Ciara Robison

Research Methods in Communication

Dr. Gasoi
December 5th, 2022

Final Research Proposal: How does Social Media Affect the Public Perception and Opinion of

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls?

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) has been an issue in Canada that

extends throughout decades with education surrounding the topic fluctuating within this time.

The initial media coverage surrounding MMIWG provided little context surrounding the issue

and often perpetuated negative stereotypes of Indigenous women through their coverage, this has

since shifted since the growth of social media. Social media has recently become a method of

amplifying social issues such as MMIWG, creating somewhat of an educational divide when it

comes to these issues based on access to, knowledge and usage of social media. What is

unknown about this educational divide is its effect on how people perceive and develop opinions

on these issues. Peoples’ opinions are heavily influenced by the information being presented to

them, which is what lead me to my research question; how does social media affect the public

perception and opinion of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls?

On a personal level, my question is significant to me as I am a Métis woman who grew

up not too far from the infamous Highway of Tears, resulting in my education surrounding

MMIWG beginning at a younger age; my peers, however, did not begin learning about MMIWG

until it became a popular subject on social media. This began my curiosity surrounding the effect

of social media on one’s perception and development of opinion on a social issue. My question

relates to the field of communication through the understanding that social media has become a

huge platform for all types of communication and has affected the way that we as humans

communicate with one another as well. When discussing public opinion or perception in my
question I am referring to the views a person will have associated with an issue or what their

understanding of it is. Arthur Asa Berger discusses the interconnection of the basic research

questions in his book Media Research Techniques, the questions being how, what, when, which

and where. The answers to those questions in relation to my research question do connect to one

another. My question itself discusses the effect on how something happens, with the rest of

Berger’s basic questions falling in line with the question of how. The rest of the questions

surround different parts of the research, wondering when social media began to affect the way

people viewed situations, which age demographic has had the most significant change, and

where they find their information about the issue. The one that doesn’t truly have a specific

relation to my research question is the question of “what,” Berger defines this basic research

question as a way to gather quantitative data about a certain phenomena (Berger, 1998, p. 5). The

way I could relate it to the question could be asking what social media app holds the most

influence or it could be related back to the general question of to what extent does social media

have an effect on the way people perceive social issues.

While conducting my literature review I chose to take a theoretical approach as described

in Larabee’s guide to literature reviews. Larabee defines a theoretical review as a way to gather

an understanding of existing theories, their relationships to my research, which further

establishes a lack of theories that assist in developing or identifying research problems (Larabee,

n.d, pg. 3). I was able to find three sources using a general search on Google Scholar that

surrounded MMIWG and the effects of the media on the issue. The first source was a 2018

article surrounding the framing of MMIWG on social media titled Understanding the ways

missing and murdered Indigenous women are framed and handled by social media users. The

article speaks toward the understanding of how racialized stereotypes are often perpetuated in
mainstream media, which enables misconceptions and allows for more negative stereotypes to be

established. It is also emphasized within the article that social media has given Indigenous

people a space to reclaim narratives surrounding Indigenous issues, given that social media has

little censorship and dictation over the sharing of views. This article is the one that relates most

to my research question as each concept can be related back to my research question. The second

article I found, The Role of Grassroots Organizations and Social Media in Education surrounds

the understanding of how social media has negatively impacted MMIWG and the opinions held

surrounding it. The article speaks towards the fact that mainstream media often sensationalizes

the violence against Indigenous women and the issues that arise within that. There is reference to

the book Troubling Education: Queer Activism and Antioppressive Pedagogy written by Kevin

Kurashimo, which speaks about the impact discourse has on oppression, which relates heavily to

my research as social media is a product of discourse as are opinions around social issues. The

final article that I found surrounds the history of how MMIWG has been represented in the press.

The article No News isn’t Always Good News: Media Representation of Missing and Murdered

Indigenous Women in Canada, highlights the wrongdoings of the press in their coverage and

presentation of MMIWG. The perpetuation of harmful stereotypes is emphasized, explaining that

the information provided by mainstream press was often misleading and resulted in the

reinforcement of negative stereotypes and bias. This article relates back to my question as it will

help me identify the change that social media had in the way information was presented.

To conduct my research I decided on a quantitative survey-based method and

methodology. As stated in Creswell’s writing, quantitative research is the ability to test theories

by understanding relationships between variables in one’s research (Creswell, 2014. pg. 2),

quantitative research would be the best way for me to gain a comprehensive understanding of
how social media affects the way a variety of people view social issues while allowing for

expression of opinion. The survey would consist of multiple choice questions but would have

opinion-based options that would allow an individual to select the opinion that best matches their

views, allowing me to categorize the information and present it in a more statistical format. Each

question would surround social media, age demographic, access to and knowledge of social

media, background knowledge of MMIWG, and questions that surround opinion and current

understanding of MMIWG, allowing me to gain a large understanding of how opinion is affected

by social media. I would conduct the research by creating the survey using a survey-creation

platform and then distribute it on social media and ask older people that I know to take it so I can

include those with little access or knowledge of social media as well as those with tremendous

amounts of access and knowledge. Quantitative survey research is the simplest way for me to

gain a concrete understanding of the correlation between social media and opinion or perception,

giving me the ability to fully understand my research and gain a well constructed answer.

In order to distribute my research I initially believed that a research paper would have

been the best option, but upon further thought distributing my research through social media

would be the best way to demonstrate my findings. I would create infographics on post them on

social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, allowing those with access to

those platforms to view how social media may be affecting their opinions surrounding social

issues that may be specific to MMIWG or completely different. Social media distribution is also

the best way to distribute my findings as my research is based in the understanding that social

media likely does have an effect on the way people perceive and develop opinions on social

issues. When discussing the understanding of ethics within my research it is essential to

remember who may be harmed in the process of conducting my research. In her writing, Jessica
Ball speaks towards the misrepresentation of Indigenous people in research, how exploitation

and misrepresentation have lead to the perpetuation and creation of harmful stereotypes (Ball, J.

2005, p. 33). In order to ethically conduct my research I must be conscious of the fact that

opinions stated within my research may be biased and may reinforce harmful stereotypes about

MMIWG or Indigenous people as a whole; in order to maintain ethics I must be explicit when

explaining that that opinions included may be bias. My research may both harm and help

Indigenous communities in this way as the misrepresentation in the opinions may reinforce the

opinions that others have but when observing the opposite effect, the negative opinions may

provoke others to educate themselves further on MMIWG.

To conclude, my research is important as MMIWG is a national issue and understanding

the way the public perceives and generates opinions on it will help with further education

surrounding the topic. My research is also important as social media is a main form of

communication and distribution of information in our current society, making it essential for us

to understand the effects it may have on our perception of issues. Social media and social issues

are interconnected through the fact that communication has become globalized through social

media, making it important for users to understand how they may be affected by the information

being shared.
 References

Berger, Arthur Asa. Media Research Techniques. SAGE, 1998.

Ball, J., & Janyst, P. (2008). Enacting Research Ethics in Partnerships with Indigenous

Communities in Canada: “Do it in a Good Way.” Journal of Empirical Research on

Human Research Ethics, 3(2), 33–51. https://doi.org/10.1525/jer.2008.3.2.33

Creswell, John W. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches.

SAGE, 2014.

Corbett, Elisha. “No News Isn't Always Good News: Media Representation of Missing and

Murdered Indigenous Women in Canada.” No News Isn't Always Good News: Media

Representation of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Canada (2019): n. pag.

Print.

Moeke-Pickering, T., Cote-Meek, S., & Pegoraro, A. (2018). Understanding the ways missing

and murdered Indigenous women are framed and handled by social media users. Media

International Australia, 169(1), 54–64. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X18803730

Watson, K. “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women : The Role of Grassroots Organizations

and Social Media in Education”. Canadian Woman Studies, vol. 33, no. 1-2, June 2019,

https://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/article/view/37772.