Devise, conduct and report on a small-scale observational study of the use of mobile telephones.
Guidance
For general guidance about what is expected in your essays for this module, see the general criteria.
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What Key Features Do I Look For?
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Please remember to avoid footnotes and to include an alphabetical list of 'References' which have been cited in the text (not a Bibliography of anything you have read for the essay). This list should include author's names, date, book titles (in italics), place of publication and publisher. Within the text always cite author's surname, date and page number. Double-space your text and number your pages. For more detailed notes on writing essays in this department, click here.
Advice for this particular assignment: These guidelines are based on how students have gone astray in previous years - ignore them at your peril! Although this is a very popular topic with students it is not easy, so beware. Note the reference to an observational study: you are being asked to observe the use of mobile phones. Try to behave like an anthropologist in observing the strange habits of mobile phone users! Keep detailed notes on what you observe when you see people using mobile phones. You might even use your own mobile as an unobtrusive way of taking notes (thanks to Lloyd James for that suggestion). Not every student is good at this kind of study so if you think it's not an approach that suits you, choose another assignment. Find some good places from which to watch (such as the upper floors of The Varsity, The Academy or the Bar Essential). You will need to read some existing studies before you even know what kind of things to look for: Rich Ling and Sadie Plant are particularly useful for this purpose. You might focus on a particular issue, such as mobile phone 'etiquette' (though don't flaunt your own moral stance). Consider SMS text messaging as well as conversations by phone. Are there any apparent differences between the ways in which women and men use mobiles? Or between age-groups? How do you account for any such differences (beware of implying that males and females are born behaving the way they do!). Beware of over-generalising (e.g. it's wiser to say 'most of the young men in my study tended to do X' rather than 'men do X'). Back up every assertion with the best evidence you can find. Supplement your observations by discussing the use of mobiles with friends who own them.
The task is one of careful, well-documented description and well-informed commentary based on existing research - it is not about your personal attitudes and beliefs. Adopt a systematic approach in reporting your observations and try to provide sufficient carefully observed details for your account not to appear casual or journalistic. Do NOT treat this essay as a platform for rants about how much you hate mobile phones and the habits of their users!. It is essential to read some of the relevant research literature (notably Rich Ling and Sadie Plant) and relate your findings to existing findings and theories. The more you read the better your essay is likely to be. Show that you read printed academic books and articles (using only online documents can look very lazy!). This assignment is very popular - so if you need the books from our libraries you'll have to get to them quickly. Do not over-rely on online sources but don't neglect them either. Not all online documents are appropriate academic sources - try to check the author's credentials (online journals are usually fine, and some online documents are just online copies of printed articles in academic journals - these are fine too). Bear in mind that some academic papers about telephone use may have been written before the advent of the mobile phone - they may nevertheless be useful if used with appropriate caution. Whilst you are expected to demonstrate that you learned something by attending the lectures do not cite lecture notes - just use them as a guide to study. The same applies to general textbooks. Similarly, do not cite student essays as evidence - although you are welcome to read them for ideas about how to organise your own material.
Do not postpone your observational study by including lots of historical background: get to the point quickly. You may include a few relevant up-to-date statistics (always cite your sources). Where appropriate use tables and/or figures to summarise data: choose bar-charts or pie-charts if these will make patterns clearer to the reader. You are not being asked to conduct a questionnaire survey (although you may refer to published surveys if you wish). This is not an essay about mobile phone radiation hazards or about the use of mobiles when driving. Nor is it about how mobile phones might develop in the future. As with all research, tell any informants that you will not name them and then keep to this. However, retain and report as appropriate relevant details such as age and sex. Offer a rationale for your choice of observational locations. Did behaviour differ by location (and if so, how)? How did your findings relate to any existing studies? What interesting issues did your study raise? What were the limitations of your study? Try to avoid naive technological determinism by not suggesting that the mobile phone has had a revolutionary impact on communicational behaviour. A lot of people are tempted to make sweeping generalisations in their conclusions - don't do this! Before submitting your essay, check what you have written in the light of all of the points made above - don't throw away marks by ignoring them.
Note also that this is an assignment for which the inclusion of relevant pictorial illustrations is very strongly recommended. These should be inserted electronically into your Word document rather than cut-and-pasted in. You can scan such illustrations in from print sources, save them from disk-based sources, download them from online sources (such as my Powerpoint slides) or even create them from scratch in a graphics package. Use them to help you to make points more effectively. Label each one, 'Figure 1' etc. and add a caption.
Check the links at the Media and Communication Studies Site. There are usually some useful links on this topic.
Some suggested reading
Note: Treat with extreme caution sources labelled with this symbol!
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