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We are finally starting on data collection! This assignment is essentially your planning phase

Sociology

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We are finally starting on data collection! This assignment is essentially your planning phase. Things may change between this assignment and your project outline and that is okay! That is part of the research process.

As a reminder: It is okay if you have hypotheses, but they are not necessary. You can let the data speak for itself (via your interpretation). What do you see? What patterns are appearing based on your assessment?

Remember: This is practice! It does not need to be perfect and it is completely based on your interpretation and your goals with the final project.

FORMATTING

Please use the typical formatting for this assignment: 12 point Times New Roman or Calibri font, 1 inch margins, and double spacing.

Please present your work in paragraph format. Keep in mind that a paragraph is 4-8 sentences and should not be near one page long. If your paragraph begins reaching a page in length, break it up!

INSTRUCTIONS

With this assignment, you will begin taking a look at and collecting your data. Please note that you have some parameters on data collection for the final project (you only need a few data points for this assignment):

At least 5 posts OR at most 25 posts and at least 3 comments OR at most 10 comments per post. We will cover this more later as well, but this means that you could have a sample of 15 posts with 8 comments each. You will just explain your sample decisions in your methods section of the final paper.

For the first section of the paper (with a heading, in paragraph format, and about 1/4 to 1/2 of a page):

• Discuss the subreddit (remember to consult Subreddit Possibilities.docx
• Include a link
• Describe what the subreddit is/is about
• Include information about how many members are subscribed and how many are online (it is probably helpful to reference the video on Reddit in your Week 3 Navigation)
• Include some general information about what you see, including what the top post is and how many upvotes it has

For the second section of the paper (with a heading, in paragraph format and about 1/4 to 1/2 of a page):

• What is your plan for data collection (how many posts/comments?). Please note that this might change and that is okay.
  • Why do you plan on this sample size?
• Do you plan to search for terms, use "top," or use "hot" posts?
  • Give an explanation for your answer.

For the third portion of the paper, I want you to start taking a look at themes (with a heading, in paragraph format and about 1/2 to 1 page). In your final paper, you should have three themes, but it is okay if you only have one for now. You should be able to use this later. Consider:

• What are some patterns you notice in what people are talking about? What do they focus on? What kinds of posts do you see?
• Are users positive? Supportive? Do they provide constructive criticism or advice? How do you know or recognize these things?
  • This is based on your interpretation
• Focus on three observations that you can make, label the patterns, and explain how you arrived at these labels or identifications

Finally, provide some information about your data organization (with a heading). There are multiple ways to do this (shown in the walkthrough example and the video) and you just need to choose one. See what works for you and test some things out while you look at your data.

• Explain how you plan to organize your data in paragraph format (about 1/4 to 1/2 of a page)
• Show how you are organizing your data by inserting screenshots or tables (example provided in your example document and in the lecture video on the assignment)
  • You only need to start with one post and a few comments at least
  • If you would like to include more, you can, and it's less work later!
• Student Name Course Date Content Analysis Brainstorm Site Information This should give a general idea of the site you will be using for the project. Please include a link to the subreddit, the number of members/subscribers, the number of people online at the time of observation, and general information about the top post (e.g., number of upvotes and number of comments). This section should be about 1/4 of a page. Data Please briefly (again, in about 1/4 of a page) note how many posts/comments you plan to analyze and why. For your final project, we will go over some parameters, but I want you to consider this now to start gathering data. You will be collecting and analyzing both posts and comments. For posts, you will look at 25 posts maximum (5 posts minimum) and can organize by doing targeted searches for specific terms, sorting by “top” posts, or sorting by “hot” posts. You will need to explain and justify your choices in the methods. For comments, you will look at a maximum of the “top” 10 (looking at the top posts shows the posts with the most support). You should at least include the “top” 3 comments for each post analyzed. You do not need to worry about comment replies, but can include them if you want to. Identify Themes Take a look at your site. Note the types of things that come up. What are some potential themes that seem present in: types of posts, titles of posts, and top comments? How did you identify these themes? Focus on at least three (3) observable patterns and explain how you arrived at these labels. This section should be about 1/2 to 1 page. You will include a couple of examples below. You can start with some specific questions (e.g., “How do people talk about baking online?” or “Why do people like specific characters in this show?”) or you can take a grounded theory approach and see what comes out of the data directly. You should be gathering things, reviewing specific terms, and starting your coding strategy. This assignment is mostly to make sure that you are on track for putting your analysis together. Highlight specific things you are doing targeted searches for (and why) or behaviors/terms/ideas/sentiments/discussions that are prevalent so far. Examples of Qualitative Coding Here you will want to show how you are coding. Give a brief explanation for your approach (e.g., how are you organizing your data and why; what analysis do you plan to have in your final paper). This will be helpful for filling out your methods section. You should include some specific examples of your coding strategy. So while in the last section you discuss what you are seeing and looking for broadly, here you are showing your organization and examples. Cross-over discussion: focus on two fandoms (e.g., Animal Crossing [video game, main focus of subreddit] and Rick and Morty [television show; cartoon]). Comment Francisco4949 18 points·7 hours ago That’s awesome looking! level 2 DarkwingRage 7 points·6 hours ago Thank you! level 1 Brit0484 12 points·7 hours ago This is absolutely to die for, such inspiration/ goals. level 2 DarkwingRage 5 points·6 hours ago Theme Positive; support. Theme Meaning Worded as a compliment; excited tone (exclamation point) Thats so sweet, ty level 3 Brit0484 3 points·6 hours ago Well my husband and I are huge fans, he was mind blown by how detailed and cool this has turned out. I'm a newb so my island is bland lol. kiarwen1 9 points·6 hours ago You can put in a custom design instead of the Apple on the corkboard level 2 DarkwingRage 7 points·6 hours ago Seriously?! Right back to the customisation screen! ? level 3 hungrycosmonaut 6 points·3 hours ago Haha I was gonna say to put a Plumbus on there! xD level 1 TheDocZen 7 points·5 hours ago Rick AC 137 approves this message level 1 theoneandonlyalbina 4 points·5 hours ago I LOVE THIS!!! Lmk which items you’re still looking for and I’d be happy to give them to this noble Support (positive reaction to content); Support (willing to assist) cause. Been playing a while and got a ton of stuff cataloged and bought. Already ran out of storage lol level 2 DarkwingRage 3 points·5 hours ago Haha thanks so much, the only thing i'm really looking for to make this room somewhat perfect imo is a deluxe washing machine in either grey or white and then i'm all set (: