Q: Can you help me with the methodology, sampling, and data analysis for my research around social media?
My research title is ‘Formality and informality in social media.’ So, I want to use a messenger conversation group as a sample for my methodology. But I don't know where to start and what to write. My problem is that I don't know whether I should tell the group to talk about a topic and then choose their dialogs. Also, how do I write data analysis and dissection for this sample? Then, should I write down the student's name, and if so, how many of them? Can you help?
Your topic sounds interesting. However, you have several doubts and questions (about the design, data collection, and data analysis), including some very specific ones, such as recording participants’ names.
However, from what we understand, we believe you would need to ‘pull back a bit.’ You perhaps need to think through the basic aspects of your research before thinking of later aspects such as design and data. Once you are able to do that, you would yourself know (or at least, determine with greater confidence) how to design the study and work through the other aspects. This is perhaps why you presently feel you “don’t know where to start and what to write.”
So, here’s what we suggest.
- The topic presently seems quite broad. You need to narrow the focus of the study. You need to do this by distilling it to a specific research question, working out a problem statement, and eventually working out a hypothesis question. Doing this will help you figure out the exact direction to take with your study, which will eventually help you arrive at an appropriate design. Here are some resources to help you with these aspects:
- For doing the above, it would help to look at existing studies, to know what areas have been explored, what outcomes were predicted, and what methods were used to arrive at those outcomes. That is, you will need to do a comprehensive literature review, which is often the starting point of a study. There are quite a few studies these days looking at social-media behavior. You should be able to find some in repositories such as DOAJ. Here are a couple of researches to help you with the literature review:
- Once you have worked through the question > problem statement > hypothesis, you need to identify your typology, the model on which you are basing your study. There are several models, such as ethnographic model, ground theory, and case study. You can find out more about these models, and why they are essential for a qualitative study, through the following resources:
To summarize, presently, you seem to have ‘gone a bit ahead’ by thinking about the mechanics – that what – of the research. You need to go back to the basics – the why – of the study. This will provide a solid foundation for your study and will automatically, or at least, eventually, lead you toward the approach you need to adopt not just for the design and data collection but for the entire research.
Hope that helps. All the best for your study!
As your study is qualitative, here are some additional resources you may find helpful:
This content belongs to the Manuscript Writing Stage