Cultural Context Research Proposal Example

1. Introduction to the topic
(1) Context of the topic.
Much study and writing have exists concerning Indonesia’s culture, history, politics, economics and geography (Andaya, 2015; Vu & Wongsurawat, 2009). Indeed, issues of human rights and gender identity in South East Asia have also been documented (Berry, 2000; Huang, 2007).). A handful of research has been done concerning Indonesia’s social media trends and practices. This research seeks to unearth, the elements surrounding choices, preferences, and identities of social media in Indonesia.

Indonesia in perspective

Muslims form 85% of Indonesia’s population. Thus, Indonesia has the highest population of Muslims(234 million) in the world. In spite of this large Muslim population, Islam is not the official state religion. Thus, most of the Indonesian cultural orientation lies within the Islamic canons (Andaya, 2015)

Social context

Indonesia consists of more than 17000 islands. Sumatra and Java are some of the largest islands in the country. Papua New Guinea neighbors Indonesia to the East while Malaysia neighbors it to the North. Indonesia has a population of 253,609,643 according to 2014 estimates. Indonesia’s growth rate is approximately 0.95%. Indonesia’s birth and infant mortality rates currently stand at 17.04/1000 and 25.16/1000 respectively. On the other hand, Indonesia’s life expectancy stands at 72.17 (Info please).

Political context

The first president of Indonesia was Sukarno. He initiated major developments in Indonesia such as major architectural and urban experimentation. Indonesia has had a rich history of architecture and international relations with the neighboring South East Asia (SEA) countries such as Japan. For instance, the Japanese government supported Indonesia to put up the Djakarta By-pass project during the world war (Vu & Wongsurawat, 2009). Indonesia’s political entity is a Republic (Infoplease)

Historical context

The first and second centuries of Indonesia were under the influence of Hindu traders and priests. During this time, there were diverse cultures and indigenous beliefs among the people. The Muslim invasions began during the 13th century. By the 15th century, most of Indonesia archipelago had converted to Islam. The Portuguese traders arrived in the islands during the 16th century but were ousted by the Dutch by the close of the 16th century (Infoplease).
(2) The research topic and its significance in the context of media and identity in Asia.
Media continues to influence people as it penetrates different communities and cuts across cultures. For instance, TV deregulation in Taiwan has contributed to the dissemination of foreign ideas and cultural practices in the country. Sex and the City (SATC) continue to attract substantial interest among Taiwanese (Huang, 2007). Berry describes the shift of status of a young man from heroic rebellion to existential isolation in three gay movies. He portrays the changing self-image and direction resulting from media influence (Berry, 2000). One significant advancement in media is social media. The acceptance and use of social media vary across countries, cultures and continents. This research seeks to find out the major factors that account for the acceptance of social media in Indonesia.
This research will hopefully generate vital information that will enlighten the field of Asia’s media and identity. It will also challenge and clarify existent misconceptions and prejudgments about Asiatic Muslims’ attitude towards social media. Hopefully, this study will have significant influence on the formation of appropriate approaches towards SEA communities regarding social media. Also, the study will enhance academic understanding of Indonesian cultural orientation and identity with social media. Indeed, this study will also prove to be useful to the non-western cultural spheres (Sharif et al. 2011)
2. Objects of analysis
This research will look at various aspects of Indonesia’s media. These elements include the present usage of social media. Secondary data will include newspaper articles, government publications, and online study reports from Indonesian universities. The study will also consider audio and audio-visual reports and documentaries concerning the state of Indonesia’s media. Content spread across social media networks such as graphic and movies will also feature in this study (Peter and Valkenburg, 2007). Additionally, this study will also examine wikis, message boards, document sharing, and activity streams from various institutions in Indonesia (Bryman, 2012).
Methodology: This research will include both quantitative and qualitative designs. Primary data will be collected using self-completion questionnaires, structured interviewing, asking question and focus group discussions (Bryman, 2012). The sample frame involves participants from diverse backgrounds and affiliations. For instance, the study will concentrate on the youth as well as the adults using social media. The study will also involve opinion polls of religious and community leaders concerning modern social media use. As well, social media experts and researchers will provide information as to the rates of social media streams and activities in Indonesia. Moreover, the study will survey academics working in the institutions of higher learning in Jakarta and two other major cities of Indonesia. The study will ideally involve a cross-sectional survey of 250 participants (Sharif et al. 2011).
Structure of the paper: The paper will have seven major areas of focus. The first part will have the statement of the problem. Second part has the background of the study as well as the literature review. As well, this part will provide the theoretical framework. The third section will be the methodology, providing details about the techniques involved in this research. The fourth part will be data analysis and interpretation. Here, the primary data will be analyzed and interpreted to provide better understanding of the topic. The fifth part will be the data presentation. The sixth section will discuss the findings and give reflections on their implications. The seventh and last part will provide the conclusions and recommendations of the study. The seventh section will also provide a summary of the research (Sharif et al. 2011; Bryman, 2012)
Research plan: This research will start with the intensive collection and review of secondary data on the topic. Based on the data collected in the secondary research, the research will proceed to collect primary data as indicated previously. Afterward, the data will be compiled and analyzed. Eventually, the data will be interpreted and presented in suitable graphic representations such as bar graphs and pie charts. This research argues that Islam is the primary factor that influences the choices of Indonesians regarding social media.
3. Theoretical framework: This study will be based on a formal theoretical framework. The reason for this framework is that the formal theory will give a higher abstraction. Additionally, formal theory will give it a wider range of relevance to many substantive areas. Indeed, this type of framework will assist in the socialization of various paradigms and spheres (Bryman, 2012).
Social media falls into six distinct categories based on their characteristics. These are content communities, collaborative projects, social networking sites, blogs, virtual social worlds, and virtual game worlds (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). Social media comes in various kinds of consumer applications. These include Twitter and Facebook (Hansen & Smith, 2010), Wikipedia, you tube, and Second Life (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). According to Hansen and Smith, there is significant use of social media behind the firewalls of many organizations, institutions and corporations (Hansen & Smith, 2010).
According to Kaplan and Haenlein, the concept of social media is indeed on the top agenda of many institutions especially in business. Decision-makers continue to grapple with identifying ways in which firms can benefit from media applications (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). Studies of social media are numerous. Indeed, many researchers agree that social media has had the profound impact on the lives of its users (Peter and Valkenburg, 2007; Hansen et al., 2010; Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010).

References

Andaya, B. W. (2015). Introduction to South East Asia: History Geography and livelihood. Retrieved Feb 18, 2015 from by http://asiasociety.org/introduction-southeast-asia
Berry, C. (2000). Happy alone? Sad young men in East Asian gay cinema. Journal of homosexuality, 39(3-4), 187-200.
Bryman, A. (2012). Social research methods. Oxford university press.
Hansen, D., Shneiderman, B., & Smith, M. A. (2010). Analyzing social media networks with NodeXL: Insights from a connected world. Morgan Kaufmann.
Huang, Y. C. (2007). Mirror of Empowerment: Consuming Sex and the City among Female University Students in Taiwan. Asian Women, 23(2), 75-95.
InfoPlease (2015).Indonesia. Retrieved Feb 18, 2015 http://www.infoplease.com/country/indonesia.html
Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media. Business horizons, 53(1), 59-68.
Peter, J., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2007). Adolescents’ exposure to a sexualized media environment and their notions of women as sex objects. Sex roles, 56(5-6), 381-395
Sharif Abbasi, M., Hussain Chandio, F., Fatah Soomro, A., & Shah, F. (2011). Social influence, voluntariness, experience and the internet acceptance: An extension of technology acceptance model within a south-Asian country context. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 24(1), 30-52.
Vu, T., & Wongsurawat, W. (Eds.). (2009). Dynamics of the Cold War in Asia: Ideology, Identity, and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan.