Developing My Research Topic

Developing My Research Topic

Developing my research topic seems to be an on going process that has only just begun. Though this is only my second semester in graduate school, I feel great pressure to select my project topic. I often feel that I am behind because I have not made my final decision.

Of course I have no problem thinking of topics that interest me. Last semester I devoted all of my research to the cognitive effects of sexualized images in the media on preadolescent girls. Two prominent research groups on this topic are Sands and Wardle (2003) and Harrison and Hefner (2006). I find this topic very interesting (and sad). Sometimes as students of media and media practioners, I think that we forget or underestimate the power the media actually has over the mindset of the consumers. While this topic is very interesting to me, I don’t see it as my final project topic. I am also very interested in cohesive branding of companies or brands. I find it very interesting to watch new businesses come to town and either do phenomenal (eg- Rusty’s) because of a branded and focused image, or flop (does anybody remember the brief life of Dairy Boy on Lindsey Street?) because of the lack of focus on creating a distinct image. Starbucks and Panera are prime examples of the success a company can have by simply having a good quality product and creating a distinct image for the entire look and feel of the business. This is why people are still flooding into these businesses ready and willing to pay four dollars for a cup of coffee and eight dollars for a sandwich (myself included). Yet another topic that I am interested in is event sponsorship and brand partnership, which are two very different things but both involve two separate entities coming together to promote a product. I am interested in why some partnerships are golden (eg- American Idol and Itunes) and some are destined to fail (eg- Vera Wang and Kohl’s). Both of these examples are purely my opinion, only time will tell whether or not I am correct. I would like to know more about what the variables of good partnerships and sponsorships are and what the key signs that the partnership will fail are.

While all of these topics interest me, I am looking forward to doing a professional project that will help me gain experience in the professional realm. Like I said in my earlier post, my undergraduate degree was in advertising and I am extremely interested in working for a non-profit organization , so I am trying not to stay solely focused on advertising. I want to broaden my knowledge of public relations so that I can have more to offer a non-profit agency.

While I often feel that I am behind because I have not nailed down my research topic, I also find it hard to finalize a topic for an applied project. It seems to me that if a project is meant to be implemented by a company or agency, it is quite hard to have a topic finalized until you have established a relationship with the company or agency that you want to use your project. To me, until I know what the company wants or needs I won’t have a finalized topic.