Online Media in Shaping Gender Roles - Dissertation Example

Beginning with the issue of the present Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the rules of succession mandating the male preference primogeniture will be replaced with the absolute primogeniture, which means that the first-born of the royal couple, regardless of gender, will be the heir apparent to the throne. This is a major development in the history of the UK because for hundreds of years women were allowed to rule only in the absence of a male brother. It also signals a major shift in attitude towards the way society views sexual roles and behavior and conveys an imprimatur to the new social order between the genders.

The choice of media is also appropriate. Currently being pursued in the UK countryside is the government’s broadband roll-out, an ambitious initiative to provide 4G (fourth generation) online capabilities to the far-flung rural areas which commercial services overlook because they are relatively thinly populated. Because of this, the use of online media is expected to expand very quickly in the next few years.

There have been many studies conducted which examined the role played by newspapers and magazines (McMahan & Shoop, 2006; Hovland, Wright, McMahan, Shoop, Guiohk, Jang-Sun & Juran, 2007), television (Furnham, 1989; Glascock, 2001; Feasey, 2009), radio (Monk-Turner, Kouts, Parris, & Webb, 2007), and mass media in general (Jones, 1991; Muramatsu, 2002; Pavilioniene, 2003; Hadfield, Rudoe, & Sanderson-Mann, 2007; Tienari, Holgersson, Meriläinen, and Höök, 2009; Ohannessian, 2009). There have been also studies that dealt with the internet and various online services (Nysveen, Pedersen & Thorbjønsen, 2005; Fallows, 2005; Zhang, Prybutok & Strutton, 2007). Of the different media forms, it is online media that is quickly gaining in popularity and patronage, and therefore deserves to be made the focal point of socialisation studies. 

Specifically, the study will seek to address the following research questions:

Q1:  Does online media reinforce perception of women’s gender-based attitudes and behaviour – (a) by men?  (b) by women?

Q2: Does online media reinforce the perception of men’s gender-based attitudes and behavior – (a) by men?  (b) by women?

Q3:  How may online-based media be used as an instrument for social transformation, in so far as advancing the promotion of equality between the sexes?

It is expected that the answers to these questions shall lead to the formulation of a relevant and insightful conclusion in attainment of the research objective.

The dissertation will undertake an inductive (or bottom-upwards) research approach, which involves gathering observations on the topic based on empirical investigation, and arriving at findings which will support the formulation of a theory for general application. The mixed method research strategy will be employed, using the survey questionnaire method to source primary quantitative data, and semi-structured interviews which, together with answers to open-ended questions to be included in the survey, will be the sources of primary qualitative data. Secondary data will be sourced from existing databases and academic or industry reports published and made available through the public domain.

The quantitative data to be gathered will be analysed statistically; descriptive statistics will include means, ranking, percentages and standard deviation, while inferential statistics may rely on ANOVA or Pearson correlation to establish the relationship between the two variables, namely the degree of exposure of the respondents to aspects of online media (frequency, duration and purpose), and the changes in perception of the respondents of the gender roles, both their own and the opposite gender. The qualitative data, which will support the interpretation of the quantitative findings, will be analysed pursuant to the Qualitative Data Analysis techniques which involves recursive methods of observation and interpretation.