Cultural

Studies
Proposals:

The
Object,
Question,
Lens,
& Method
Approach

Prepared by Dr. Theresa M. Senft

Global Liberal Studies Program
New York University
Questions? Terri.senft@nyu.edu

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

OBJECT

What do I mean by a research ‘object’? 3

Keeping the size of your object manageable 4
Situating your narrator 5
The importance of narrative flow 6
More than one object (comparing/contrasting) 6

QUESTION

What do I mean by research ‘question’? 7

Helpful language when formulating questions 7
Common Types of Questions:
Questions about space and place 8
Questions about affect and memory 8
Questions about identity and community 8
Questions about social capital 8
Questions about production and consumption 8
Questions about affect and effect 9
Questions about aesthetics 9
Questions about play and ludology 9
Questions about epistemology 9
Questions about networks and machines 9

LENS

What do I mean by ‘lens’? 10

Looking for Lenses: How to begin? 10
Chart with theories and theorists 11
The politics of lenses 12

METHOD

What do I mean by ‘method’? 12

Methods: texts, contexts, people 13
Methods chart: There’s a name for that. 15
Methods: studying texts 15
Methods: studying contexts 16
Methods: studying people 17
Be precise about what you will examine 17
Be precise with nature of your enquiry 18

SAMPLE RESEARCH PAPER PROPOSAL TEMPLATE 19

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Semester:   Spring       Academic  Year:                                  2011-­‐2012  
Instructor:     Theresa  (Terri)  Senft   Instructor’s  Email:     terri.senft@nyu.edu  

Drafting a Cultural Studies Proposal:

The Object, Question, Lens, & Method Approach

By Theresa Senft

I consider the following to be the fundamental elements of a strong cultural

studies paper:

• Object
• Question
• Lens
• Method

You might think about these as answers to the following questions:

• Object: what is the topic you wish to research?

• Question: what about your topic interests you? Why should it interest
others?

• Lens: whose work informs and influence you as you ask your questions?

• Method: precisely what original work will you be doing as part of your
research?

Before we continue, a quick disclaimer: I don’t think mine is the only way to
approach a research project. In fact, I more or less made up these terms, based on
conversations with teachers, colleagues and editors over the years. If you have a
process that currently works for you, don’t feel compelled to adopt this one. It is
provided only to help folks who are currently “winging it,” and looking for a bit
of guidance. Okay? Okay.

Below, I explain what I mean when I speak about the object. After that, I’ll go on
to discuss questions, lenses and methods.

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 PART 1: THE OBJECT

What is an “object”?

By "object" I mean the topic you wish to write about. In general, an object can be:

• A person: actual or fictional, living or dead

• A group of people: a culture, a subculture (e.g. voting blocks, fan groups,
etc.)
• A place: actual or fictional, past or present
• A thing: e.g. a painting, book, architectural site, video game, web site, film,
song, piece of clothing, etc.
• An institution: e.g., universities, armies, hospitals, etc.
• An industry: e.g. banking, recording, film, etc.
• An event: e.g. a performance, an exhibition, a ritual, a holiday, a battle, etc.
• A phenomenon: cultural or subcultural (e.g., the appearance of ‘heroin chic’
in the fashion industry, the rise of ‘stay at home dads’ etc.)

Regarding the size of your object

As a general rule of thumb:

the smaller the object, the more controllable your paper will be.

Consider the following options and our comments, below:

OPTION 1: "I want to talk about how dangerous surveillance is."

OUR COMMENT: For our purposes, this is too broad

an object for a paper.

OPTION 2: "I want to talk about the government gets more and more
information about us every day.”

OUR COMMENT: This is okay, but still needs

refining.

OPTION 3: "I want to talk about how the New York City Metrocard
can be used to track people, and asking whether we want
our government to be monitoring its citizens in that way.”

OUR COMMENT: Option 3 is a nicely sized object for

a paper. Can you see why this would be?

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 Here’s another example:

OPTION 1: "I want to talk about how messed up the advertising

industry is."

OUR COMMENT: This is too broad an object.

OPTION 2: "I want to talk about how it seems that people are always
encouraged to be thin in advertising."

OUR COMMENT: This is okay, but still needs

refining.

OPTION 3: "I want to talk about this time when I was working at a
modelling agency and I witnessed my bosses picking models
for a specific shoot based on whether they could see the
models' ribcages through their shirts.

OUR COMMENT: Option 3 is starting to feel like a

nicely sized object for a paper. Can you see why this
would be?

On situating your narrator vis a vis your object.

You know what else is good about option 3, above? It nicely situates the narrator
of the paper. She doesn’t come across as some Neutral Grand Authority; she
states clearly and up front that she is an employee of an advertising agency, and
a witness to an event that touches on larger concerns regarding modelling and
weight.

Also important: a writer may have multiple roles in the stories they tell, and this
matters hugely. For instance, in Option 3, we know the person is an employee,
but she may also be a student, an aspiring model herself, etc. All of these roles
are going to affect what she sees in her analysis, and what she does not.

When you choose your object, you are going to have to state and explore your
position, as well. Again, this is why I think stories are useful. When you begin
with a personal story, you are taking the rhetorical position not of the Expert, but
of the individual with an incident to share.

(Please note: Some will argue that there are HUGE problems with the lie of the
"ordinary person with an ordinary story" routine. The biggest problem critics
have with this is that the "ordinary person" IS declaring him/herself an expert,
just by the ACT writing on a topic. And what's more, s/he protects him/herself
in a way an expert cannot: that is, by hiding behind the cover of "hey, I'm just an

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ordinary person." If you want to see this in action, check out Rush Limbaugh, for
instance, or pretty much any moron on AM radio.

I agree with this critique. Still, for our purposes, I still think the "ordinary person"
approach is the way to go, particularly since we WILL be interrogating our own
perspectives vis a vis our "question", which I will discuss in a moment.

Regarding the importance of narrative and your object.

Though there are many exceptions to this rule, most essays require a beginning,
middle and end. Obviously, personal stories help do this, but they aren’t they
only way to move narrative along. Consider the following:

Option A: "I want to talk about caller ID as a dehumanizing phenomenon."

Option B: "I want to talk about my internal debate over getting caller ID"

Option C: "I want to talk about the fact that after a local politician had caller ID
installed in his office, his constituent satisfaction rates with call-in queries dropped
more than thirty percent."

Purely in terms of narrative strength, I would suggest that Option A seems

narratively “weak,” while B and C are “stronger.” Why? Because A and B show
temporal progression (i.e. "before getting caller id, after getting caller id) whereas
Option A lacks it.

The other nice thing about Options B and C is that the particular stories naturally
lead into a discussion of larger social questions, whereas big universal openings
quickly devolve into rants, if not handled with care.

Please note that I'm NOT saying you can't write in the style of Option A. It is just
more difficult to do so. Contrary to what many expository writing teachers
believe, I think it's troublesome to begin with some huge statement and "shrink
down" to the particular. To begin an essay with the statement "Technology X is
dehumanizing" begs too many questions, from "Dehumanizing for whom?" to
"Who are you to decide what constitutes a 'human' approach?” If you simply
MUST write in the style of Option A, I am going to ask you to confer with me
first, to avoid pitfalls.

When you have more than one object: Comparing and Contrasting

Sometimes, it is helpful to write a paper using not one object, but two, or even
three objects in a similar category. “Compare and contrast” is a common
technique in cultural studies. When you compare and contrast two objects, you
are asking two straightforward questions:

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 • What do these two things have in common? This is generally a matter of
explanation and listing (i.e. both are video games, both came as a result of a
corporate merger, etc.)

• How do these two things differ? Because they are about mechanics (‘how”)
differences between your objects should take MORE of your time to explain
than similarities. Now, the truth is, two objects can have an endless number
of similarities and differences. To determine the ones you want to focus on,
we need to discuss your question. That’s covered next.

STOP!! Now would be a good

time to turn to the “OBJECTS”
section of your Brainstorming
Workbook.

PART 2: YOUR QUESTION

The Question

After you locate your object, you'll want to come up with your question. For
many of you, your question and your object will be intimately connected. For
others, teasing out your question may take some work.

The "question" portion of your essay strategy is most easily dealt with by asking
yourself, "What about my object fascinates me? How can I formulate my
fascination as a one or two line interrogation?"

Helpful advice regarding questions

• Use words like “how” or “what” rather than “why” to form your questions.
Asking “why” generally yields the answer, “because,” which gets you nowhere
as a researcher.

• Realize that you won’t have room to tackle more than one question in a short
paper. That said, you will --and should-- have ancillary or “follow up” questions
coming from your big question.

• State your questions as concisely and clearly as possible. This means that
two short sentences are better than one long one.

• Avoid leading questions. For example, “How does the Internet lead to the
collapse of communication?” is an argument masquerading as a question, and is
not acceptable for a proposal.

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Some Common Types of Questions

Below, I provide four categories of common questions asked in media and

cultural studies. This list is by NO MEANS EXHAUSTIVE. It is meant to spark
your thinking, nothing more. Here are some things you might want to ask of
your objects:

Questions of PLACE AND SPACE

1. In what place does my object exist? Where in history, geography, and

cultural memory is it located? How does the arrangement of space affect
the object’s meaning within culture? Has that space changed over time?
What might be the significance of that change for culture at large?

2. How do the particular social groups I am studying come to an

understanding of their private and the public space? Their commercial
and ‘free’ space? Their sacred and the secular space?

Questions of AFFECT and MEMORY

1. What sorts of experiences does my object elicit for its

viewers/participants/bystanders/participants? How does experiential
knowledge change what an object ‘means’ for different populations?

2. What is the relationship between an experience of a moment, and the re-

telling of it via memory?

Questions of IDENTITY and COMMUNITY

1. How have issues of gender, class, nationality, religion, race, age, ability, or
language use functioned in the past for the group of people I’m interested
in studying? Have there been changes worth noting? What might those
changes signify regarding culture at large?

2. How was legitimate and illegitimate behaviour determined in the past for
those in the group I am studying? Have their been changes worth noting?
How might those changes tell us something about the changing nature of
the group, or about culture at large?

Questions of SOCIAL CAPITAL:

1. How  are  issues  of  trust  negotiated  in  this  environment?
2. How  is  social  power  accrued  in  this  environment?
3. How  is  risk  managed  in  this  environment?
Questions of PRODUCTION and CONSUMPTION

1. Who has owned the means to produce this practice/product/tool in the

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 past? Do different people own it now? If so, have changes in ownership
affected what this practice/product/tool signifies culturally?

2. Who has used this practice/product/tool in the past? Do different people

use it now? If so, have changes in consumption affected the cultural
meanings of this practice/product/tool?

Questions  of  AFFECT  and  EFFECTS.  Some  examples  include:  

 
1. What  does  it  mean  to  speak  of  certain  activities  as  “addictive”?  
2. What  does  it  mean  to  speak  of  being  in  “flow”  with  regard  to  an  environment  or  
practice?  
3. To  what  extent  does  this  object/phenomenon  influence  activities  with  regard  to  
“real  world”  violence,  activism,  sexuality,  anti-­‐‑social  behavior,  etc.?    

Questions  of  AESTHETICS.  Some  examples  include:  

 
1. How  does  this  environment/creation/phenomenon  fit  with  our  established  ideas  
about  art?  
2. What  parameters  do  we  use  for  determining  whether  something  is  of  high  quality  
in  this  field,  and  what  value  judgments  do  we  display  when  we  use  existing  
terminology  for  the  field  (e.g.  ‘elegant  code’)  
 
Questions  of  LUDOLOGY  and  NARRATIVE.  Some  examples  include:  
 
1. What  are  the  rules  of  this  system,  and  how  do  the  rules  affect  our  experience  of  
play  here?  
 
2. What  are  the  experiential  differences  between  playing  in  single  player,  multiplayer  
and  online  versions?  
 
3. How  does  this  game/art  project/etc.  progress  with  regard  to  plot,  character  and  
“story  arc”?  
 
 
Questions  of  EPISTEMOLOGY.  Some  examples  include:  
 
1. What  means  do  we  have  for  establishing  the  truth  of  this  
image/document/film/etc.?  
 
2. What  psychological/social/political  stakes  are  attached  to  the  belief  that  a  
particular  version  of  a  story  is  true,  or  real?  
 
Questions  of  NETWORKS  and  MACHINES.  Some  examples  include:  

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1. What  are  the  degrees  of  separation  between  major  players  in  this  system  
(“players”  should  include  both  humans,  software,  hardware,  and  so  forth)?  
 
2. How  are  the  feedback  loops  structured  in  this  environment  between  producers,  
distributors,  consumers,  and  interfaces?  
3.

STOP!! Now would be a good

time to turn to the “Questions”
section of your Brainstorming
Workbook.

PART 3: YOUR LENS (ES)

The Lens

If your object is your “what”, and your questions are your “why”, your lenses
might be best thought of as your “who,” in that they help you decide: “Who will
you read to help you theoretically frame your questions?”

Some students think this business of finding lenses is limited to academia. They
are wrong. No matter what you do next in your life, “doing your homework”
will be the order of the day. Consider this: your friend calls herself an innovator,
and in a bar she tells you about her latest cool invention: a disk on which you
play movies But when you tell her that the DVD has been in production a decade
now, she looks baffled, and then starts talking about how she "can't be expected
to know everything." How weird would that be?

To summarize: The "lens", as I define it, is your demonstration that you know
whom else is thinking in your field. You don't need to know everything written
about your interests, but you do need to know *something* beyond your own
thoughts. One more thing: with lenses, quality is better than quantity. Rather
than name-dropping a million people, it’s better to find between one and three
people with whom you can really dialogue in your paper. Then you can safely
say you have your "lens" established.

Searching for Lenses: How to Begin

Faced with the task of finding appropriate lenses, the average student goes to a
place like a Google Scholar and begins searching by subject. Let’s go back to the
example I gave earlier, featuring a student who wanted to write about the casting
habits of a particular modelling agency. This student might head to Google
Scholar, type in “models” or “agency” or even “weight”--and then see what
happens. While this is not a bad first start, it has the danger of yielding either too
much, or too little information that is relevant to the student’s particular needs.

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How do you find the writers who are thinking in a way that jibes with what you
are looking for? Here, it might be useful to understand that we can approach this
lens business two ways:

• Via theories (i.e. general schools of thought: e.g. theories of psychoanalysis,

theories of feminism, actor-network theory, etc.)
• Via theorists (i.e. people who espouse certain theories, generally associated
with certain schools of thoughts: e.g. Freud, Mulvey, Latour)

In the example above, I provided names of three theorists associated with

psychoanalysis, feminism and actor-network theory respectively.

Now, if I were you right at this point, I’d be thinking, “How does she expect me
to do that?” The answer is: I don’t. What I do expect you to do is remember that
thus far, you’ve come up with two elements of your research design: your
object(s) and your question (s). While objects are usually great ways to start
looking for lenses, your questions will be the best way to help you narrow down
your search.

To help you get started, I’ve made a “quick and dirty” guide of theoretical
approaches for some of the most common questions in media research. The
guide is geared toward students doing digital media work, so your interest may
not appear here. If that is the case, no worries! Come to me and we’ll talk.

IF YOU ARE ASKING THEORIES YOU’LL SOME THINKERS YOU MIGHT LOOK INTO
QUESTIONS LIKE… WANT TO LOOK AT
Examples of historical theorists:
Is this art? Theories of Plato, Aristotle, Kant
Is it not? aesthetics
Examples of digital theorists
If not, why not? L.Manovich, P. Lunenfeld

Who owns this? Theories of Examples of Historical thinkers:

Who is selling? production and Marx, Gramsci, Althusser, Frankfurt School
Who is buying? consumption
Digital Thinkers:
Who determines these Marxist and Post- Chomsky, McChesney, Curran
things? Marxist theories

Historical thinkers:
Is this democratic? Theories of the Locke, Hobbes, J. Habermas, J. Dewey, R. Rorty, J. Dean, N.
Does it reflect the public sphere Fraser, M. Warner
public good?
Digital thinkers: McChesney, Papacharissi
By whose measure?

How does this affect Theories of privacy, Historical thinkers:

our privacy? theories of J. Bentham, M. Foucault, G.Deleuze
surveillance
Digital thinkers: J. Lyons, J. Rosen

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 Theories of
How can we tell what ontology, Historical thinkers: Plato, Aristotle, W. Benjamin, J. Baudrillard
is real or true? Theories of
epistemology

How does this (story, Theories of Historical thinkers: E. Durkheim, B. Wellman

video, piece of email, networks and
etc.) circulating? ‘actor network Digital thinkers: B. Latour, A. Galloway, C.Shirky
theory’

How does masculinity Theories of gender Historical thinkers: Freud, J.Lacan, L. Irigigaray, J. Butler
and femininity operate
in this environment? Digital thinkers: Turkle, Stone, Castells and Jenkins, Consalvo

How does race operate Theories of race Historical thinkers: DeBois, Fanon, Spivak, Said, hooks
in this environment?
Digital thinkers: L.Nakamura, A. Brock

Among members, who Theories of social Historical thinkers:

is important in this capital M. Granoveter, R. Putnam
network, and why does
it matter? Digital thinkers: B. Wellman, Z. Papacharissi, boyd

How does this alter or Theories of Historical thinkers: Piaget, Winnicott

reinforce our existing childhood
notions of childhood? Digital thinkers: S. Livingstone, E. Seiter

How does this alter or Theories of Historical thinkers: Freud, Mead, Goffman
reinforce our existing psychology, theories
notions of personal of performance of Digital thinkers:S. Turkle, A. Bruckman
identity? self (interactionism)

How does this affect our Theories of Historical thinkers: Husserl, Merleau-Ponty
sense of physical phenomenology
embodiment? Digital Thinkers: Richard Shusterman (on somaesthetics),
Brian Massumi (on affect)

How does this dialogue Theories of Historical thinkers: J. Dewey, Piaget

with ideas about education
teaching and Digital thinkers: S. Turkle, S. Papert, C. Davidson
learning?

How does this Theories of writing Historical thinkers: W. Ong, J. Derrida

environment alter or
reinforce our existing Digital thinkers: G. Landow, S. Moulthrop, J. Murray
ideas about reading
and writing?

How does this Digital thinkers:

environment alter or Theories of H. Jenkins, N. Baym
reinforce our existing reception, theories

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ideas about audiences of fandom
and fans?

The Politics of Lenses

You probably sense this already, but the nature of your lens can profoundly
affect how you see your object. A Marxist interpretation of an activist movement
might be radically different from one based on critical race theory. An aesthetic
reading of a show often changes when subjected to lenses from feminism. This is
a good thing. For researchers, contradictions and contestations aren’t something
to fear, but moments to explore. For instance, Edward Said (famous pro-
Palestinean scholar) would write about the recent shooting we discussed with a
very different lens than would a Pro-Israeli journalist. Different still might be a
recently widowed mother from the West Bank who just wants all fighting to
stop. All of these "authorities" can be found by doing a web search on the
incident in question. All of them give vastly different readings of the same
reality. This is something we will discuss together in our private meetings. I just
wanted to give you a "heads up."

Now that you are familiar with the concepts of the object, the question and the
lens, you are ready to go on to our final part: method.

STOP!! Now would be a good

time to turn to the “LENSES”
section of your Brainstorming
Workbook.

PART 4: YOUR METHOD (S)

To this point, we’ve covered the following elements of a successful research

proposal:

• Object: the topic you wish to research, narrowed down so it is workable for
whatever size paper you are planning.

• Question: your question (s) need to demonstrate what it is about your topic
that interests you, and why should it interest others as well.

• Lens: an articulation of whose work will inform and influence you as you
ask your questions.

Now we move to the final element:

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 • Method: precisely what original work will you be doing as part of your
research?

Earlier, I mentioned how important it is to be aware of other people’s thoughts in

your field. While this is true, it is also important understand that all university-
level research paper are expected to do more than repeat the thoughts of others.
You are also expected to produce insights of your own. The way you do that is
by engaging in a research methodology of your own design.

Methods: Texts, Contexts, People

Cultural studies researchers generally wind up doing at least one of three things:

• TEXTS:

We examine texts for psychological, sociological, and ideological

meaning, attempting to make some sort of statement about what those
texts signified to particular people in particular cultures at particular
historical moments.
o Note: for us, the term ‘texts’ covers written and spoken word,
visual and moving images, live and recorded performances.

• CONTEXTS:

We study the historical, economic, and political contexts shaping how a

text is/was imagined, created, and distributed. We do this to better
understand how this text came to influence (or not) a particular culture
via adoption, consumption, circulation, and often, consumer re-creation.

• PEOPLE:

We analyze people as they create, consume, interact, and circulate

around texts. Sometimes we ask them their thoughts; other times we
watch them as they “do their thing.” Often, we try to remember that as
researchers who are also people, “we” are part of “them.”

As you are reading this, you may be thinking, “I wonder if I prefer texts,
contexts, or people?” Ideally, you should be interested in it all, but let’s it: some
of us like to talk to others, and some of us would rather not, and that’s going to
affect what we take on as researchers. More important for you, though, is a
return to your original research question. What do you want to know? What
might be the best way to find that out?

Nearly every methodological approach you can think of comes with an

academic-sounding name, and a list of “how to” guidelines. I can’t provide the
latter in a guide like this, but I can give you a chart to help you begin thinking
about how you want to approach your methodology. Look at the chart and

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brainstorm. Sometimes you have to combine methods to get at your answers.
Sometimes you wish could engage in one method, but time/money/access won’t
allow it, so you opt for something different. These things take time and
experience to work out, and your professors are always ready to help.

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METHODS:  TEXTS  

  Here’s  an  academic  term  for  that.  

What  are  you  planning  on  doing?  
   
Are  you  thinking  about  how  images  (or  non-­‐musical  sounds,  such   Semiotic  analysis  
as  sirens)  function  in  a  text?    
   
Are  you  counting  the  number  of  times  an  image,  movement,   Content  analysis  
sound,  word  or  phrase  appears  in  a  text?  
   
Are  you  thinking  about  how  words  (written  or  spoken)  function  in   Discourse  analysis  
a  text?  
   
Are  you  tracing  the  history  of  specific  words  in  a  text?   Etymological  analysis    
   
Are  you  looking  at  the  ways  in  which  a  specific  set  of  texts  tells   Narrative  analysis  
stories  or  myths?  
   
Are  you  analysing  film?   Film  analysis  
   
Are  you  analysing  music,  using  formal  language  such  as  pitch,   Musicological  analysis  
melody,  and  harmony?    
   
Are  you  analysing  dance?   Dance  analysis  
   
Are  you  analysing  a  live  performance  that  is  not  dance,  such  as  a   Performance  analysis  
ritual,  sports  event  or  a  museum  exhibit?  
   
Are  you  concentrating  on  movement  within  a  performance?   Movement  analysis  
 
   
Are  you  analysing  the  values  a  text  seems  to  be  supporting?   Ideology  critique  
Thinking  about  what  a  text  seems  to  be  suggesting  the  world  
is/was/should  be/shouldn’t  be?  
   
Are  you  analysing  how  gender  is  represented  in  a  text?   Gender/feminist  critique  
   
Analysing  how  race  is  represented  in  a  text?   Critical  race  analysis  
     
Analysing  how  sexuality  is  represented  in  a  text?   Queer  theory  analysis  
   
Analysing  how  economic  conditions  are  represented  in  a  text?   Class  analysis  
   
Analysing  how  “normal”  and  “abnormal”  bodies  are  represented   Disability  analysis  
in  a  text?  
   
Analysing  how  certain  social  groups  (usually  subcultural)  are   Sociological  or  subcultural  analysis  
represented  in  a  text?  
   
Analysing  the  representation  of  the  unconscious  in  a  text?     Psychoanalytic  critique  
 

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Analysing  how  history  is  represented  in  a  text?   Historical/  
historiographic  analysis  
   
Analysing  body-­‐oriented  experiences  while  encountering  or   Phenomenological  analysis  
creating  a  text?  
 
 
METHODS:  CONTEXTS  
 
   
What  are  you  planning  on  doing?   Here’s  an  academic  term  
for  that.  
   
Analysing  the  budgets,  marketing,  revenues,  or  converged  markets  of  a  text?   Market  research  analysis  
 
   
Exploring  how  individuals  within  institutions  or  businesses  work  together  to   Organizational  analysis  
produce  a  text?    
   
Analysing  legal  issues  surrounding  the  production,  consumption,  circulation  or   Legal  analysis  
re-­‐use  of  a  text?    
   
Are  you  mapping  out  the  relationships  between  linked  images,  words,  scenes,   Network  analysis  
players,  or  users?  (usually  in  a  digital  text  like  a  web  site  or  a  video  game)    
   
Considering  the  nature  of  censorship,  privacy  or  public  influence  of  a  text?   Political  economy  
analysis  
   
Comparing  multiple  texts  in  the  same  genre  (e.g.  soap  operas,  musicals,   Genre  analysis  
slasher  films?  
   
Comparing  multiple  texts  by  the  same  writer  or  director?   Auteur  analysis  
   
Comparing  multiple  texts  that  all  feature  the  same  performer?   Star  or  celebrity  analysis  
   
Comparing  texts  from  different  cultures?    Trans-­‐cultural  
comparison  
 
Comparing  texts  from  different  time  periods?   Trans-­‐historical  
comparison  
 
 
 
(Next  page:  PEOPLE)  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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METHODS:  PEOPLE  
 
   
What  are  you  planning  on  doing?   Here’s  an  academic  term  for  
that.  
   
Studying  audience  reactions  to  a  text?   Audience  analysis  
   
Speaking  with  audience  or  community  members  one-­‐on-­‐one  about  their   Polling  (simple  answers),    
reactions  to  a  text  or  an  environment?   Interviews  (complex  
answers)  
   
Speaking  with  audience  members  in  small  groups  about  their  reactions  to   Focus  group  administration  
a  text  or  an  environment?  
   
Asking  audience  members  to  respond  in  writing  about  their  reactions  to  a   Questionnaire  
text  or  an  environment?     administration  
   
Observing  people  as  they  interact  with  one  another  in  a  particular   Participant  observation  
environment?    
   
Observing  people  as  they  interact  with  one  another  in  an  environment,   Anthropological  observation  
over  a  significant  period  of  time?    
   
Observing  people  over  a  significant  period  of  time  as  they  interact  in  an   Ethnographic  observation  
environment,  and  considering  how  your  presence  might  be  affecting  their  
behaviour?  
   
Observing  people  over  a  significant  period  of  time  in  an  environment   Auto-­‐ethnographic  
where  you  consider  yourself  an  active  participant  or  member  of  the   observation  
group?  
   
Recording  your  personal  reactions  and  recollections  regarding  a  text  or  an   Personal  memoir  
environment?  
   
Observing  how  users  interact  with  a  text,  such  as  a  game  or  web  site,   User  experience  analysis  
while  in  their  natural  environment  (their  bedroom,  the  classroom,  etc.)?    
     
Creating  specific  test  environments  or  experiments  to  observe  how  users   User  testing  (can  be  
interact  with  a  specific  (usually  digital)  text,  such  as  a  game  or  a  web  site?   administered  one-­‐on-­‐one  or  
  in  groups)  

Be precise when naming your objects.

• If you are looking at texts like novels or short stories, name them.

• If you are looking at a film, say which scenes you will be looking at.

• If you are looking at web sites, name the sites.

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 • If you are looking at a video game, name the game and the scenes.

• If you are looking at news coverage of a phenomenon, at minimum you

should be able to list the outlets you are looking at, and the time period
you are looking at.

• If you are discussing a specific performance, either give the date you saw
it or explain which reference material you are accessing to look at it.

Be precise when explaining your objective.

• Note: Often, this is best done in terms of a question propelling your investigations.
For instance, you might write, something like:

“ I will conduct a film and discourse analysis of recent commercials from the
2012 BMW advertising campaign, asking, “How do the directors of these
commercials use lighting and music to give consumers a sense of driving as a
sublime experience? How does the language of the voiceover enforce the
notion that driving a BMW is the most sublime experience of all?”

STOP!! Now would be a good

time to turn to the “METHODS”
section of your Brainstorming
Workbook.

Now you are ready to draft your proposal.

See next page for Proposal Template:

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Proposal  Template    
DO  NOT  reproduce  this  language  exactly!  Use  your  own  words.    
 
 
Tentative  Title  of  Paper:  _________________________________  

This  paper  (examines,  explores,  analyses,  interrogates,  etc.)  the  (phenomenon,  practice,  event,  

etc.)  of  (your  “object”  goes  here.)  As  a  research  topic,  mine  is  a  timely  one  for  the  fields  of  

Liberal/Cultural  Studies  because:  (state  your  reason  here.)  Elements  of  this  of  this  research  that  

are  of  particular  interest  to  me  are:    (detail  one  or  two  questions/observations/etc.,  here.)    

Throughout  this  project,  I  rely  on  a  number  of  critical  frames,  including  the  work  of    (writer)  on  

(subject);  (writer)  on  (subject);  and  (writer)  on  (subject.)  While  I  find  (writer  #1)’s  observations  

regarding  (subject)  to  be  important  when  considering  my  topic,  I  think  these  observations  need  

to  be  (broadened,  altered,  updated,  etc.)  for  the  following  reasons:  ________________  (state  

reasons  here.)  Likewise,  (stick  writer  #2’s  thoughts  that  are  important  but  need  to  be  added  to  or  

altered  in  light  of  your  research  project.  )  

 Given  what  has  been  written  around  this  topic  so  far  and  my  preliminary  thoughts  on  the  

matter,  my  working  hypothesis  is  (state  some  guesses  you  are  taking  about  how  the  research  

will  turn  out,  here.)  I  plan  to  test  this  hypothesis  by  (explain  precisely  what  materials  you  will  be  

looking  at,  here.)  Using  (name  your  methodology  here),  I’ll  be  posing  questions  such  as:  (name  

one  or  two  questions  you’ll  be  asking  as  you  look  at  your  materials.)    

(Note:  If  you  have  personal  experience  with  this  material  that  you  think  would  be  useful  to  

acknowledge  or  highlight,  you  can  discuss  it  here,  or  further  upwards  in  the  document.)  

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