GStudentname:

MaddieKilgannon

Project#:
NewsMedia'sEffectonElections

Workingversionofprojecttitle:
Theimpactofnewsmediaonthe2014MassachusettsGubernatorialElectionThisisagood
subtitle.Trytobeabitmorecreativeforthetitle.

ResearchProposalfirstdraft

1.

Statetheessentialquestion

Howdoesthenewsmediapresentcandidatesandpoliticalissues,andwhateffect
doesmediacoveragehaveonvoters?

Good.

2.

Statetheprimaryresearchquestion

HowdidtheBostonprintmedia(specificallytheBostonGlobeandtheBostonHerald)cover
the2014gubernatorialcampaign,andwhateffectdidtheircoveragehaveonvoters?

Good.

3.

Statethesecondaryresearchquestionsyouhave(makesurethesearefairly
comprehensiveandextensive).

Howoftendideachnewspapercoverthegubernatorialelection?
Whatdemographicsdidthesearticlesreach?Howwillyoudeterminethis?

Howiscoverageofthegubernatorialelectiondecidedupon?
Whateffectdoesamediaendorsementhaveonvoters?
Howareendorsementsofcandidatesdecided?
Whatisthepercentageofpositive,negative,andobjectivepiecesoneachcandidate?Didthat
haveanymeasurableeffect?

Surelytherearemanymorequestionsthatneedtobeaskedandansweredinorderforyouto
achieveyourgoal.Whereareyourquestionsaboutvoters?Whatpercentageofvotersread
printmedia?Whatpercentageofthoseevencarewhattheeditorialpagesaysaboutendorsing
acandidate?Anddoesmediaevenencourageordiscouragepeopletovote?Andwhatabout
thesocialmediaplatformoftheGlobeandHerald?

4.

Descriptionofwhatthefinalproductwilllooklike.(Besurethatyouarevery
thoroughhere.Takeusthroughtheentireprocessfromnowuntilthefinal
product.Ifitwouldbehelpfultoyou,numberthestepsandproceedthrough
themthroughandincludingyourfinalproduct.Inshort:youMUSTdescribethe
processhere.Thisisvitaltotheapprovalprocessonyourresearchproposal.)

breakdownofeachweekisafewcellsdown

Essentiallymyfinalprojectwillbeawebsitewhichwillincorporateallmysourcesand
pollingdataaswellasmyownconclusions.Imayenduplinkingmyblogfromtheweebly
site,butIalsodon'twantthewebsitetoseemlikeaschoolproject...eventhoughitis,butto
meitisbiggerthanthat.Ialsoplanoncreatingalotofinfographicsfrommydata.

Potentially,Imaybedoinganarticlefortheglobe(theeditorofthemetrosectionwasreally
interestedinmyprojectandseeingwhatconclusionsIcanfind).Thatwouldprobablybean
articleandinfographic.Weshallsee.

5.

Statehowthisresearchwilladvancethefrontiersofknowledgeand/ormatter
andbesignificantinameaningfulway.

Thenewsmediacanbeacatalysttoraisethecaliberofdebate,fromwhichsignificant
progressispossible.Thenewsmediahasaresponsibilitytoinformvotersandthepublicon
politics.Whetheritisdoingthatinthe2014electionisanopenquestion.Iaminterestedin
seeingwhatkindofeffectithasonvoterparticipationandvoterdecisions.Whatwe
boldfacedisthepoint,somewhat,ofwhatyouareasking.Lookatthequestionfromthe
mediasideANDfromthevoterside.

Shouldntyoubesayingsomethingalongthelinesof:

Iwanttocallattentiontohowthemediacoverageofanelectionaffectsthevoterandto
encouragevoterstoconsiderhowmediacoveragedoesordoesnotswaythemtoward
votingincertainways.Ialsowantvoterstobecomemoreliteratevotersthatis,that
theygointothepollingboothmoreinformedandmorearticulateabouttheissues,
thankstothemediathattheyaccess.

Thinkaboutframingthisfromavarietyofangles.Youmustgobacktothishere.

6.

Stateanticipatedpotentialpitfallsorproblemsofthisresearcheffort

Thesheeramountofarticles/newsclipsthatIwillbeanalyzingcouldpotentiallybe
overwhelming.
AccesstotheinformationanddataIneedforresearchmightbeachallenge.
Findingcorrelationsandtrendsoverweeksofelectioncoverage
measuringimpactonadaybydaybasis

7.

Stateyouratentativeplantolocateandreviewtheliteraturerelatedtoyour
project.Thisincludesprinted/publishedsourcesandonlinesources.[The
researchstrategy,part#1]

IampullingeveryarticlepublishedbytheBostonGlobeandBostonHeraldfromSeptember
9thuntilElectionDay(November4th)thatcoverstheelection
Asfarasliteraturegoes,onebookthatIdefinitelythinkwouldbeusefultoreadis"The
VictoryLab"bySashaIssenberg[spelling].Thiswouldgivemeabroadviewofthecampaign
aspectofmyproject.

***Ms.Freeman:forthescheduleitlooksweirdinaGoogledoc,soIemailedyouthe
document,itisjusteasiertoread***

November17
"1stonlineblogentry
capstone3on3presentations
EDay:November4th
StartVictoryLab"
November814
"meetwithMs.Freeman
Sourcematerial
Getglobeinterviewsdirectlyafterelection"
November1521
"blogentry2due(November17)
annotatedbibliographydue(November21)
Sourcematerial
Moreinterviews"
November2228
"MeetwithMs.FreemanbeforeThanksgiving
Finishthemajoritysourcematerial!"
November29December5 "Blogentry3due(December2)
Lookatweek1ofelection"
December612
"MeetwithMs.Freeman
Lookatweek2ofelection"
December1319
"Blogentry4due(December16)
Lookatweek3ofelection"
December2026
"MeetwithMs.Freemanbeforebreak
Lookatweek4ofelection"
December27January2
"***WinterBreak***
"
January39 Lookatweek5ofelection
January1016"Blogentry5due(January12)
Lookatweek6ofelection"
January1723"Midpointcheckin
MeetwithMs.Freeman
Lookatweek7ofelection"
January2430"Blogentry6(January26)
Lookatweek8ofelection"
January31February6
"MeetwithMs.Freeman
Startwebsitedesign"
February713"Blogentry7due(February9)
figureouthowtoprojectmyfindingsontofutureelections"
February1420
***FebruaryVacation***
February2127
"MeetwithMs.Freeman
moreinterviews?
moreprojections"
February28March6 "Blogentry8due(March2)
infographicdesign"
March713 "MeetwithMs.Freeman
infographics
website"

March1420 "Blogentry9due(March16)
finishthewebsite"
March2125 "MeetwithMs.Freeman
FINALPROJECTDUEONMARCH25!!!"
March26April7
"Workonpresentation&rehearse
blogpost10due(March31)"
April8andApril9 FINALPRESENTATIONS!!!
April10
breathe

Maddie,90%ofthisistheCapstonecalendarfromthecoursewebsite.Theother10%
addresseswhatyouaregoingtodointhemostvagueofterms.Whatareyougoingtodoon
yourowntomakethisprojectwork?!?Bespecific.Whenyousaythatyouaregoingtolook
atweekoneofcoverage,whatdoesthatmean?Areyougoingtotakethearticlesand
identifypatterns?Areyougoingtochartthemediacoverageonaspreadsheet,lookingfor
certainkeywordsorpointsofemphasis?

Again,youaregoingtohavetogobackinanddoafarbetteroutlineforthis.Weare
interestedinyourwork,nottheCapstonedeadlines.Donttalkaboutblockentrydeadlines,
etc.

8.

Stateatentativeplanforresearchanddatacollection.(Datacollectioncantake
multipleformssurveys,testgroups,interviews,observations,etcetc.Thiswill
differfromprojecttoproject.[Theresearchstrategy,part#2]

pollingdatathatalreadyexists(examples:WBUR&SuffolkPolls)
focusgroupofsupervoterswithasurvey/interviewtotakeadeeperlookatindividualimpact
ofmediacoverageonvoters(postelection)>andthencreateasimilar,butmorebrief,survey
forEDay.

Thisisinsufficient.

9.

Stateatentativeplanforresearchanddataanalysisandinterpretation.[The
researchstrategy,part#3]

Iamgoingtolookatcoverageweekbyweekandlookfortrendsinhowacandidate,

campaign,issue,virtuallyanythingrelatedtotheelectioniscovered.AndthenIwill
comparethattothepollsthatwereconducted(notnecessarilypublished)thatweekto
seeifthereisarelationship.Intotal,Iwillbelookingat8weeksofdataandarticles.

OKfigurethisoutmoresystematically.Howwillyouchartthis?Itsnotusefulto
simplytakenotes.Youneedtothinkoutasystemthatwillenableyoutosee
certainthings.

9.

Listthetoolsyouwillneedtocompletethiseffort.Identifytoolsthatmight
currentlybeunavailabletoyou

nonethatIanticipate

10.

Budget:whatmaterialsdoyouanticipateneedingforyourproject?Please
providealistwithquantitiesandanapproximatecostperitem,alongabrief
descriptionofwhyyouneedthisforyourproject.Usethechartbelowfeelfree
toaddmorecellsifyouneedthem.

potentiallyawebsitecost
item

quantity

costperitem

whyyouneedthis
itemforyour
project

11.

Bibliographyearlydraft.Thisbibliographymustincludeatleast5books,5
scholarlyjournalarticles,5websites,andleastonepotentialsourcewhoyou
mightinterview.Useproperbibliographiccitation(MLAorAPAformatyour
choice).YouarewelcometouseEasyBiborrefertotheformattingtemplate
createdbyPurdueUniversity:https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/Explainwhy
youanticipate(atthispoint)thatthesesourceswouldberelevant.

Dines,Gail,andJeanMcMahonHumez.Gender,Race,andClassinMedia:ATextreader.
ThousandOaks,CA:Sage,1995.Print.

"GetOuttheVote!"GetOuttheVote!N.p.,n.d.Web.15Oct.2014.

Graber,DorisA.MassMediaandAmericanPolitics.Washington,D.C.:Congressional
Quarterly,1980.Print.

Issenberg,Sasha.TheVictoryLab:TheSecretScienceofWinningCampaigns.NewYork:
Crown,2012.Print.

Iyengar,Shanto,andDonaldR.Kinder.NewsThatMatters:TelevisionandAmerican
Opinion.Chicago:UofChicago,1987.Print.

Jamieson,KathleenHall.,andKarlynKohrs.Campbell.TheInterplayofInfluence:News,
Advertising,Politics,andtheMassMedia.Belmont,CA:WadsworthPub.,1992.Print.

"Panagopoulos2006cNewspaperGOTVAdsandVoterTurnout|GetOutTheVote.N.p.,
n.d.Web.15Oct.2014.

Popkin,SamuelL.TheReasoningVoter:CommunicationandPersuasioninPresidential
Campaigns.Chicago:UofChicago,1991.Print.


Sabato,Larry.FeedingFrenzy:HowAttackJournalismHasTransformedAmericanPolitics.
NewYork:Free,1991.Print.

Vavrus,MaryDouglas.PostfeministNews:PoliticalWomeninMediaCulture.Albany:State
UofNewYork,2002.Print.

Westen,Drew.ThePoliticalBrain:TheRoleofEmotioninDecidingtheFateoftheNation.
NewYork:PublicAffairs,2007.Print.

WhenIwassearchingforsources(Istillneedtoaddtomylist),Ireachedouttodifferent
campaign/political/reporterswhoknowwhatsourceswouldbehelpful.Mygoalistogeta
prettysolidfoundation(andtobuildonwhatIsortofalreadyhave)incampaigns,elections,
andmedia.Itisahugefield,butfrommysourcesIamspecificallylookingforwhattrendsto
lookforasItaketheelectionapartweekbyweek.

*Allmyarticles/newsclips/pollingdatawillbesources*

Againtoothin.

Maddie,

Thisprojectdescriptionissimplynotthere.Youarewaytoovague,yourweekbyweekis
mostlytheonefromthewebsiteandnotreflectiveofthenittygrittyworkyouhavetodo.If
yousawwhatyourcolleagueshadproducedforthis,youwouldbeamazed(andthen
mortified)becausetheseweresodetailedandsocarefullyresearched.

WeknowyouwereinDClastweek,butyouhadquiteabitoftimetoworkonthisbeforethat.
SowehavenochoicebuttoaskyoutosubmitseconddraftsonBOTHoftheseprojects.We
knowthatwhicheverprojectyouchooseintheend,changeswillcontinuetohappenevenin
verysignificantways.Butinordertomoveahead,youhavetogetthesebothintogood
shape.

Wevedroppedtwodocumentsthatwillserveasthetemplatesforyoursecond(andlater,
yourfinal)draftintoyourfolder.

Ms.FreemanandMrMikalaitis