Cameron Strouth

Research Project Proposal

Background
- Subject: How gullible are people on the internet?
- What is known: Everything known is purely anecdotal, conclusive research hasn’t really
been done on this subject. For instance, your parents might be more gullible to what
they watch on the news while we are more likely to believe posts on social media. Data
is misrepresented or construed to support a point, or maybe other information is left
out.
- The gaps: Many of us understand, to a certain extent, that we have heavy bias towards
certain media platforms/where we gather our information. Yet, most people probably
aren’t aware about how much they miss.
Research Questions
- How many people of the sample believe in the misrepresented data?
- How much of the data do they believe?
- What platforms do they use to gather information (such as social media, news, second
hand, etc)?
Research Plan
- Primary Research (March 29nd):
o This research has two components:
▪ A short video or website (self-made) with information that sounds
realistic but is not true.
▪ A google survey that questions the viewer/reader about the video and
what they believe to be true.
● Would question them on specific parts of the information.
o The video or website along with the Google survey would be sent to my dorm
group chat and posted on social media.
o This portion itself will have to be finished at least a week in advanced to work.
- Annotated Bibliography (March 22nd):
o Most of the research would be conducted by me.
o For the synthesis essay, I would cite papers that discuss how and why people
come to believe certain information.
▪ https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/believe-read-internet
● Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin – why we believe what we read,
transcript + video
 - Synthesizing Essay (April 12th):
o The essay will include:
▪ A basic intro that opens the reader to their own fallibility when it comes
to determining information online.
▪ Then I would bring in my own research and explain what I did, how I did
it, and the results - along with objections that could be held to it.
▪ Next, I would explain why this happens with sources from actual
researchers
▪ Then a conclusion bringing it all together
- Non-Essay Synthesis (April 19th):
o A short video that cleanly displays the research done
▪ I’m hoping to animate a short video in an informative, almost Buzzfeed
way
- Final Portfolio:
o I feel like this would be the easiest part, where I just compile everything I did and
explain it.
Issues with Research:
- Sample size and representation
o Since I don’t really have control over who sees it or how many people see it, the
sample size may not properly represent a population
- Complexity
o The video or website has to be realistic enough that people believe it and the
google survey has to be conducted in such a way that people don’t

Notes/Thoughts
written a research paper before but haven’t actually done a survey, etc. → originally wanted to
do something w/ socioeconomic background but meh
basic idea is to “trick” people into reading misleading information and then taking a survey on
that (thinking about psych/media studies)
survey questions posed to ask how much of website believed → group chat, SM feeds -- some
issues with regards to sample size, sample itself & who/what it represents; and website itself
tricking/not-tricking
media literacy → framework/topic, in a digital age
what kind of website is the website supposed to be?
→ something political
→ did trump say it? yes/no
→ climate change → mimicking the NASA CC website - keeping same things but changing, true
but misleading

secondary research → media literacy in a digital age, how do researchers study media literacy
and information believability -- not just about the conversations, but also about research
design

non-essay → conveying the same argument, being educational but also explaining why

o GRADE: A- Formatted: No bullets or numbering

Formatted: Font: (Default) Arial, 11 pt