Dr. Grace Wang may be at the forefront of niche marketing research at Bradley University
Dr. Tianjiao (Grace) Wang is a communication professor at Bradley who has conducted new communication research that many people haven’t tapped into.
Dr. Grace Wang has moved through many fields of communication in her professional career, from journalism to advertising, she has conducted research along the way. She is currently an assistant professor in the Slane College of Communication and Fine Arts at Bradley, teaching topics of advertising and public relations. She’s done research from STD prevention messaging to sex and violence portrayal in music videos. So, I asked her a few questions about how she tapped into the research field and what she’s been able to do with the research she’s conducted, seeing as she’s completed research on topics such as ASMR in advertising.
Tell me about what initially interested you in conducting research?
It’s about figuring out why, not just looking at things like the phenomenon that it is. We are actually trying to solve the puzzle, like what leads to changes in our human behavior? Especially in advertising[…], We can use a scientific, data-driven, evidence-based, way to be confident in what would predict effectiveness. But research always has limitations, always, but still, I think it’s a scientific way of solving all the puzzles or the questions we have.
Is media research something you always wanted to do?
Yeah, I think since my field is communication, then journalism, and then later advertising then media psychology, it’s like I’ve never gotten out of this field [laughs]. I’ve always been in this field so that’s the reason I’ve been interested.
Tell me about the process of getting funding for research, the approval process, and how it works from there when you’re working inside a university.
Well, first we have to work towards a grant. Once we come across the grant, then we put together a research proposal describing what we want to do for the study, and what are the things we want to find, and then we submit a proposal. There is some back and forth between these areas, for example, we might have to get our proposal revised, but oftentimes as soon as you submit the proposal that process is basically completed. It’s actually simpler than you think. Especially at the university level, it’s not something that is national or international, so the process is pretty much simplified.
I don’t think the research part is the most difficult, I think coming up with a question you want to work on is. That part really takes a long time.
What is the most important research you’ve done? All my research, I consider important. But I think the one that I think I enjoyed the most is actually my first one. It was about STD prevention and trying to understand the messaging of them. I think that one was pretty fun to work with.
What about the most interesting research you’ve done?
I feel like all research, in the beginning, is interesting, but they don’t lead to publication. For example, my most interesting one is actually about ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response). There’s a lot of advertising focused on ASMR and I felt like that was interesting, then trying to figure out why people like it, why people don’t like it. But that one was too new, or too novel, more like niche marketing. So it didn’t really have a theoretical foundation to it, but that one was interesting. It was a lot of fun to work with actually.
The research was conducted to assess the different types of neurological stimulation while listening to ASMR, whether it was a good or bad way. Examples of ASMR in advertising can be found here.
Are there any other areas you’d like to branch out to in terms of research? Something other than media?
I do, but I don’t think it’s necessarily outside of media, but it’s other touchpoints of it. For example, I might be into working with mental health mobile apps. I think that way it’s about communications, media elements as well as advertising elements, only it’s about a different subject. I think there would be a lot of flexibility in terms of things we can do. I would like to branch out a little bit to more topics. I have always had a desire to just do more stuff.
For more answered questions by her, reach out at twang@fsmail.bradley.edu.