Sampling and Experimenting Research

So this is my family minus my dad. 5 sisters and we couldn't be more different! 

My Own Mini-Experiment

Last weekend I spent the weekend with my family, and I was talking about our semester project that my English class is doing together. I explained that we would be collectively writing and ebook based on the Kindle, Goodreads, and Amazon.
I thought they would have some interest because my family is a pretty avid user of Amazon, but more for materialistic purchases. However, we all love to read and I became curious as to if my family would be interested in owning their own personal Kindle. So my curiosity took over and I just asked simply, "Hey would you like to own a Kindle? and why or why not?"
Only one of my sisters said an affirmative YES! She responded that she loves reading, and would love to have a device just to devote to reading. The rest with the exception of one were undecided. They simply stated that they would not mind having a Kindle. My sister that responded that she would never want a Kindle had no reason at all.
Although this isn't exactly a well planned experiment, I think it proves the point that the Kindle doesn't get the credit it deserves. It reminded me of my initial reaction to buying a Kindle; I definitely wasn't completely opposed but I wasn't all for it either. With the exception of one sister they weren't really able to explain why or why not a Kindle would be a good purchase. The Kindle is often overlooked by its simplicity.

Facebook Status

As a class we are trying to diversify our research, and an interesting social research would to have a discussion on Facebook. For example to write a post with a somewhat specific question. One of the chapters I am writing for the ebook is just about the Kindle, what it is, features of it, and so on. So I could write a Facebook status like: "If you own a Kindle and iPad which do you use more to read why?" Or something like that... let me know if you have something better in mind before I post my status.

Google Alerts

I have also enjoyed reading blog posts. I found a few blog posts using the Google alerts that I JUST learned about today! So you have to sift through a bunch of useless material but there are some good finds just as Google normally is, that should be no surprise. I have not found any scholarly sources yet... but I have found some appealing arguments, and opinions I had not thought of myself.

So it's been a fun process. I still need to work on the scholarly sources, but the social sources are so fun and surprisingly useful!