Proposed+Reasearch+Method

PROPOSAL VERSION OF PROPOSED RESEARCH METHODS - PLEASE EDIT

From the beginning of our group's work with the Shepherds of Good Hope, it was evident that the members of our group lacked the first-hand experience in the in-depth use and application of relevant social networking technologies that would allow us to proceed directly to the construction of a social media platform for The Shepherds. As was discussed in class, it would be all too tempting to immediately direct our efforts to creating content and profiles before we had a sound theoretical understanding of their effectiveness, and the strategies required to make them relevant to our intended audience. In order to maintain a useful research plan which would allow each step of the group's research efforts to inform our research goals and their practical application, we have divided our research into two general areas. The research questions have been assigned to the areas to which they are most relevant, and will direct our survey of the literature and other research methods.

Our first area of research will attempt to give the group members a sound general understanding of the role social networking plays in today's charitable industry. When initially approaching the proposed research methods of this project, it became clear the group would benefit from a broad survey of existing literature on the topic which would allow us to ascertain the level of adoption of social networking technologies in the charitable industry and what types of social networking are seen as useful in furthering the goals of organizations like The Shepherds. This section will attempt to answer the following research questions:

The group has begun a textual analysis of the existing body of literature discussing the ways that new Internet technologies have been adopted by various types of social organizations in recent years. The literature has shown a trend in NPO media use away from traditional one-way models of information dissemination, favoring more interactive and discursive forms of communication with their audiences. These new 'dialogic' approaches to audience approaches have influenced the ways NPOs engage their audience and harness their financial and human resources in order to achieve their objectives. While social networking technologies have been acknowledged as being potentially useful for the philanthropic sector, their incorporation into NPO communications has not been universal. On completion of the textual analysis for this first research section, the group will have established a clear theoretical familiarity with the use of social networks in a charitable context, implementation within the philanthropic sector, as well as identifying the technologies and applications which are most commonly adopted.
 * Do Social Networking technologies work for Non-Profit Organizations?
 * Do they increase funding, awareness and participation, and in what ways?
 * What are other NPOs doing?
 * What social networking technologies should be used in this sort of project?

The group will follow the initial textual analysis with a content analysis which will tie the theory to more directly useful quantifiable data concerning social networking use in the region and sector in which The Shepherds of Good Hope operate. In doing this we will draw on one of the primary texts of our research, the 2009 paper 'NPO 2.0? Exploring the Web Presence of Nonprofit Environmental Organizations in Canada' by Pr. Greenberg and Maggie MacAulay. In addition to providing useful discussion on the theory and recent history of social networking in a related philanthropic field, the paper provides a detailed framework for evaluating the social networking capabilities of organizations. While it is possible that the way homelessness-oriented charities interact with their audience differs from interaction between environmental NPOs and their audience, the group considers it likely that the sectors are similar enough that the variables included in the Greenberg paper can be used in the Shepherd's project. In order to apply the coding schedule of the 'NPO 2.0?' study, the group must redefine the sample population. The original analysis drew from a list of 43 member organizations of CAN-Canada. The content analysis undertaken by the group will apply the coding schedule against a sample population of homelessness advocacy and support organizations. There are two potential approaches to determining the sample population, to be discussed in the group and with Pr. Greenberg. The first approach would analyze the top-earning, most successful organizations in the field. This population would not be restricted to geographic region but would include those organizations which generate most revenue and participation, in an attempt to draw a link between their relative success and the social networking strategies they have used. Ideally, this approach would show what technologies and uses can be expected to succeed. The most popular elements will then be included in our Shepherds platform in hopes of replicating this success. However, this approach has a number of potential drawbacks. The data could reflect a false relationship between success and social networking adoption, as the organization's success may be due to other factors, such as the reputation and visibility of an organization, or its location. The fact that this sample is chosen from the most successful organizations may also skew the results, as the social networking campaigns of these leading organizations would likely have more human and financial resources to maintain them than would be available to the Shepherds, and as such are able to support more complex and costly forms of social networking. An alternate approach would be to narrow the sample population to analyze those organizations currently operating in the Shepherd's own geographic environment and philanthropic field. An analysis of social media use by Ottawa and Ontario-based Homelessness NPOs would show which approaches have been seen as most useful to our specific market. Perhaps most importantly, this approach would allow the group to identify those areas in which the Shepherds platform could be designed to encourage inter-organizational dialogue with community partners by using compatible technologies and applications to increase our exposure. The initial textual research has indicated that this sort of collaboration is essential to the effective use of social networking media in a philanthropic context. Unfortunately, this sample population may prove too small to be statistically useful, as it is drawn from a limited field of organizations, many of whom can be expected, like the Shepherds, to be in a transitional stage in their social media use.

Having established a groundwork in the pertinent theory, and grounded that theory in a quantifiable real-word study, the group will begin work in our second area of research. This section will take a more practical approach to the material in order to determine the ideal form that our project will ultimately take. This area of research will let us know what works, and what strategies should be used to create a sustainable and engaging social networking platform. The research in this section will be oriented around the following research questions:


 * What convinces users to join causes?
 * Who uses social networking and how?
 * What strategies should be implemented on the chosen sites?
 * How do we focus attention and participation on local matters as opposed to global ones?
 * How will we get and keep the attention of 20-30 year-olds?
 * How will we promote our social networking media?

The group will continue its textual analysis in order to answer these questions. Like the earlier review of the literature, this section will find a theoretical basis for group efforts, in this case largely discussing the processes which motivate an individual to give or participate in digital philanthropy. Unlike the previous section, this research will include a large amount of non-academic texts. The increased importance of social media in public relations and social marketing has led to a proliferation of literature which discusses the specific ways social networking have been and should be used. This literature is often not grounded in academic research, but refers to the experience of professional social marketers. This information is highly relevant to the construction of our platform, and is extremely up to date. The group will use this textual analysis to compile a body of useful strategies to guide our construction of the Shepherd's social networking platform.

In addition to the textual analysis, the group will include other research methods to give us a better grasp of how to effectively create and operate a social networking platform. We have arranged to meet and interview social media specialist Audra Williams regarding her related professional experience. Ms Williams is currently media analyst for the Office of Jack Layton. While she is currently employed by the Federal government, she has an extensive background in the use of social media on the 'grassroots' level which would relate directly to our project. Specifically, she will outline the ways in which she uses Twitter as a tool for message disclosure and dissemination, encouraging audience participation, and for inter-organizational communication.

Further research will give the group information about its target audience. At this point in the research we will have established a tentative plan based on research into the structure of social networks, but has done so in a mainly organizational, top-down perspective. We will now conduct a further content analysis of social networking users in order to determine their individual motivations and online practices.

The research will analyze the rates and types of philanthropic social networking use among Ottawa residents in our target age group of 20-30 years old. By identifying what is most relevant to our target audience, we will be better able to position our platform to attract their attention and participation. Again, the group has identified two possible approaches to this study, to be discussed in the group and with Pr. Greenberg.

The first approach would be a simple content analysis of publicly accessible profile pages on Facebook. This study would be coded to indicate the number of philanthropic groups the user has joined, what types of group these are, as well as recording evidence of use of other social networking applications such as a linked Twitter account. This approach would provide a basic sense of how willing our target audience has been to join social networking causes, and could potentially be compared with the vital statistics of the user to identify which demographics it would be most effective to target. This analysis has the benefit of being relatively simple to undertake, and given the public classification of the profiles, does not introduce complicated privacy issues. However, the information is limited in that it shows only what groups they have joined, but does not show how the user could be convinced to join ours. Additionally, membership in these groups does not indicate participation in them. If group membership is used as the measurement for philanthropic activity, the results may indicate a more engaged and involved population than is actually the case.

The second option is to include with this content analysis a survey which will be issued to those users displaying membership or participation in altruistic groups. This survey will include questions about the motivations of the philanthropic social networking user as well as the ways in which they are willing to engage with NPOs. The group will also attempt to have respondents outline the 'ideal' social networking application as defined by its user. While the information derived from this survey would give specific and practical information regarding our target audience, it is also subject to a variety of privacy and ethics concerns. The group will meet with Pr. Greenberg or university officials to discuss the propriety of this approach.

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Hello Guys- Here's a proposed framework of the research required for the project. I think this'll help us get the the root of the research questions, and of course if you see anything missing or anything not needed, go right ahead and edit.

I've broken the research into two areas that I feel are most relevant. In this outline you'll see that the research questions are included in the sections they're most appropriate for. We can kind of orient the research this way, with the broader stuff being discussed and leaving us more ready to answer the more specific issues in the later sections. Also, any refinement or addition to the research questions should be added.

I think it would be useful to use this area as a place to coordinate our research and emerging new questions- Beneath the research questions we can write whatever specific facts, ideas or proofs that we will need to answer that research question, kind of like secondary research questions. Please try and add to this if you can. The idea being when you come across useful information during your literature review, you'll just make a link to the document, a quote or bullet point explanation of the point's relevance (ie Canadian E-philanthropy increased 15% in 2009), and a line or page ref. This way we can keep track of where our answers are which I think will be often confused given the group nature of the project. We'll be able to go back to this later to make a more concrete plan / essay.

Section 1- Social Networking and Charitable Organizations

This section will be mainly concerned with the more global issues surrounding the use of Social Networking by NGOs. It should provide a background on what level of adoption the charitable industry has witnessed, what degree of success it has achieved, which organizations use Social Networking in their fundraising / volunteering campaigns. This section will emphasize the theoretical aspects like social changes in altruism and participation and how these changes are being exploited by Socially Networked NPOs.

The Research Questions in this section will mainly be addressed through textual research. There is a lot of literature out there that will be useful, and I know we already have a good start in our lit review. When reviewing any of the articles you've submitted in the Lit Review, try and find arguments or theories or facts or sections that address the Research Questions or the secondary discussion questions.

After we have established this theoretical background, we'll be able to relate the findings from the literature directly to the real-life e-philanthropy environment through a Content Analysis of existing related NGOs and NPOs. We'll be drawing heavily on Professor Greenberg's content analysis of Social Networking by Environmental NGOs. As I think someone suggested, we should consider making this a central document in our research, as it provides a good theoretic bridge between the literature and our own project. Also the effort saved in the coding manual and schedule is pretty significant.

More to come RE Content Analysis- please post any thoughts.

__**Research Questions:**__

Do Social Networking Applications work for Non-Profit Organizations? - Do they increase DONATIONS? - Do they increase AWARENESS? - Do they increase PARTICIPATION? - How does this relate to the POLICIES of the NPOs? Their Strategies? - What trends in E-philanthropy can be found in the literature? Global or Canadian

What are other NGOs doing? - is it working?

What sites and applications are being successfully used?

Section 2- Practical Application of Social Networking Resources in a Charitable Context

This section is primarily concerned with determining WHAT WORKS- what strategies and resources must be implemented in order engage and retain an audience, and encourage them to become involved with the SOGH in a way which aligns with their Social Networking goals. The research in this section will include Professional Social Media sources. There should be an emphasis on the practical use and technical aspects of the different applications, as well as which applications should be used in supporting organizations such as the SOGH. There will also

THIS SECTION UNDER CONSTRUCTION- TO BE ADDED TO THROUGHOUT THE DAY- FRI- Liam