Research Diary 2: Statement of Intent

My Research questions are “How does Identities form in the sub-culture of “Dungeon and Dragons”? And to what extent does the in-game character share similarities with the players in real life?”

Due to the increased popularity of social media, people have become warier and obsessive with how they are presented and they do what they can to strategically manipulate their presentations. But role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons give the opportunity to form a new identity and somewhat start anew in a fantasy realm with unrealistic things like magic skills and twists in the story with the toss of dices, with few limitations from the player’s handbook. It is questionable if such in-game character can become accurate representations of the gamer even in an offline community.

The aim of my research is to examine the formation of imagined identities, both communal and self-identity, through the subculture of the offline role-playing game of Dungeons and Dragons and how much they identify with the in-game persona they have created, if it is an entirely different person that they are able to freely control or a personification of what they believe or wish themselves to be.

For my methodology I intend to conduct In-depth interviews with around 8 gamers who are involved in the role-playing game community in Hong Kong and they have played “Dungeons and Dragons”. I will also be doing some field study by sitting-in some sessions. Furthermore, I will join one of the community of Dungeons and Dragons and record my experiences of how my finding differ or align with my original expectations. Due to the popularity of the game Dungeons and Dragons not being widespread in Hong Kong, I believe that quantitative analysis will not be effective for my research.

Tentative Questions include;

·         To what extent do you think the in-game character is an extension of yourself?
·         What aspects do you usually take in consideration when choosing creating your character?
·         Do you pay attention to how your character is represented with the equipment or attitude that you give?
·         Do you believe you will be able to get along with a person in real life if you’re in-game characters’ work well together?
·         To what extent do you believe that a female in-game character is played by a female player?

I have contacted 2 groups, with around 6 members in each group, of ‘dungeons and dragons’ gamers in the Wan Chai district though the use of a social networking site that meet on a weekly basis. We will be going into a Pacific Coffee Branch or have a room in the Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service Centre if permitted by the abilities of the host.

http://www.meetup.com/Hong-Kong-Tabletop-Gaming-Group/events/227358959/

Name: Harina Rachel Anne Aristan

Research Diary 2 - Statement of Intent

Summary statement of what I would like to explore for my final project:

How Hong Kong-style Teahouse has become a subcultural place for neighbors / old generations to emerge and gather.

Introduction:

The aim of my research is to explore, discover and investigate Cha chan teng, which is a part of the Hong Kong’s local culture and it is one of the collective and unforgettable memories for me and the old generations. Besides, I would like to find out whether Cha chan teng culture is still an important and popular in Hong Kong nowadays. Meanwhile, to what extent, does it represents Hong Kong local culture and valuable / unique to the society. As a result, it is necessary to promote this culture to the younger generations and maintain the unique culture in Hong Kong at the same time. Also, the historical value of Cha chan teng should be affirmed. To sum up, it is a unique / special result of history and the meeting of cultures since Hong Kong-style teahouse has stable diners and the prices of dishes are reasonable as well. It totally suits the behavior of Hong Kong residents, which is the flexibility and convenience of Cha chan teng since there is usually one within walking distance in Hong Kong.

Methods to be used:

Regarding to the research method, I would like to use qualitative research method by interviewing 20 old generations which are most likely retired people and house wife in order to observe why they would like to have dishes in Cha chan teng than fast food shops. (e.g. McDonald, Café de Carol, Pizza Hut) in the past few week / month.

Moreover, the number of question on the questionnaire I conduct is around 10 and it’s mainly about their awareness, participation, attitude towards Cha chan teng culture. For example, what they like / dislike about it, how often do they go there and their opinions regards to the importance and traditional / local value of Cha chan teng culture.

If applicable, where in Hong Kong I would carry out the research:

As it is a questionnaire for the neighbor and old generations, I would like to choose to conduct it in the New Territories since there are quite a lots of famous and traditional Hong Kong-style Teahouse in Sheung Shui, Tai Po, Shum Shui Po etc.

Name: Chu Chi Wai

Student Number: 10550989

Research Project: Statement of Intent

How do Patrick Kong’s romance films affect nowadays the teens’ value?

2016, is the tenth anniversary of Patrick Kong’s romance film. Patrick Kong is a famous romance film director in Hong Kong who has been produced more than 10 romance films since 2006. The feature of his film works is Patrick usually makes use of the teen idols such as Stephy Tang and Alex Fong, as the main actress and actor. Hence, his films always became the focus of the youth in the past ten years of Hong Kong.

With the time flies, Stephy and Alex are no more idols between the new generation. Recently, the film, Anniversary, the tenth anniversary film of Patrick’s first romance film, had been shown on the last third of December of 2015. Still, Stephy and Alex were the main actress and actor of the film and, it hit the town again among the Hong Kong people.

However, the comment of Patrick’s film are usually polarized. While the teen would feel that the film is thought-provoking, a group of mature people would feel that Patrick only makes use of the former idea to film. Actually, in Patrick’s romance films always include the same concept: there must be the existence of the other woman or man in a pair of couple, scene is a must in the film, the stage dialog is meaningless but can be the motto of the teen, and so on.

I would like to study on how the influence of the teenagers from the film. As “seeing is believe”, would the film change the mindset of the teenager in terms of getting in a relationship? Or, would those romance films affect the teenagers immersible?

Methods to be used:

To do the research, in-depth interviews is needed. I would like to interview 4 to 5 people who have watched Patrick’s romance films. They are young teenagers (around 12-15) and late stage teenagers (around 21-25) with or without a companion.

I will ask the question to probe how the value different in those interviewee. For example, I will ask the comment or meaning of the films from those interviewee at first. Then, I will ask them the stages on love so that I can compare the thought and real situation of those interviewee. With the comparison, I can find out in what extent the films affect the audience.

Also, doing a questionnaire is needed. I can measure various views and opinions from the audience in terms of how they found the films and is it the main path affect the teens’ mindset.

Lo Hing Lun 10586773

Research Diary2

Regarding to the last research diary, the research topic that I have proposed for my final project is the “Media ownership and media content”, I would like to conduct a content analysis of some local printed media, in order to compare and contrast the ownership and the content among these publications, whether are there any political and economic factors affecting the content of articles through ownership. The proposed research question would be : “ How the young generation trust the content of printed publications?”. 

The aims of my research is to identify the reliability of the selected publications among the young generation nowadays. In this digital era, people can be able to receive information and news through the Internet, especially the young generation, who having the most frequent participation on Internet through their digital gadgets. There are more and more tunnels for them to get know about a news, the truth and reality are more easily to be found online for example the original video clip of the corresponding news, people can understand and comment on the case on their own rather than only absorbing filtered information and stance from the printed media. So people can identify whether the printed media contents are being distorted or not as they are knowing the truth from Internet.

The significance of my research is to classify or identify reliability of selected publication’s content, distinguishing which of them is reporting in most neutral way, while keeping the truth and least adding own stance. So people can choose the more reliable printed media through my research.

I am going to use the quantitative research method to execute the research, by designing a relative online questionnaire to collect data I need. As my proposed research question is focusing on young generation, who have high participation on Internet, it would be easier to collect data online rather than doing printed survey.

Student Number: 10641722

Name: Mak Ka Tsun

Research Diary 2 - Statement of Intent

Research question:

The research question is “What factors of social media cause people to use and how people get the gratification in the use of social media?”

Introduction:

Nowadays, social media become very common and popular. Social media provide a platform and is a ways for people to connect to the others and offer an opportunity for people to share themselves, the self-presentational and self-realization. People in different countries and places always can share the personal things, photos and selfies, update their status with the others, and tag the geolocation on the social media. In addition, it is one of the online communities and cyber communication. Therefore, people always can discuss and talk about everything such as social expectations with the others.

In the research, I would like to further understand the motivations of people for use the social media and the reasons why people would use the social media. I am interested to find out the attitude and intention of people for using the social media and investigate how people build and find the gratification through using the social media.

Methodology:

In this study, I consider both qualitative and quantitative research. Secondary research were also used in the research. I will collect about fifty questionnaires and arrange interviews with eight people in total. I will adopt convenience sampling on both research methods. The questionnaires will distribute in the HKCDP as many students are the members of the social network. The 8 interviewers were based on the friends and schoolmates for understanding the feelings, views and opinions for the social media deeply.

For the questionnaire, the questions will be short and clear. For example, have you use the social media? And how long will you spend for the social media per day?

For the interview,

In the part of opening questions, I will ask simple questions first. For example, thinking of your using of social media, how long did you use the social media per day? And which social media do you use?

In the part of in-depth questions, I will ask some deep questions. For example, how do you get the satisfaction in the use of social media?

Student number: 10641714

Name: Chong Wing Ching, Uni

Research Project: Statement of Intent

In this project, I would like to find out the people’s perception of media violence.  These days, many media contents contain the sense of media violence such as film, TV drama and video games.  The range of media to which teenager have access has grown rapidly in this generation.  As there are too many media that contain media violence, it is hard for me to do the research in a short time.  Therefore, I would like to narrow the choice of media, I will focus on a video games that have media violence that is Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V).  It is generally acknowledged that the game is media violence and influence people’s behavior.  It should be easy to find the interviewer as the game is popular in Hong Kong. 

               

My research topic should be “How “Grand Theft Auto V” affect the teenager’s perception about media violence in Hong Kong?”

This project aims to find out the teenager’s perception toward media violence, to understand the role of media in the lives of teenager and to analyze the degree and type of violence exhibited by the video game “Grand Theft Auto V”.

               

I would like to interview two groups of teenagers around 3 teens in a group.  One of the group is the first time player of GTA V and the second group is the continuity GTA V player.  I will give around 30 minutes to let the first time player to try the game and give comments after playing.  Then they will have an in-depth interview about the GTA V and discuss feeling after playing GTA V and share about their perception towards media violence.  After their discussion, I may understand more the role of media in the lives of teenagers and what the degree and type of violence the GTA V is among teenagers.  Also, in their discussion, I may find out what the teenagers’ perception towards media violence in Hong Kong and can compare and contrast the level of violence between first time player and the continuity player.

Moreover, I will make a level of violence quiz refer to the online popular violence quiz.  The quiz can determine the levels of violence of them.  It may help to find out their inner and outer part of their perception about media violence.

Student: Tang Yee Ting

SID: 10585161

Research Project: Statement of Intent

Research Project: Statement of Intent

Research question:

In my research project, I would like to explore the topic of online communities. The research question would be "Why Hong Kong teenagers keen on cyberspace greater than the actual? ". 

Introduction:
Technology has changed our mode of communication, the interaction of the real world get along with the virtual world. Because of the anonymity of online world and virtualization , network user can easily let down their guard. Cyber communities, change the way people of live and distance. Different community-based organizations which link up by large organization from each small organization. Group discussions can now instantly linked together to generate greater interaction. It is completely change the mode of social organization since teenagers begin to shuttle in different groups who emphasis on autonomy, transparency and openness, be accepted from the community.

Hong Kong teenagers frequently visit forums which were created some unique culture and created some new slang, such as Golden culture. From the perspective of teenagers, the establishment of the cyberspace and frequent interactions can form a common cultural identity and self-confidence while most teenagers consider to experience information from a user's point would be stronger. Will these network culture in the end bring positive or negative impact to the teenagers? How would this imagined communities make a difference for young people? These are the purpose of the research.

Methods to be used:
Qualitative research method would be appropriate for my research topic. By participating, we can get the feel of being a member of particular social context, which can fully understand from their action. Using observation and in-depth interviews to get the first hand information. For my research, I will have an indepth interviews with 15 Hong Kong teenagers who are around 16-25 year old to investigate the extent of their participation in the online communities. There are around 15-20 questions for the respondents which is hoping accurately to know their views on the cyberspace.

Here are some draft questions:

1. How much time will you spend on internet per day?
2. What social networking sites that you often use?
3. Do you often speak and express your ideas on the cyber space?
4. Do you think there will be the positive and negative effects when you often use of network to communicate?
5. Do you consider yourself have the same character in the online world and the reality?

Student number: 10641720
Name: Yip Tsz Yau , Grace