By George, I Think I Got It!
There's an amazing feeling that comes when you've created a really good idea or realize that you're on the right track to something big. I haven't felt it in a long, long time, and last night I experienced it for the first time in grad school.
My thesis has been a bigger challenge than I ever thought. I anticipated the workload and the long hours, but I never thought I'd struggle with the creative aspect. As a right-brainer, I've never been in short supply of creativity. I wanted to do something around Internet activism, but I just could not discover a unique hook that hasn't been researched yet.
So two weeks ago, while working against a major deadline, a brainstorm hit. I stumbled upon small statistic from Pew's Internet & American Life Election 2006 Report that was intriguing. I did a bit of follow up research and ta da! A new thesis topic, examining the political ideology behind Internet activism, was created. This concept somehow combines my love of politics, new media and communication theory. It's also somewhat original* and very much needed in political communication. My professor, who serendipitously also researches communications and new media, loved the topic and encouraged me to do it.
The worst part of any research project is creating the methodology and instrument (content analysis and a survey for this project). It's easy to do a lit review. Google practically does it for you now. But defining your design and justifying it in a timely and affordable fashion for a field that spends millions of dollars for the same research is a challenge.
Last night, the comic book light bulb lit up over my head and the design just came to me. I'll probably explain more details later (after the project is completed and copyrighted), but it's super cool. Well, at least to politicos and the digerati.
This blog is quickly becoming Girl from the South's update on the thesis, but anyone who's been through grad school will understand. The process reaches a point where it just consumes you.
*Thanks to T.S. Eliot and Henry Adams, I no longer believe in the concept of original thoughts. No matter how original you are, someone has probably thought of it before you. Any Google search proves that.
My thesis has been a bigger challenge than I ever thought. I anticipated the workload and the long hours, but I never thought I'd struggle with the creative aspect. As a right-brainer, I've never been in short supply of creativity. I wanted to do something around Internet activism, but I just could not discover a unique hook that hasn't been researched yet.
So two weeks ago, while working against a major deadline, a brainstorm hit. I stumbled upon small statistic from Pew's Internet & American Life Election 2006 Report that was intriguing. I did a bit of follow up research and ta da! A new thesis topic, examining the political ideology behind Internet activism, was created. This concept somehow combines my love of politics, new media and communication theory. It's also somewhat original* and very much needed in political communication. My professor, who serendipitously also researches communications and new media, loved the topic and encouraged me to do it.
The worst part of any research project is creating the methodology and instrument (content analysis and a survey for this project). It's easy to do a lit review. Google practically does it for you now. But defining your design and justifying it in a timely and affordable fashion for a field that spends millions of dollars for the same research is a challenge.
Last night, the comic book light bulb lit up over my head and the design just came to me. I'll probably explain more details later (after the project is completed and copyrighted), but it's super cool. Well, at least to politicos and the digerati.
This blog is quickly becoming Girl from the South's update on the thesis, but anyone who's been through grad school will understand. The process reaches a point where it just consumes you.
*Thanks to T.S. Eliot and Henry Adams, I no longer believe in the concept of original thoughts. No matter how original you are, someone has probably thought of it before you. Any Google search proves that.
