Blog 5: Measuring Stuff

I’m still a little up in the air about how to measure my variables. I think I’d like to perform a study where I bring people into a closed environment and create a fake news event. Something somewhat tragic that will really get people worked up (I understand that part of this may not be exactly ethical, I don’t want to traumatize people). In theory we would be monitoring the people in the room. When news breaks, I’d like to then see how quickly people search out additional information, and then see if they turn to their phones (Twitter, Facebook etc) or a traditional source like a TV based news program.

Another thought would require more of an intimate interview after the tragic news was broke and the subjects had time to process and think about what happened, and where they got their news. I like the idea of using an online service like Mechanical Turk to find my participants. That way I can attempt to be very picky with the selection.

I think that a perfectly executed study would incorporate all kinds of study techniques. A little but of quantitative and qualitative. Start with a survey, then use that data to perform an observation of some kind. Then I’d use the observation to find a handful of folks to do a focus group of in person interview.