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For this assessment you will develop the work you did for your individual digital visual presentation (formative assignment), reflecting on the feedback received and progressing your research question, case study/example and methodology.

You will produce a research proposal in order to get yourself research-ready—think of this as the necessary steps you need to undertake before you conduct your final research project.

The Research Proposal counts for 100% of the total mark for this module. The upper word limit is 3,000 words (this does not include your list of references at the end).

This module is weighted at 20 credit points of your MA.

Content and Format
We will spend a number of weeks exploring qualitative research design and the methods that you will be able to employ for your Final Project. Your Research Proposal should follow the format below (the word counts are an indication only):

Part One: Introduction (100 words)
Briefly introduce your research topic and specify what your research question is. You can only select one research question.

The choice of research question and the way of wording it can be challenging, so this in an opportunity to you to gain feedback for your final project.

You will also need to state what the example you will be looking at in your critical response to the research question.

Part Two: Context (400 words)
Use at least four contextual materials (e.g. ‘about us’ section on websites; news media; industry, policy and government reports) to provide background on the topic and example that you wish to investigate.

Provide an overview of the (online and offline) media coverage of your example.

Justify the relevance of your selected example in light of your research question.

Think about what your reader absolutely needs to know about this example in order to understand your argument. You should phrase this section as though you are writing to someone who has no prior knowledge of your field.

Part Three: Literature Review (1,500 words)
This should be a concise, critical and carefully targeted review of the relevant literature.

You should evaluate whether existing literature has addressed a question similar to yours, and position your own research in relation to this literature.

A vital part of GMM is being able to engage with relevant materials. Your main points of reference should be:

● The readings we have discussed together in lectures, seminars and workshops (these are on Blackboard) and the further readings via the link on Blackboard.
● Readings that you identify yourself using the GMM LibGuide to help structure your search (the search engines for specific journals and databases relevant to GMM): http://library.soton.ac.uk/media/home
● In relation to research methods, you should use “media communications” methods textbooks as suggested in the further readings list.

Part Four: Method, Ethics and Sample (1,000 words)
In this section you should:
a) State your research method (taken from the list of qualitative methods studied in PAS2 – No quantitative methods are permitted).
b) Explain the rationale of how using this method (as opposed to another method) will help you answer your research question.
c) Reflect on how other academics exploring similar questions to yours have developed their research design.
d) Outline how you will conduct your research in light of this method. Detail the sample you are selecting to look at your example; and the way in which you will use your method to analyse your sample.
e) Reflect specifically on the ethical implications for your research and indicate whether ethical approval will be required. (Please refer to the lecture on “ethical approval”. There will be whole module approval for projects following a set research design. Other projects will require an individual application to ERGO2).
a set of parameters outlined in this lecture will not need individual approval, as they will be collectively approved for all the GMM projects).