For Task 1, please draft a project plan for the course (about 300 words). In the plan, (1) introduce yourself (name, major, class level, etc.), (2) share your research interests, and (3) describe what kind of online survey or experiment you would like to design as the final project, including research questions or hypotheses, if any. The final project is due on the last day of the course in Module 5.

(1) introduce yourself (name, major, class level, etc.)

John Girdwood; Sociology; 1.5 Year PhD Student “officially” focusing on Health & Wellness with a “genuine” interest in Sports Sociology

(2) share your research interests: identities and race portrayals in American sports

I post all my work online and have the intention of building my work in this class off of a proposal I just completed [here].  This is my second CAS class.  I thoroughly enjoyed Sociology of Mass Media with Dr. Hove and strongly recommend you all take it!

(3) describe what kind of online survey or experiment you would like to design as the final project, including research questions or hypotheses, if any.

• Online survey
• Research questions
  • How do “racism” and “stereotyping by race” exist in NCAA men’s basketball?
    • My overall research/dissertation will examine three facets: mass media (sports commentators), individual (athlete), and institution (university)
    • For this course, I will use a survey to answer this research question for the individual (athlete)
  • Do athletes’ racial stereotypes of themselves align with those sports broadcasters? (Denham, Billings, & Halone, 2002)
    • For this course, I do not seek to answer the alignment question.
    • For this course, I will obtain data to compare to other preexisting data or that which will be gathered through future research.
• Hypotheses
  • Stereotyping by race will exist as standardized conceptions held in common by members of certain specific and distinct groups.
  • I expect the following characteristics to be standardized:
    • physical index = height and weight
    • background = hometown and previous school
    • academics = major and GPA or other mentions of academics
    • family = any mention of family
    • skills = shooting, ball handling, defense, moves, etc.