I've decided to do a mini-study for my Final Project in this class. It will be a rather informal, exploratory study to examine how young voters used Web 2.0 technology (specifically Facebook) to talk politics and get political information in the 2008 Presidential Campaigns.
To begin, I'll do a literature review about young voters and Web 2.0. Then, I will create a questionnaire using both Likert Scale questions and a few open-ended questions. I will send this survey out to my Facebook network (appx. 1,400 people) and cross my fingers for a good response. Obviously, this sample won't be accurate -- but again, this is an exploratory study. Once I receive the results, I will compare the data and look for patterns.
I have a few predictions about the results:
1) Young voters who take in political information from other sources (i.e. TV, newspapers, Online Political Websites) are likely to talk politics and get information from Facebook.
2) Young voters who do not take in political information from other sources are unlikely to use Facebook to talk politics or obtain political information.
3) Young voters are likely to talk politics with those who share their views, rather than those who oppose them.
I haven't written up the questions yet -- so all of these hypothesis and predictions are still up in the air.
We shall see :)
Please let me know if you have any suggestions or comments about this idea!
Thank you.
2 comments:
Hello, Amy. This idea is very interesting! As an international student who don't know about the politics of U.S. much, it was good to see the process how Mr. Obama became the President. I think your mini-study will give me a chance to take a glace at American young voters' opinions and inclinations. I'm looking forward to your mini-study.
Hi-- Sounds good and we've talked a bit about this before. The communication tools, interactions, and social aspects in what you're looking at are appropriate for the final project. See my or send question as they come up for you, if needed. --Chuck
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