DISSERTATION: What is a Dissertation Question?

What is a dissertation question?

Introduction, outlining question, structure and content for literature / proposal and bibliography

Exploring the relationship between societal view and industry related practices / industry related output. 

Regardless of your type of enquiry, you are likely to be exploring how industry practices or industry output shape societal views and practices OR reflect / reinforce / break with societal views and practices. 

Four most common aims:

- to measure / gauge the extent of a phenomena

- to challenge a view / practice

- to update or re contextualise a view / practice

- to evaluate a view / practice

- could also predict the direction of something (but needs to be joined with another aim)

Task - unpicking a question:

Can television provoke social change?

What is the problem with this as a dissertation question?

- too broad

- wide subject area

- closed question

What details do you think it lacks?

- so many types of social change - what type? More specific? positive or negative? 

- broad subject - can go anywhere - what television? what genre? 

What do you think the answer is that the person will arrive at?

- A yes or no answer

Do you think the person knows the answer?

- Yes

What is the danger or pitfalls of basing a dissertation on this enquiry?
- no direction with argument
- hasn't established what social change they'll be looking at

What research do you think the person has done to arrive at this enquiry?
...

What research would you advise this person to do, to develop their enquiry?
- research which kind of social change - and whether this is positive or negative
- research which genre of television - drama, crime, comedy etc..

Dissertation question meeting:

What impact do stereotypical gender representations in contemporary teen dramas have on their young female target audience and is the frequency of these restrictive stereotypes damaging to the development of their identity?  

To what extent do stereotypical gender representations in contemporary teen dramas help to understand life or damage the developing identity of their young target audience? 

- looking at specific teen dramas - gossip girl, pretty little liars, scream queens, river dale

- how are characters introduced in the programme - do they use gender stereotypes so that they are easily identifiable or do they stay away from the stereotypes

- rosalind gill post feminism