Research Proposal

Alexandra, Damian, Matt. 

Children’s Workshop For Reading

1. Statement of the “Problem.” 

Facebook’s overall structure and language is that of an informal genre. For example, groups have always written very informal, depending on the event taking place. The need for groups on Facebook are usually for invitations or just unspecific groups there to spread awareness. These groups are designed with as little detail as possible, and solely stating the basics. Among friends of people, this invitation to attend is then distributed. The person must then decide to attend/accept, decline, or even maybe attend. For our genre juxtaposition piece, we are using Facebook groups. 

1. Purpose of the Study.

We are creating two similar groups (one experimental, one control). We are trying to figure out whether we would expect our peers to attend a children’s workshop for reading tutor session overall. We are creating two groups, being sent out to two different populations. One will be informal language as Facebook’s structure is, while the other will be formal because this is a formal invitation to an event, unlike a party. The formally written group would also have to be described in as little detail as possible. We would then measure the number of likes, comments, acceptances, declines, and maybes. Overall, we want to test the reaction of our peers on the language of Facebook. 

3. The Research Question.

Does the change of informally/formally written language to formally/informally written language within Facebook genres, change people’s perception of joining a group?

1. The Research Design/Method.

Our group plans to take two of our three members with Facebook accounts, and create two different groups each, with the exact same event. The event is a tutor session entailed to help children practice their reading skills. One group member will make a group about this, but will make it written formally as it should be with a lot of detail. The other group member will design their group with as little information as possible, informal, and differentiate it from the formally written one, in order to cause the anticipated reaction of our peers. This is changing the language of Facebook. We then would measure the amount of likes, comments, and most importantly who attends and who declines.

1. Significance of the Study.

This study will not only get people on Facebook to understand the idea of breaking a constraint, such as language of a written genre, but how it affects the people’s conception of how they perceive something is supposed to be. For example, we are testing the people’s reactions to a formal event, while changing it to informal text. It is surprisingly interesting because Facebook is an informal genre. People expect a certain type of formality in writing, so breaking a constraint will show what effect it will have on them, as well as what reaction.