us to engage in evidence-based decision-making in all that we do, and promote evidence-based decision-making by everyone we consult with. Separately, the Future of Media Commission, established by Government in September 2020, recommended the establishment of a research unit within Coimisiún na Meán to strengthen our internal capacity for research and evaluation.
Based on the above, our research team was established, and it conducts and commissions reliable, high quality, ethical research to inform our deliberative and policy-making processes, and to extend the evidence base on the key issues we focus on. By making research publicly available, we also support evidence-based decision-making by other stakeholders.
Research programme
Each year, we adopt a research programme that is guided by the strategic priorities in our Corporate Strategy. The research programme typically includes a mixture of:
- Research that we carry out in-house, research that is contracted out to an external organisation, and research that involves a combination of both inhouse and external expertise.
- Research that we lead, and research that we collaborate with other organisations on.
- Research that involves quantitative data (that is, data that is numerical/measurable), research that involves qualitative data (that is, data that is verbal and descriptive), and research that involves a mixture of both (“mixed methods research”).
- Research projects that are short-term in nature, (that is, conducted over a number of months) and research that is more longitudinal in nature (often spanning a number of years and involving multiple phases).
The research programme for the current year includes:
- A mixed methods research project on Women and Music in Sound Broadcasting.
- A mixed methods research project, in collaboration with the Irish Film Classification Office, on sources of harm in movies and programmes.
- A three-yearly report on media ownership and control, as required by section 28M of the Competition Act 2002.
- The Digital News Report Ireland, an annual report undertaken by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and analysed by the FuJo Institute at DCU.
- Managing the process design and implementation of Article 40 (4-11) Vetted Researcher Data Access, in compliance with our obligations as a Digital Services Coordinator (DSC) under Article 40 (4-11) of the Digital Services Act.