In week 1 we discussed some general purposes for carrying out social science research, research ethics, and strategies for carrying out preliminary research. Look within the Security & Global Studies database and find 3 peer-reviewed journal articles to help you articulate your research interests. When talking about the topic you are interested in researching be sure to reference the articles using the writing style specific to your field of study. In addition to presenting your research topic, and research question, your post should reflect that you have read this week’s content material and demonstrate that you have a sense of the research cycle and what it means to carry out ethical research.
Now consider the following questions:
WK 1 Question: What challenges are you having in coming up with a unique and narrowly focused research question? Did you have any challenges findings articles within the library? If so what did you do to alter your search parameters? Do you anticipate any difficulties in any of the phases of the research cycle as you pursue research on your topic?
Classmate 1 John:
Social Science Research
Resisting Foreign Election Prying: The Case of the United States of America and the Russian Government
The U.S commonly accuses the Russian Federation of meddling in its elections. Notably, foreign election interference refers to external meddling, especially by governments, in influencing political elections. While Russia should not, explicitly or implicitly, interfere with the American elections, active external meddling is prevalent in the U.S, affecting the lasting democratic world power. Therefore, the U.S needs to curb Russia’s election meddling to promote credible elections and maintain its democracy.
A Brief Background of Foreign Election Intrusion by Russia
The relations between the Russian Federation and the U.S remained frosty past the cold war era, influencing Russia to pry on U.S presidential elections. Johnson (2019) investigates Russia’s intrusion in presidential elections, asserting that the former Soviet Union wants to obliterate the American election system’s integrity. Further, this action will facilitate a compromised U.S presidential candidate who can lift the sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. Therefore, the former Soviet Union meddles in the U.S presidential elections to achieve global supremacy in trade.
Considerable evidence illustrates that Russia interfered in the U.S presidential elections of the recent past. Norris (2019) explores uncertainties regarding the Trump-Clinton elections, creating considerable mistrust in the U.S. Notably, these doubts arose when Russia’s intelligent authority, Kremlin, hacked Hillary Clinton and promoted fake news about her to destroy her reputation and increase Trump’s prospects. Therefore, the Putin administration executed an extensive strategy to compromise the 2016 American presidential elections.
The Kremlin meddled in the American elections using sophisticated mechanisms to promote Trump’s reelection four years later. Tomz and Weeks (2020) analyze the comments on foreign election meddling, asserting that the Democrats significantly consider that Russia played an active meddling role in the 2020 elections. This notion arises from the fact that Russia used artificial intelligent programs in spreading misinformation on social media, which attempted to destroy the integrity of American elections. Importantly, this spreading of “fake news” played a significant role in the 2021 insurrection of the Capital, which jeopardized the foundation of the nation, democracy.
Research Questions
Considering that the Russian Federation actively interfered with the U.S elections in the recent past, this research desires to investigate five significant questions, including
1. What was the impact of Putin’s administration meddling in the 2016 American presidential elections?
2. What were the results of the former Soviet Union’s interference in the 2020 American presidential elections?
3. What strategies did Russia apply to meddle in the 2016 and 2020 U.S presidential elections?
4. Importantly, what frameworks can the U.S apply in averting foreign election intervention by Russia?
Research Objectives
This study desires to achieve four significant objectives based on the above research questions, including
1. To amplify the existing knowledge on foreign election meddling.
2. To assess the literature on Russian election interventions in the U.S, giving a comprehensive history.
3. To examine the types of foreign election interference applied by Russia in U.S presidential elections.
4. To investigate the impact of these foreign election interventions in the U.S
5. To suggest strategies that the U.S government can apply to avert these foreign election interventions by Russia.
Significance of an Ethical Research
This study will center on ethical research while promoting its objectives. It will achieve this objective by avoiding biases in the data analysis and data interpretation. Additionally, this study will give credit to scholarly sources it will use, and it will undergo a critical examination and peer-review before submission. This research will also strive to promote social good and avoid providing facts without any scientific backing. Accordingly, performing ethical research while advancing this study’s objectives is vital.
Conclusion
Briefly, the U.S requires fighting Russia’s election intrusion to maintain its global supremacy. Notably, the Russian Federation actively interfered with the U.S elections in 2016 and 2020. Additionally, this study aims to investigate the impact of these meddling activities, the strategies used to meddle, and frameworks used to avert foreign election intervention by Russia. This study will perform ethical research to accentuate the available data on Russian election intrusion.
References:
Johnson, D. E. (2019). Russian election interference and race-baiting. Colum. J. Race & L., 9, 191.
Norris, P. (2019). Do perceptions of electoral malpractice undermine democratic satisfaction? The US in comparative perspective. International Political Science Review, 40(1), 5-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512118806783
Tomz, M., & Weeks, J. L. (2020). Public opinion and foreign electoral intervention. American Political Science Review, 114(3), 856-873.
– John Sidwa
Classmate 2 Chloe:
This week when I was looking over a few things for a research questions I was having a tough time thinking of what my question should entail. I was thinking a lot about things related to my job, and also social media. Everyone knows something about social media now days because of the times everyone has to use social media in some aspect.
My research question is: “how does social media affect peoples careers in their work place”
This question is important because social media plays a huge roll in so many peoples lives, and what they post on their platforms for everyone to see can impact their jobs and/or future jobs. Teenagers spend so much time on their phones posting pictures that they don’t think will ever fall in the wrong hands of someone but once it is on the internet it is there for the whole world to see. I think I will find a lot more information on this question than I already know and also shed light on the topic for others to realize the harm that they could be causing for their futures.
If I need to change this question please let me know.
Classmate 3 Ryan:
Coming up with an idea for a research topic was not hard for me, as I work in the intelligence field and have been interested in this topic for a few years now. I am currently pursuing a MA in Intelligence Operations, and I currently contract for the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. I have been in the intelligence community since 2013, and since that time many things have changed in the world. We still rely on the five INTs, but OSINT has become a foundation for each other INT. OSINT has been relevant for as long as people have been willingly giving out information, but the last two decades have allowed us to gather information from any location, or on almost any individual, without having to leave our office chair. The question that I intend to focus on is:
“How has the rise of social media played a role in counterintelligence operations and intelligence collection?”
Using the library was easy, and I did not have to alter my search parameters as social media has been used for years to obtain information, and it is considered one of the best sources for OSINT. I was able to find articles about military deception and counterintelligence (Rector, 2021), privacy in the age of technology (Blazakis, 2021), and intelligence in the time of disinformation (Lanoszka, 2021). I believe that all three of these sources will provide a foundation for my research and provide me with the pros and cons in utilizing social media for intelligence collection. I do not anticipate difficulties in the research cycle, as there were many articles and sources for obtaining information.
References:
BLAZAKIS, Jason. “Windows into the Soul; Surveillance and … – Web.mit.edu.” mit.edu. Accessed November 4, 2021. https://web.mit.edu/gtmarx/www/j_rule_review.pdf.
Lanoszka, Alexander. “City Research Online – Openaccess.city.ac.uk.” openaccess.city.ac.uk. Accessed November 4, 2021. https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/16384/1/.
Rector, Will. “Deceivingly Decisive: U.S. Army Military Deception and …” ikn.army.mil. Accessed November 4, 2021. https://www.ikn.army.mil/apps/MIPBW/MIPB_Features/DeceivinglyDecisive_U.S.ArmymilitaryDeceptionandCounterintelligence.pdf.
0 comments