Athens, OH – The Social Media Analytics Research Team (SMART) Lab aims to foster graduate student research by providing our students the opportunity to engage in analytics based research over the summer . Besides gaining hands-on research experience and mentoring for their research pursuits, students will produce a research paper of publishable quality.

Type of award

SSREA Awards support continuous full-time work on an analytics-related project for a period of two months. Only Ph.D. students can apply for the SSREA awards. Successful applicants receive a stipend up to $1000.

The SSREA are competitive and are based on a rigorous criteria. The SSREA application process emphasizes research design and impact. Aspiring researchers are expected to gain valuable experience through these awards so that they are prepared to pursue intensive and competitive future research both within and outside academia.

Research Design: Research proposals need to be based on a viable research method related to analytics, and must clearly communicate the goals of the project. The proposal should clearly outline the project timeline, data collection procedures, analysis, and visualization strategies. You are required to demonstrate how you intend to inculcate social analytics tools and methods in understanding a social issue.

Research Impact: Researchers must explain how their research will contribute to the body of knowledge in the wider communication field, and how the project will address a compelling question or issue.

Research proposals must also explain how the proposed study will enhance the student’s research potential, how the study fits in the wider research agenda, how the results will be disseminated (where will the research be published), and why the student merits acknowledgement through the fellowship.

Application Requirements

Complete applications are due by 6:00 pm on April 6th, 2017. Please carefully read all of the information below before applying.  

  1. Only students in good academic standing in any of the programs in Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University are eligible to apply.
  2. Students must also be enrolled full-time in a doctoral program.
  3. Students must submit a detailed research proposal with their application. Proposal details can be found below.
  4. Students must submit a latest copy of their resume.

Proposal Guidelines

The proposal should be between 8 and 10 pages long (double spaced) and emailed as a MS Word document. Besides, a review of literature, study rationale, methods and analytics tools, the document must include the project title, the student researcher’s name, a project completion timeline (Gantt chart), venue for publication (journal name) & rationale, budget, references etc.  The body of your proposal should provide a background/literature review along with the research question you plan to address. The following points should guide your proposal:

  1. What information to do have about the topic you will be studying? Which sources will you tap into?
  2. What is the specific issue you will be addressing?
  3. How will you answer the questions? What specific methods will you use to perform your research?
  4. How will this project expand your understanding of social analytics?
  5. What is the budget of your project? Provide an overview of costs associated with your research.

 

Research Report Guidelines (If your award request is accepted)

a)  In-Progress Report Guidelines

SMART Summer Research Excellence Award (SSREA) In-Progress Reports are due June 15th. You will need to email the reports here: smartlabohiou@gmail.com. In-Progress reports should be 1 page long, 12 point font, Arial, single spaced with one inch margins, and submitted as a Microsoft Word document. The document must include your full name and the title of your project. You need to describe the research methodology. Was the project carried out according to the original plan? If not, why?

b)  Final Report Guidelines

SMART Summer Research Excellence Award (SSREA) final report is due on July 15. You will need to email the reports here:smartlabohiou@gmail.com. Final reports should be 25-30 pages long, 12 point font, Arial, double spaced with one inch margins and submitted as Microsoft Word documents. The document should include your name and the title of your project. The report should follow a typical journal article format: Introduction, Literature Review, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion.

Awardees must provide appropriate acknowledgement for funding the research (This research was supported Social Media Analytics Research Team (SMART) Lab in the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.)

For more information please contact:

Social Media Analytics Research Team (SMART) Lab

212 Scripps Hall
Phone: 740-593-4803

Email:smartlabohiou@gmail.com