Research Design & Insights Portfolio

Appendix A: Module Success

References

Table of Contents

Naturalistic Research1,2Interview Based Research3,4Desk Research5,6Research Skill Development7,8Proposing Qualitive Research9Appendix & References10,11,12,13,14,15

For my naturalistic research I decided to get data from the BBC news comment section. My research question is: Have people changed their minds on Brexit since the 2016 EU referendum?

The BBC are seen as being impartial and as a result should be fairly representative of the British views on both sides of the political spectrum. I am also able to get a large sample size which is another positive of finding my desk research this way. I will analyse the ‘highest rated’ comments as these have the highest amount of feedback (upvotes and downvotes). The comments I have chosen all have a direct opinion on the question matter: whether they are pro-Brexit or Anti-Brexit. The article I have used for the comment section is dated October 28th, so these views are fairly recent.

The first highest rated comment was ‘Revoke article 50. Restore sanity’. This view is clearly Anti-Brexit. This comment had 4603 people give feedback. 2722 were in favour of this view, and 1881 people were in disagreement.

The second highest rated comment was ‘Just cancel this nonsense. Nothing good will come out of Brexit.’ Another Anti-Brexit comment, this comment had 4026 people give feedback. 2426 people were in favour and 1600 were in disagreement.

Another high rated comment was ‘Get it done’. This is a pro-Brexit comment. This comment had 2441 people give feedback. 966 were in favour and 1475 were in disagreement.

Another high rated comment was ‘Just get us out please. This has gone on long enough.’. This is a pro-Brexit comment. This comment had 1557 people give feedback. 594 were in favour and 963 were in disagreement.

I selected these specific comments following two rules. It had to be a high rated comment as the bigger the sample of feedback the more accurate the findings. The second rule was

that it linked directly and solely to my question, so results were not skewed. For example, a pro-Brexit and a pro-conservative comment was not chosen as only part of the comment was relevant, some upvotes could have come from support of the conservatives and not necessarily pro-Brexit. I chose two pro-Brexit and two Anti-Brexits to make my results as balanced as possible.

To summarize, there was feedback from a total of 12,627 people. 7586 were Anti-Brexit and 5041 were pro-Brexit. These findings would suggest 60% are Anti-Brexit and 40% pro-Brexit. Given that 52% were pro-Brexit and 48% Anti-Brexit during the referendum, the initial desk research findings would suggest that people have changed their minds on Brexit since the 2016 EU referendum. These findings help provide valuable information about my overall topic as they provide key data going forward into my broader research.

Contents

Naturalistic research

The research question I asked for my interview-based research was ‘Do you believe Brexit will be beneficial for the UK?’

I believe interview-based research can answer this question as people can lay out all their reasons in full detail as to why they do, or do not think Brexit will be beneficial for the UK. People usually have many reasons for why they believe the things they do, and only an interview can be effective at getting to the root of people’s beliefs and feelings. (Jacob, S. and Furgerson, S. 2012). I will use the answers in this interview, to gain a better understanding of the reasons people think Brexit will be beneficial. This interview took place in the living room in my house, as I thought this would be the most comfortable and efficient setting for the interview. The person I interviewed is a family friend that is interested in this topic and voted leave in the EU referendum.

Interview

Anthony: Yes, I think on the whole Brexit will be beneficial for the UK. There will probably be some negatives as well, but I think its beneficial.

Me: Why do think this?

Anthony: I think one of the benefits is that we will be able to have more control on things like trade. We can now trade with the rest of the world and I think before we couldn’t because of the EU. This should bring in more economic investment into our country.

Me: are there any other benefits?

Anthony: We will have more control over our borders, while in the EU, 500 million people could come whenever they wanted. This puts pressure on things like the NHS, school

places and housing. After Brexit is done, we can manage our borders and maybe let in fewer people.

Me: You mentioned negatives of Brexit, what are these?

Anthony: We do a lot of trade with the EU, and Brexit might make this a bit harder, but trading freely with the rest of the world should make up for it.

Me: What are some more reasons you think Brexit is beneficial?

Anthony: We have control over our laws, in the EU we had to follow whatever EU courts dictated to us. Now the UK courts have more power and we can decide our own laws free from the EU. I think this will be very good.

In summary, my findings from this interview is that there are strong beliefs regarding the possible benefits of leaving the EU. These findings answer my question as the answers give me insight as to why people think leaving the EU is beneficial. This interview provides valuable information about my overall topic because I can use this information to vastly increase my research knowledge.

INTERVIEW BASED RESEARCh

Interview Based Research

The research question I asked for my desk research was ‘why did Britain vote to leave the EU?’

I used 5 research articles to carry out my research. The reason I believe desk research can answer this question is because the research articles I have used go into in-depth detail about the numerous reasons that people decided they wanted to leave the EU. This gives me an abundance of information and knowledge to help me understand my research area. (Smith et al., 2011)

To collect the data, I listed all the reasons that were given in the 5 articles of why people wanted to leave the EU, for example immigration, sovereignty, (Wind, M. 2017) the economy, hopelessness. The reasons that were cited the most and in all the articles I analysed more closely and gave greater weight to, as I knew these were the main reasons for people voting leave and were agreed upon between all of the authors. (Goodwin, J. 2012)

The results of my analysis determined that the main reason people voted to leave the EU, were a feeling of losing sovereignty, they felt the British culture was eroding while in the EU, and they would get some of that identity back if we left. (Clarke, Goodwin and Whiteley, 2017). Another main reason was immigration, people were worried that there was too much immigration, and this would put a strain on things such as public services, jobs and the economy, (Swales, K. 2017). A feeling of hopelessness at the current situation played a part for many working-class people, they were prepared to take a risk and vote for Brexit in the hope it would improve their situation. They were not worried about the economy as they felt things couldn’t get much worse, (Ashcroft, M. and Culwick, K, 2016). All of these factors mentioned as well as many others has given me a rounded and balanced view of why the majority of people in the UK wanted to leave the EU.

My findings answer this question as it gives detailed reasons as to why people voted to leave. The desk research is probably the best research for my overall topic, as it has provided me with by far the most information and research knowledge that I can use and helps my own understanding of the topic going forward.

desk research

Desk research

I have found that my research skills have improved during this assignment as I have gained knowledge of various research methods such as conducting interviews, carrying out naturalistic research and doing desk research. Before this module I had very little knowledge of how to conduct a good quality interview. Learning things such as asking open-ended questions, making sure it is a comfortable setting and planning interviews in advance, has given me the knowledge to conduct better interviews. (Croucher and Cronn-Mills, 2014). Hopefully this is apparent in the interview I have completed in this assignment. I was having difficulty in producing a piece of naturalistic research but once I learned which information was useful for my research and which wasn’t, I found I became much more effective. For example, omitting information that wasn’t relevant or helpful to my specific research area. Also, after reading about naturalistic decision making, I gained more understanding of how naturalistic research works in practice, such as how people make their decisions in naturalistic environments. (Zsambok and Klein, 2014). The desk research I conducted taught me useful skills as well, for example using google scholar to find high quality research articles and books. Completing this assignment will be beneficial when carrying out further research in future for this module and the course in general.

I believe the topic I have chosen has massive potential as various research methods can and may have to be used to gain knowledge and insight from this topic. Both interviews, naturalistic research and in-depth analysis need to be carried out, as well as other research methods. Which is why this topic has great potential in putting my research methods into practice. The only downside is since my topic is such a complex topic, it may be challenging to get a complete picture into all of the details.

The research abilities I have gained of which could be put on my CV, would include having experience and knowledge in conducting high quality interviews. Having knowledge in

quickly and efficiently collecting data for research. In addition, I would be able to put down that I have the skills to analyse data for research purposes. A good understanding of applying naturalistic research could also be added to my CV.

Research Skill development

Research Skill Development

The research topic I am interested in is Brexit, because I have an interest in politics and I believe this topic is a fascinating and ideal area for research. This topic is complex which is why a multitude of research methods need to be used. This should help my research knowledge and expertise as I will be thoroughly testing the research methods. More importantly though, it has a clear connection to PR and branding as public relations is very important for both politicians and political parties, especially in modern times. Without good PR a politician will not be successful. Political parties are very much like brands, running successful campaigns is crucial to both. Based on some of my research (Ashcroft, M. and Culwick, K. 2016), one of the big reasons the leave vote won is due to the ‘Vote Leave’ group having very good branding, for example its simple and effective slogan ‘Let’s take back control.’ Because Brexit is such a complex area, more research is needed to fully understand why Britain voted to leave, and this is the research need that my project is attempting to meet. My three research questions are as follows: ‘Have people changed their minds on Brexit since the 2016 EU referendum?

‘Do you believe Brexit will be beneficial for the UK?’

‘Why did Britain vote to leave the EU?’.

The first question is of value because finding out whether people still hold the same beliefs is beneficial in research, because it helps shed light on which beliefs people had which they thought were true, but now believe to be false. It also helps in predicting decisions people may make in the future. The second question is of value because it helps me understand the reasons people believe in Brexit and are positive for the future.

The third question helps me understand the real reasons for people voting to leave, and not just the lazy assumptions given by the media.

proposing qualitative research

APPENDIX B: ETHICS APPROVAL

https://www.santannapisa.it/sites/default/files/3_2017.pdf

https://whatukthinks.org/eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/NatCen_Brexplanations-report-FINAL-WEB2.pdf

https://academic.oup.com/pa/article/70/3/439/3109029

https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=fbffDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT3&dq=why+britain+voted+to+leave+eu&ots=t5eGfHDVQ9&sig=iS_IRkVe-kUrSIeKpLvx-P7sdH4&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=why%20britain%20voted%20to%20leave%20eu&f=false

http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/73013/1/blogs.lse.ac.uk-Letter%20to%20friends%202%20why%20Britain%20voted%20to%20leave%20and%20what%20to%20do%20about%20it.pdf

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780203495735/chapters/10.4324/9780203495735-15

https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=jO17AgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=naturalistic+research&ots=AXrpatt41d&sig=29f3CaSeVIuiqp4wKt13gNchROY&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=naturalistic%20research&f=false

APPENDIX C: DESK RESEARCH MATERIALS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMyqc5NNhNM

Notes:

‘Use highest rated comments not new comments – has more feedback.

‘Post can’t contain irrelevant information’.

‘Have same amount of Pro-Brexit and Anti-Brexit posts, otherwise not balanced’

‘Has to be directly and only Brexit related.’

‘Can’t use Brexit and conservative post, not completely relevant to topic’.

‘Comments tend to be passive aggressive’

‘More Anti-Brexit comments/upvotes than pro-Brexit’.

‘Results possibly slightly skewed as it’s a negative article regarding Brexit – Anti-Brexit people more likely to read and comment on the article.’

Interview

Me: Hello, in this interview I will be asking you whether you believe Brexit will be beneficial for the UK?’

Anthony: Hello Barry, let’s get cracking.

Anthony: Yes, I think on the whole Brexit will be beneficial for the UK. There will probably be some negatives as well, but I think its beneficial.

Me: Why do think this?

Anthony: I think one of the benefits is that we will be able to have more control on things like trade. We can now trade with the rest of the world and I think before we couldn’t because of the EU. This should bring in more economic investment into our country.

Me: are there any other benefits?

Anthony: We will have more control over our borders, while in the EU, 500 million people could come whenever they wanted. This puts pressure on things like the NHS, school places and housing. After Brexit is done, we can manage our borders and maybe let in fewer people.  

Me: You mentioned negatives of Brexit, what are these?

Anthony: We do a lot of trade with the EU, and Brexit might make this a bit harder, but trading freely with the rest of the world should make up for it.

Me: What are some more reasons you think Brexit is beneficial?

Anthony: We have control over our laws, in the EU we had to follow whatever EU courts dictated to us. Now the UK courts have more power and we can decide our own laws free from the EU. I think this will be very good.

Me: Cheers, I think that’s probably it.

Anthony: Alright, top notch interview that.

Appendix D: Naturalistic observation notes

Appendix E: Interview Transcripts

As proof of my module success I would include a 70% research mark on both my ‘everyday research’ assignment and my week three quiz. I believe this shows my competence in this module.

Wind, M. (2017). WHY THE BRITISH CONCEPTION OF SOVEREIGNTY WAS THE MAIN REASON FOR BREXIT – AND WHY THE BRITISH ‘LEAVE-VOTE’ MAY END UP SAVING RATHER THAN UNDERMINING THE EU. [online] Santannapisa.it. Available at: https://www.santannapisa.it/sites/default/files/3_2017.pdf

Clarke, H., Goodwin, M. and Whiteley, P. (2017). Why Britain Voted for Brexit: An Individual-Level Analysis of the 2016 Referendum Vote. [online] Whatukthinks.org. Available at: https://academic.oup.com/pa/article/70/3/439/3109029

Swales, K. (2017). Understanding the leave vote. [online] Whatukthinks.org. Available at: https://whatukthinks.org/eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/NatCen_Brexplanations-report-FINAL-WEB2.pdf

Ashcroft, M. and Culwick, K. (2016). Well, You Did Ask...Why the UK voted to leave the EU. [online] Google Books. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=fbffDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT3&dq=why+britain+voted+to+leave+eu&ots=t5eGfHDVQ9&sig=iS_IRkVe-kUrSIeKpLvx-P7sdH4&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=why%20britain%20voted%20to%20leave%20eu&f=false

Barr, N. (2016). Letter to friends (2): why Britain voted to leave, and what to do about it. [online] Eprints.lse.ac.uk. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/73013/1/blogs.lse.ac.uk-Letter%20to%20friends%202%20why%20Britain%20voted%20to%20leave%20and%20what%20to%20do%20about%20it.pdf

Croucher, S. and Cronn-Mills, D. (2014). Understanding Communication Research Methods A Theoretical and Practical Approach. [online] Taylorfrancis.com. Available at: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780203495735/chapters/10.4324/9780203495735-15

Zsambok, C. and Klein, G. (2014). Naturalistic Decision Making. [online] Google Books. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=jO17AgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=naturalistic+research&ots=AXrpatt41d&sig=29f3CaSeVIuiqp4wKt13gNchROY&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=naturalistic%20research&f=false

Jacob, S. and Furgerson, S. (2012). The Qualitative Report Writing Interview Protocols and Conducting Interviews: Tips for Students New to the Field of Qualitative Research. Number 42 Teaching and Learning, [online] 17. Available at: http://nsuworks.nova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1718&context=tqr/

Goodwin, J. (2012). SAGE Secondary Data Analysis. [online] Google Books. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=TamHAwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA111&dq=conducting+secondary+research+&ots=oqFPCqx1Bp&sig=jZ0xCVaxrteTzD-V2wXWhA9GXg4&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=conducting%20secondary%20research&f=false

Smith, A.K., Ayanian, J.Z., Covinsky, K.E., Landon, B.E., McCarthy, E.P., Wee, C.C. and Steinman, M.A. (2011). Conducting High-Value Secondary Dataset Analysis: An Introductory Guide and Resources. Journal of General Internal Medicine, [online] 26(8), pp.920–929. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3138974/ [Accessed 26 Oct. 2019].