matrix of researchable points

Moving forward with my thesis will include a series of small studies informing a larger outcome. Keeping the studies structured required the development of a matrix of researchable points. I had no idea what I would assign to the axis of the matrix until I started reading "Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out" by danah boyd, et al. As a Social Media Researcher, boyd was able to give insight into the behaviors of young social networking participants and deconstruct the paradigm shift that is social media. In her chapter on friendships, boyd states,

"Learning how to manage the unique affordances of networked sociality can help teens navigate future collegiate and professional spheres where mediated interactions are assumed."

She then describes the properties of networked publics as persistence, searchability, replicability, and scalability. I found this highly relevant to my small studies because it gave me a concrete way to think about my matrix. Pinning the unique affordances of networked sociality (x-axis) against possible management variables (y-axis) and directing it towards my thesis sub questions results in a structured path to thread ideas together. Therefore, the unique affordances that boyd discusses are the properties of networked publics—since those properties have to be managed with virtual friendships in a way that does not translate to physical friendships. The possible management variables are an aggregation of areas of interests from various reading sources.

After designing the matrix, I noticed that my sub questions aligned well with three of the properties: While all four properties overlap, scalability afforded the least amount of investigative depth since my thesis is already framed around a broader cohort of peers.

Click here for my (in progress) matrix of researchable points.

So far, I have grayed out an example of the property (specific to Facebook) and possible areas of inquiry directed towards a sub question. I feel good about them today, we'll see about tomorrow. Therefore, I will probably have three small studies:

01. persistence touchpoint: participant is entering their status
outcome: revealing patterns of online behavior
areas of inquiry: self control, aggregated information, agency, mobility, low-risk tinkering

02. searchability touchpoint: participant on their personal profile page
outcome: revealing permanence of online information
areas of inquiry: hints and reassurance, expert data, mobility, concreting the abstract, anthropomorphism

03. replicability touchpoint: participant's information in the newsfeed
outcome: revealing susceptibility of the future self
areas of inquiry: forecasting, customizing, play, dialogue, consequence, mobility, superficial empowerment