I really like your idea and I think the timing is good. With research timing is an important factor. When you talk about looking into this subject because of the concern that the "net generation" is not merging easily into the workforce, I think you will find lots of questions and not many answers. This could be an important economic matter to the US and probably the global community. To me this is a two way street. The "net generation" will be forced to make some considerations and that has never been easy for any generation. But the workforce will find that those who adapt and use the talents of the "net generation" will be those who succeed.
I would like to see you look very closely at formal communication with a small population. Choosing the type of communication you address and then looking at both the sender as well as the recipient and tying it to those in authority would give you a tight focus and make it more controllable.
In the end I imagine that we will find that the "net generation" is no different than any other. It will move into the workforce, run into a few bumps, and then as it matures it will change the workforce to fit it without anyone realizing it. Then we "old people" will talk about the way it used to be as if that were better but which no one would willing go back to. Virginia
As more and more of "us" enter the job market and, ultimately, fail (I'm allowed to say that since I'm a member of this generation, research such as what you're proposing will be more than in demand. It will be vital. We must begin to understand how our generation communicates differently than our predecessors and how we can either shape that communication into proven communicative procedures or how we can create new, effective communication styles.
As I mentioned briefly in class, I worry that such a massive undertaking might be impossible for a master's thesis. Instead, I think it may make more sense for you to do a preliminary (qualitative) empirical study instead. You could do either a few case studies of generational communication or one very in-depth ethnography. (See Doheny-Farina on the reading list.)
I just think it would be easier to get the permission of one or two students to go in-depth into their different genres of communication than to attempt a larger true/quasi-experiment.
Once you've chosen a specific methodology, I have a few ideas for data collection procedures.
I graduated cum laude from the College of Wooster in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. My major was French, and I wrote an independent study entitled La Misère chez Hugo, which analyzed Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables from a socioeconomic perspective. At Wooster, I became a member of Phi Sigma Iota, an international foreign language honor society. I also won second place in La Concours annuel de la maison française de Cleveland, a competition between colleges in the Great Lakes Region in which I demonstrated my written and oral French skills. Currently, I am pursuing a Master of Arts degree in professional communication at Clemson University. In the spring of 2008 I submitted the findings of a study I conducted with three other graduate students at the Tenth Annual College of Health, Education, and Human Development Faculty Forum. This study, entitled Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Resource Center Effects on Campus Climate, explores the comfort levels of lesbian, gay, and bisexual students on a university campus.
2 comments:
I really like your idea and I think the timing is good. With research timing is an important factor. When you talk about looking into this subject because of the concern that the "net generation" is not merging easily into the workforce, I think you will find lots of questions and not many answers. This could be an important economic matter to the US and probably the global community. To me this is a two way street. The "net generation" will be forced to make some considerations and that has never been easy for any generation. But the workforce will find that those who adapt and use the talents of the "net generation" will be those who succeed.
I would like to see you look very closely at formal communication with a small population. Choosing the type of communication you address and then looking at both the sender as well as the recipient and tying it to those in authority would give you a tight focus and make it more controllable.
In the end I imagine that we will find that the "net generation" is no different than any other. It will move into the workforce, run into a few bumps, and then as it matures it will change the workforce to fit it without anyone realizing it. Then we "old people" will talk about the way it used to be as if that were better but which no one would willing go back to. Virginia
As more and more of "us" enter the job market and, ultimately, fail (I'm allowed to say that since I'm a member of this generation, research such as what you're proposing will be more than in demand. It will be vital. We must begin to understand how our generation communicates differently than our predecessors and how we can either shape that communication into proven communicative procedures or how we can create new, effective communication styles.
As I mentioned briefly in class, I worry that such a massive undertaking might be impossible for a master's thesis. Instead, I think it may make more sense for you to do a preliminary (qualitative) empirical study instead. You could do either a few case studies of generational communication or one very in-depth ethnography. (See Doheny-Farina on the reading list.)
I just think it would be easier to get the permission of one or two students to go in-depth into their different genres of communication than to attempt a larger true/quasi-experiment.
Once you've chosen a specific methodology, I have a few ideas for data collection procedures.
DTR
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