Constructing the Case (Blog 2)

Beginning to Construct the Case!

Welcome back! Since we last spoke the "case" (my research) has undergone some changes, improvements, and has seen significant progress. Within the big picture, this step in my research is laying the groundwork for creating codes and conducting statistical analysis. Just like in a case, lots of preparation is needed before trial (actually conducting the research!)

What's The Same?

The premise and overall idea of my project!
- I will still be analyzing Civil Rights Supreme Court Cases, communist sources, and Soviet Propoganda for thematic connections.
- I will still analyze Plessy v. Ferguson to show potential change over time.
- I am still trying to fill a gap in the academic conversation- there is no literature that exists analyzing the connections between the Cold War and Civil Rights Supreme Court Cases.
My methodology!
- I will still be utilizing a conceptual content analysis in which I:
  - annotate texts for an initial time
  - determine codes (themes) I would like to look for
  - count the prevalence of the themes in each source
  - complete a chi-square goodness of fit test as well as a chi-square test of homogeneity to test statistical significance of my results.
- That's just the tip of the iceberg! For more info on the premise of my project, please see Blog One ("Taking on the Case")

What's Changed?

My research has definitely evolved a bit since my first blog. The changes are minor, but I think that they make my research more feasible to conduct.

- I will no longer be using Scott v. Sandford for context because it was simply infeasible. The majority opinion is over 200 pages! (For reference, the other ones range between 7 and 30 pages.) I decided the time it would take for me to successfully read that piece of literature would be more detrimental to me than helpful because it would take away time to do other things.
- I anticipate other changes to come as I finish up my initial annotations in the coming weeks.

What Have I Done?

I have annotated all of the Supreme Court Cases (Brown v. Board, Brown v. Board (II), Bailey v. Patterson, Loving v. Virginia, Swann v. Board, and Plessy v. Ferguson).
I am in the process of coding the Communist Manifesto

What Does My Research Look Like?

Actually conducting my research has looked slightly different than I had anticipated it would. I am in the process of reading through all my text for an initial time (see image 3). Beginning to discover what I want my codes to be, though, is way trickier than I anticipated. I feel as though sometimes my codes can oversimplify concepts, and I struggle to know if I am making the right choice. In the future, I am planning to have classmates review some of my codes in order to increase the reliability of the codes.

In order to track potential codes, I am tracking my thoughts in a journal (see image 1) and writing on the papers directly (see image 2). This increases transparency in my research and makes it more replicable.

Image 1

Example of Reflection Notebook

Image 2

Example of text annotations

Image 3

Until Next Time...

By the next time we speak, and the case goes to its preliminary trial (I begin my coding!), I have several goals:

Finish annotating The Communist Manifesto and Stalin's Constitution
Find an annotate propaganda
Develop codes to annotate for!

Thank you for following me on this journey! I appreciate your support.

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