Primary Research…
What do I want to discover?
My first priority is that I want to discover different types of persuasion the military uses to recruit minors. I want to know which minors and parents of minors view to be the most effective and why. I also want to view the military’s different methods of recruitment to discover how exactly they are trying to persuade minors and why it can be effective. I want to know who is responsible for protecting the American youth, and what people think should be done. Also, why exactly is it minors being specifically targeted? I want to discover how the American public views the military’s practices of recruitment. I want to know who it effects and why. I also want to know if the people who it is not effecting care. How do these people view our military’s practices as a reflection of the war with Iraq? In discovering the answers to these questions I will not only find out how people view the current ways of recruitment by our own army but how these individuals look at the war as a whole.
How do I plan on discovering it?
Through surveys I plan on discovering which methods of military recruitment both parents and children find to be most effective and why. I plan on discovering the answers to my inquiries through interviews with minors and people my age. I also want to interview adults as well to get their opinion on children being recruited because what if it were their child? I think with a few interviews on top of my survey I can get more personal with the answers to my questions. Most importantly, I want to uses analysis. I want to analyze different types of persuasion the army uses to recruit minors. Through this I want to discover what methods of persuasions they use, why, and how they work.
Who am I going to talk to/observe/survey?
I am going to survey and talk to individuals my age (19) who are eligible to actually enlist in the military, minors, and parents of minors. I want to get their opinions on the matter of recruitment of minors and see how they feel and are effected by it. I plan on observing the military recruitment campaign and their methods of recruiting.
How am I going to be able to gain access to these groups or individuals?
I will interview people in and around my hometown. I also want to research and view blogs on the internet that display individuals opinions on the matter to see how others no so close to where I live and a part of different classes feel.
What are my biases about this topic?
My biases about this topic are that I am not personally effected by it, and neither is anyone I love, know, or are around me. Due to this I do not know how the effects of my subject really feel, which is why I think it is very important to get peoples opinions of different classes, races, etc.; people who actually are effected. I also view child recruitment very negatively and believe a stop should be put to it immediately.
How can I make sure my biases are not reflected in my research methods?
I can ask general questions that are not bias. I need to take into consideration both people who view my topic negatively and positively, and use both in my research and as my sources. I need to make sure the questions I ask people are not persuasive in any way or reflect the way I feel. Also, when examining military recruitment practices and methods I need to read and watch with an open mind.
What do I expect to discover?
I expect to discover how the military tries to persuade and lure minors into enlisting and why it works. I also expect to discover how people feel about these methods, and if it makes them nervous. I also expect to discover why certain types of minors are targeted over others and who is really being effected and why. Along with all of this I will get American individuals’ opinions on child recruitment.
2 Comments »
Leave a Reply
-
Recent
-
Links
-
Archives
- July 2008 (10)
-
Categories
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
Alex. This research sounds good. I like how you are aware of your biases and plan to make sure your survey and interviews have neutral questions. I am curious to know how you plan to distribute surveys and conduct interviews. Have you thought that out yet?
Comment by rhetoricsofwar | July 22, 2008 |
First off, sorry for taking so long in getting this done. I finally got it printed off and went through it making notes. Most of the things that stuck out seemed more to be points of clarification both in definition and purpose.
When you say you want to discover different types of persuasion, I wasn’t sure what you were refering to. Are you talking about their rhetoric? the way they organize the recruiting process? It could just be that I’m listening to Muse while I’m writing this but could you also be refering to more subtle and deceptive means, bribery?
I like that you want to get the opinions of the people this most directly affects but again I wasn’t sure what classification of “persuasion” you would be asking them to address. Are you refering to incentives? College tuition? Jobs? Money? Travel? or they way the military is presented to them apart from benefits?…..or all the above?
You made a surprising statement in the first paragraph, “I want to know who is responsible for protecting the American youth, and what people think should be done.” My first response was to ask who was attacking them? So I’m curious to see the relationship you will try to set up between the reader and the military/recruiter. To recruit is to elist or attempt to enlist the services of an individual so I’m not sure that it is the right word to use when refering to the way the military addresses those under the age of 18, unless you want to use the meaning to stress the immorality of certain practices; how out of line the military is. Also, if you are going to address recruiting and the war as seperate ideas and relate them I would be careful with how I order the questions so as not to taint one subject with the other. Recruiting practices have been ongoing/controversial for years but this war has been going on/controversial for much less time so one is more developed and practiced than the other. I suppose though that you could look at the way recruiting has changed since the current war.
When you say children are being recruited I get an image of a 10 year old wearing dirty camo, standing in a war zone being yelled at by a drill seargant. But I’m gonna guess you are talking about a more subversive campaign through toys, programs, entertainment, etc that portray the army in a certain rhetorical light.
In the middle of the questions you said you would “plan on observing the miltary recruitment campaign and their methods of recruiting.” Between the words “their” and “methods” I wrote in “percieved” because you haven’t talked about obtaining information directly from your source yet. Everything seems to be addressing your personal analysis or public opinion but don’t seem to have a plan for including information on recruiting practices from the recruiters or the military.
When you say you are biased about the topic because you are not personally effected by it and neither is anyone you love, know, or are around I think you are forgetting many ways it could be affecting you. First off, you know me,(kinda) and my cousin started meeting with a recruiter during his senior yr of HS and is now getting deployed in Iraq w/i the month. I would say that you are affected because you, especially at the begining of this assignment, seem to have emotions about recruitment practices, and those practices have turned you away. This idea fascinates me because my paper is going to be focusing on the way that it affects us and vice versa without us really knowing or caring.
As far as the general that you want to ask go, I like that idea for its potential to allow the surveyed to apply, consciously or subconsciously, their own bias/opinions but how general can you go without letting the person wander into another topic?
In the last answer it sounded like your goal is to analyse the rhetoric of recruiting, the qualities of the target audience, which ever one you are focusing on, the rippling effects of this focus, and the public opinion on the matter. But to what point and purpose? what are you trying to show? that recruiters are deceptive rhetors and the general public has an opinion on the matter. I’m asking myself this same thing and i’m just getting beyond trying to point out the moral situation to looking at what the combined focus of my analysis’ shows me.
Anyway, I’m not sure how much I wrote cause I wrote it in the text box so the top is gone….and again, I’m sorry for the ridiculous delay and I hope you can find this helpful. Good luck.
Comment by Anonymous | July 25, 2008 |