Research Proposal
The city of Commerce, Texas is a small city rich in history and traditions that date back hundreds of years. Over those years, many groups and cultures have begun to develop around this city and in its university. Many people do not take the time to study, watch, or even pay attention to these cultures (that they are not a part of) and they have no idea what they are missing. They are missing the wonderful opportunity to understand a different culture. Some of these cultures have different traditions and activities that would amaze you if you just took the time to understand them. Most importantly, these cultures have different ways of expressing literacy. The way they behave and act around each member of the group is unique to each and every culture. Their literacy is like a fingerprint, in that no two are alike in any way. These cultures work on and develop their literacy amongst themselves, and unless we take the time to really research that particular culture we will never understand it. With use of interviews, participant observation, fieldnotes, and many more techniques, we can come to a better understanding of what literacy they use and how it is developed.
I plan to use those tools in my own research of the Texas A&M University-Commerce basketball team. I will use whatever tools necessary to get the best information possible from my fieldsite and my participants. There are several things I hope to accomplish in doing this project. I want to be able to find the literacy involved with the basketball team and its individual players. There are a lot of things a player has to do on the court to be successful. Many of those things are dependent on his or her ability to “read” his or her surroundings. I want to understand how they “read” each other, their coaches, and many other game effecting aspects in a “non-verbal” way. I want to be able to show non-basketball audiences that there is much more to players and coaches than putting a ball into a basket. The game of basketball is so much more complex than that and I am attempting to prove that and help people understand how sharp a players mind must be. I also want to use my findings to educate players and coaches on how this phenomenon works. I want them to be able to understand how players “read” everything and in turn try to utilize it to make their team much better. I hope to accomplish this goal by proposing a couple central questions that when answered will be a major help in my research. I have gathered two questions that will be very pivotal to my research. What are the main objects players read and how? How is reading vital to the game? I have framed these central questions because I believe that everything I am trying to accomplish will be answered in those two questions. If the answer I am looking for is not found from these questions they will at the very least provide a route to help me find the answer elsewhere. This research is very important to me because it hits so close to home. I love the game of basketball and I have practically given my life to learning and developing its skills. By doing this research it provides me with another opportunity to learn yet another skill. A skill that if developed could be very beneficial to me as a player. Also it’s important to me because I want outsiders of the basketball community to understand an important aspect of the game itself.
My project will rely heavily on information from the participants in my study. There will be a lot of information from interviews and participant observation that I will be using. With this being the case, it is imperative that I have the permission of these participants and make sure they fully understand the extent of how these interviews and observations will be used. I will be very clear with my participants, that every interview I conduct or observation I do will be done with the upmost respect to the individual and team. I will assure them that everything going on will be done correctly and ethically. I want to get the permission to conduct all of this from the Head Coach Sam Walker. I think it will also be good to get the permission from both of the assistants as well, Stephen Pearce and Jason Burton. Beyond these three, permission slips will be given to players that are interviewed or whose information will be heavily used. I want to make sure that everyone is on the same page and they understand how their information will be used. I will obtain these signatures simply by presenting each person with a permission slip (attached). I will explain to them the goal of my project and what I hope to accomplish, and then I will ask if it is okay for me to use the information that I gather from them in my research and presentation. If the agree, then I will explain to them how the permission slip is arranged and respectably ask them to sign.
My research plan consists of several different sites for me to go and study. Within these sites, my plan requires a lot of participant observation. Participant observation is what my whole project revolves around. There will be a large amount of interviews with different people in different positions so I can get a wide range of views and ideas. Also with these interviews, will be my information from just observing them in action and taking notes on their behavior and reactions to certain situations. This observation will come from two places mainly, the gymnasium and the locker room. I will be in the gym the most watching during the games and practices and gathering incite on how players “read” each other and react together. The locker room observation will be a different kind of participant observation. The information that I gather from this fieldsite is something that I hope will help me understand what I am seeing happen in the gym. The locker room is where the guys spend time together and get to know one another. They act differently in this environment then they do in the gym. This means that the information I gather here will help me understand why they act the way they do. This is probably going to be the most important fieldsite, if analyzed correctly.
All of this information is going to be gathered via media tools. There will be a lot of pictures being taken during games and practices. Also there will be several videos of interviews as well as games and practices. The media aspect of this project is going to help me tremendously in reaching my final goals. I want to be able to show the non-basketball audience and even the basketball team what is happening rather than try and describe it to them. This will allow those who do not understand the game of basketball and even those who do, what is happening in real time. It will help me get my research across much better and will overall make a much better presentation that is captivating and intriguing to my audience.
This outsider audience is who I am trying to connect with. I want my research to be looked at outside of my class in the larger scholarly community. I believe this contributes a lot to others interested in research and literacy. When my project is completely finished I want them to be able to see how I found a literacy that was unique only to its culture. I also want my research to connect with that culture and help them develop it to a greater extent, and maybe use it to help them in the future. I want coaches and players to gain a better understanding of this literacy and how it is a good aspect and help to the game of basketball so they can use it to make their team much better. However, my ultimate goal is to show how literacy can thrive everywhere, even with a sports team. I want people to see that David Barton and Mary Hamilton were correct when they said, “Like all human activity, literacy is essentially social, and it is located in the interaction between people.”
In reaching out to the larger scholarly community, I am also trying to contribute to the Commerce Writes Research Project. This is a good ethnography for that research project. I am researching a culture (team) that is located in the city of commerce. This culture has a great history and tradition that many, many people have been a part of. With my research, we should be able to see how past members of this culture have affected current members and if we can ultimately consider them “sponsors.” I will be researching these older members as well as current members to gather the best range of information possible. There is going to be a great amount of information from this culture’s past and present available to me. With this information, I will be able to show what a large part of Commerce this culture is and how it has contributed to this great city for several years.
In conclusion, this project has the potential to be very beneficial to the basketball community as well as Commerce itself. I will consider my project a large success if I am able to do two things. First, I want to be able to help the basketball team understand how they “read” each other, and help them utilize that tool to make them a much better team. Secondly, I want to reach out to the outsider community and show them that there is more to the game of basketball then just actual talent. I want them to see that a players mind must be sharp and focused, and that what they do on the court is an art. If I can accomplish those two things my project will be a great success and I will have achieved my ultimate goals!

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