contemplating digital orality

Here is the methodology from my final pre-proposal submitted in May 2010. I am posting it now, since the blog posts over the next three weeks will all be on my dissertation methods.

The nature of this study–examining an online communication method–is one of social acts. Using a social phenomenological inquiry to examine this subject as an intrinsic case study model, this study will critically examine and apply an embedded analysis on the use of the OVC in the AOC to determine the participant-perceived social presence level, the characteristics that lead to that perception, how participants interact through this method, and the features that allow or invoke that interaction. “A phenomenological study describes the meaning of the lived experiences for several individuals about a concept or the phenomenon” (Creswell, 1998). In this type of study, researchers search for the essence of the phenomenon and the meaning of the experience for participants. Read the rest of this entry »

I am aware that I’ve been getting many new readers to this blog over the past few weeks and months. Furthermore, I realize that someone embarking on this blog anew might be at least somewhat lost, as if opening a text to the middle page and beginning to read. I frequently reference the “OVC” and the “AOC” among other concepts that by now should be quite familiar to frequent visitors to my blog, but which are likely meaningless to those newer visitors. Therefore, in an effort to provide readers (familiar and new) with an overview of my study, I have added the Pre-proposal to this blog.

You can find this page under the Research menu as well as on the link to the right under “What’s this all about?” However, once I write the full proposal and it is approved, which should be around October this Fall, I will likely remove the pre-proposal (or archive it) and just post the full proposal.

Here is the Methodology that I intend to use for my dissertation. I will likely need to modify this a bit as I get closer to finalizing my proposal and to the point at which I will need to analyze the content. For now, this seems solid and logical for the topic and data that I plan to collect. Read the rest of this entry »

While much of this may sound familiar, I am really fine-tuning the topic and have here added the beginnings of a (the?) research question. I welcome any feedback/questions, at this point. Read the rest of this entry »