In this final blog post about my media niche, I will be discussing the background research I’ve done so far for my media niche as well as outlining some of the ethical issues I may face further into research and how I plan to manage them.
BACKGROUND RESEARCH
My research for this niche will be based off the question of “What it is about Lynch’s persona and work that interests me?”. I briefly mentioned this in my last blog and believe by asking myself this I can get a better understanding and insight of what it is that attracts me to certain works and communities surrounding them. Through my research I will also be looking for issues and problems I find with them and analysing the data I collect. When it comes to background research, I’ve started looking at different issues and perspectives that critics of Lynch commonly criticise him for. I briefly touched on his portrayal of women in my last blog, but I’ve recently come across more issues that I think would be an interesting perspective to look at Lynch from. Ever since his directorial debut ‘Eraserhead’, Audiences have constantly been divisive of his work. These viewers that don’t like Lynch movies are told by his fans that they just “Don’t get it”, and fans that like Lynch’s work are told by fans that don’t like Lynch that his work is pretentious. I believe I can understand both sides, as when I first started watching his movies I struggled to understand meanings behinds them, but as I’ve started re-watching them, I’ve given them my own understandings and grown to love and appreciate them.
ETHICAL RESEARCH
Majority of my research will be from a autoethnographic approach, but this approach will be accompanied by some of the observational approach, which involves studying and collecting data from individuals. With this comes many ethical issues, as my niche brings with it many different opinions, feelings and thoughts from the people I will be researching. So I must make sure I follow guidelines that will help me combat these issues during my research.
These include-
- I will be honest in my research
- I will ensure that all participants feel comfortable
- I will be respectful during my interactions with others
- I will be sensitive to triggering topics
- I will inform participants of my research, how it will be used and where it will be going
- I will respect the anonymity of participants in online interactions (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Reddit comments/threads)
- I will correctly reference my sources
I believe anonymity is one of the key issues I will face. One way I can manage Anonymity is to use only the words spoken by users instead of taking photos which could include usernames and personal information. This will come with some challenges which include context behind what they’re saying and the content they re referring to. Although it may be difficult, I will be as accurate as possible and ensure I follow these ethical guidelines.
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