The Research Idea: I intend to research how individuals perceive themselves, compared to how others perceive them. I will also research the impact social media and creating a "profile" has on self-esteem. I will ask participants to create a holistic profile of themselves, choosing photos, creating a "about" page, and highlighting different aspects of their lives. Then, I will ask close friends of the participants to create a profile for the participant. I hope to investigate these two aspects:
How the profile created by the participant differs from the profile created by the friend. What are the differences? What are the similarities? Why did you create the profile in this way?
I also hope to investigate why individuals develop their "social media identity" and "self." Why do individuals choose to portray themselves in a certain way? What societal structures influence the way individuals portray themselves?
Literature review: I hope to find literature relating to social media, self-esteem, self-perception, and mental health. I believe that this literature will be a good basis for my research project. Interviews: In terms of interviews, I hope to conduct them somewhere that participants feel comfortable. I am actually thinking about doing interviews in each individuals homes, so they can truly explore their self-perception. I am looking forward to further developing my interview questions over the next few days. Photos: I know that in terms of collecting data through photos, I'm going to have participants submit their own photos. In class, we did an exercise where we were able to select our own photos and speak about them. I believe that by choosing a photo and speaking about it, I was able to tell a story in a unique way. This truly taught me the power of using photos during research, and I hope that shows in my project. I am excited to continue to develop this project and complete my full research guide!
Interview Guide: INSTRUCTIONS Be thorough, and get as much information as possible. Don’t be afraid to probe when asking questions if needed. Make sure the respondent is comfortable at all times, and you have permission from the respondent to record and be in any given setting. Allow the respondent to ask questions, have questions clarified, and take time to think about answers. Demographics: “We are going to start by asking you some basic questions before you turn in your profiles and photos To help me learn a little bit about you:” What is your...
Age
Classification in college
major
racial/ethnic background:
gender
Employment status
Marital Status
Any kids?
Are you religious? If so, what religion to you classify as?
What is the best way to get in contact with you?
Now, I want to learn a little bit more about your general social media habits:
What types of social media channels do you have?
In a given day, how many times do you check your…
Facebook
Twitter
Tumblr
Instagram
Linkedin
Google Plus
YouTube Channel
Any other form of social media
How many hours per week would you say you spend on social media?
Around how many friends/followers would you say you have on your given social media accounts? You can check, or just feel free to provide a rough estimate.
How do you try to represent yourself on social media?
Why do you choose to post the statuses you post?
Why do you choose to post the photos you post?
What kind of stuff do you share on social media?
What kind of information do you choose to put on your personal profile?
Full name
Age
Birthday
Email
Phone Number
Gender
Website
Bio
Why do you choose to or not choose to share this information?
How does the information you share influence the way you view yourself?
Thank you for completing your profile! Here are some questions about the experience of creating a social media profile for yourself:
How was the experience of creating a profile?
Why did you choose to share this information?
Why did you choose this photo?
How does this profiles (including the photo) represent you?
Do you think if someone you didn’t know found this profile, it would be an accurate representation of you?
How is this different from your actual online profile? Why do you think these differences exist?
What did you not choose to put on this profile? Why?
Here is the profile your friend created for themselves:
Do you think this profile accurately represents your friend?
How do you think your friend could be more accurately represented?
What aspect of your friend seems to be missing? Why do you think they did not include / didn’t know to include this aspect?
If you were to create a social media profile for your friend, how would your depiction of them be different?
Other general questions for both participant and friend:
How is the way we view ourselves different from the way others view us?
How does social media improve or worsen our views of ourselves?
How can we be more authentic on social media? Why do you or don’t you want to do this?
How much of what we post is influenced by other social media users (ex. gaining likes/comments, factoring in what other people think, etc)?
These were my original research questions. After receiving input from the professor in class, I have edited my questions. Over the last few days, I have contacted all participants, allowing them to create a social media profile for themselves and I will later follow up by asking them the following questions. I hope to have all interviews conducted within the next two weeks. UPDATE: I have completed all of my interviews, and I am now organizing my data by themes and formulating my final research paper!