1 The effect of social media on politics : Evidence from Brexit

1.1 Introduction
 

The phrase Brexit stands for Britain Exit as depicted by the name, in addition, it is the name
given to Britain leaving the EU. Furthermore, for decades, the United Kingdom has had an
ambivalent and sometimes contentious relationship with the European Union. Even though,
the EU’s faltering response to recent crises has fuelled a renewed Euroscepticism. Advocates
for a British exit, or Brexit, from the union argued that by reclaiming its national sovereignty,
the UK would be better able to manage immigration, free itself from onerous regulations, and
spark growth that is more dynamic. Ultimately, Leaving the EU has heavily effected many
aspects of the daily lives of UK citizens for instance things like immigration; trade; jobs,
mobility and employment; and healthcare were heavily affected.

1.2 Immigration
 

leaving the European Union would allow citizen to choose our own immigration policy but it
could also stop immigration. The fact is that if the British economy is to prosper, it cannot do
so without recruiting large numbers of skilled and unskilled workers from other countries. If
they don't come from our own continent, Europe, they will have to come from other
continents. Further to that, EU immigration is a great asset to the UK economy, and people
from EU countries pay a lot more in taxes than they receive as benefits.

On the other hand, some may argue that, the UK needs to reclaim its borders, and the people
of it should have the right to determine our own immigration policies for people from the
European Union, just like the UK can control immigration from other parts of the world.
Immigration from other countries in Europe accounts for just under half of all the immigration
to the UK; and at present The UK cannot control it. Britain cannot continue to let in an
unlimited number of immigrants from other parts of Europe. If we leave the European Union,
we will be able to use a "points system" to restrict immigration from the European Union to
people for whom there are jobs available in the UK, and people who speak proper English.

1.3 Trade
 

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The vast majority of economists in Britain and other countries warn that Britain leaving the EU
would be an economic disaster. The EU is the world's largest economic area. Britain will be
more successful economically as part of the EU, than outside it. If we leave, we will still have
to take account of EU rules and regulations if the UK would want to trade with the EU. A
Brexit would mean the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, as international firms that need
a base in the EU relocate offices and plants to Ireland or to the continent. The "Remain"
campaign don't have the monopoly of "believing in Britain”.

A handful of people still believe that Britain could do better by leaving the EU. This is mainly
because 80% of British companies that do not export have to follow EU rules on standards,
employee rights, union representation, health and safety, paternity leave and other bureaucratic
red tape; this is a burden on small businesses. If the UK leaves the European Union, we can
bring down the cost of labour in the UK, so that firms can have manufacturing plants here in
the UK, rather than exporting their production facilities to countries with low labour costs.

1.4 Jobs, Mobility and employment

 

The free movement of people within the EU has been of massive benefit to Britain. Many of
the UK firms and public services could not survive without recruiting workers from other parts
of Europe. Actually, EU citizens working in Britain pay more in taxes than people take back
in benefits. Furthermore, the millions of Britons live and work in other countries of Europe,
where they enjoy the same services and benefits as other EU citizens. If we leave the EU, all
this will change and effect the people working in eu countries. Many firms depend on labour
from the EU to do jobs that British workers cannot or do not want to do. There are 65,000 EU
nationals claiming jobseeker’s allowance in the UK : but that is only half the picture, in
addition, 2.5% of Britons who live in other EU countries are also claiming unemployment
benefits in those countries, notably in Ireland, Germany and France.. which is a similar rate.

The free movement of people within the EU has led to millions of people from Europe coming
to Britain to benefit from our welfare system. They put pressure on our hospitals, our schools,
our housing, our roads; and ordinary British people are having to bear the cost of this. The
influx of workers from eastern Europe has been driving down wages in some sectors, and
ordinary British workers have suffered from this. Leaving the EU will allow wages to rise
again.

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1.5 Healthcare
 

Remaining in the EU is vital for the National Health Service. The NHS benefits from EU
research grants, and from the free movement of specialists within the European Union. Many
of the UKs leading specialists are from other EU countries. The argument that EU immigrants
are breaking the NHS is a clear lie and Thanks to the EU health-care agreement, hundreds of
thousands of UK citizens have a free EHIC card, and thus get treatment on health services in
other countries of the EU.

According to the Daily Express, "Uncontrolled immigration has put a huge strain on A&E
waiting times." Leaving the European Union will reduce pressures on limited resources. A
number of leading figures in the "leave" campaign have misgivings about the way the health
service is run.

1.6 The effects of social media on the UK population

 

Discussions on Twitter have taken places during the Brexit referendum campaign was
motivated by nationalist and economic concerns, and less driven by populist and globalist
issues, according to a new study from City, University of London. The City researchers found
three quarters of messages (74 per cent) displayed nationalist sentiments, such as the desire for
the country to be self-governing, as opposed to 26 per cent that expressed globalist values, such
as universal individual rights and international cooperation. Almost two thirds of tweets (62
per cent) focused on economic issues underpinning Brexit, like trade policy, instead of
expressing populist sentiments (38 per cent), such as voters taking back control from elites.

1.7 Research question:

 

How do social media influence the perspectives of the UK population on the topic of Brexit?

1.7.1 Aims:
To explore how the social media shape the public view though perception about Brexit

1.7.2 Objectives:
To describe how social affects the views of people when it comes to Brexit could be achieved

1.8 Methodology
 

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1.8.1 Overview

According to the research ‘onion’ that was developed by Saunders et al. (2009), as depicted in
Figure 1 the entire process is in the form of an onion comprising various layers. The research
philosophy, research approaches, research strategies, time horizons and the data collection
method see figure 1 below.

Data Time Research Research

collection Choices Research
horizons strategies approaches
methods& Philosophies
Analysis

•Interviews
Thematically •Intervie •qualit • Constr -
analysis •Unstruct
ws ative uctivism
ured
•Inductive m
  interview

Figure 1: Source: Adapted from Research Onion ( Saunders et al., 2009)

1.8.2 Research design

 

This study will use constructivist grounded theory methodology and in the methodology
chapter this study will start by clearly stating the research questions and justifying with
literature why this study will need a qualitative research design to best answer the research
questions.

Then this study will select constructivist grounded theory (GT) as the most pertinent
qualitative methodology to be used because it offers a systematic and rigorous approach to data

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collection and analysis that allows for the construction of a theory that is grounded in
participants' views and experiences (Charmaz, 2006). This study will then present a section
on grounded theory as a methodology and discusses the diverse approaches of GT with their
different philosophical foundations including positivist, post-positivist, critical realist,
relativist, subjectivist and constructivist. When the researcher arrives to the constructivist type
the resercher will focuses on it and relate it to the research objectives (Charmaz, 2006).. Then
this study will add another section that mapped out the projects philosophical foundations;
clearly explaining the ontological and epistemological understandings related to constructivism
again while arguing its pertinence to the research design.

1.8.3 Eligibility criteria for participating in the semi-structured interviews:

1.8.3.1 Inclusion criteria

Being selected as an interviewee in this study, a potential participant should meet the
following criteria:

• Currently works as experts in social media

• Economists and politicians
• People who active on social media
• Have at least five years’ work experience.

1.8.4 Exclusion criteria

 

Any of the potential participants will be excluded if they meet one of the following
criteria:
 People who not active on social media
 Have at least five years’ work experience.

1.8.5 Theoretical sampling

Brayman (2012), Creswell (2013), Strauss & Corbin (1998) and other authors argue that
theoretical sampling is a procedure for selecting additional participants based on previously
analysed data. These participants are interviewed by the researcher to obtain valuable
information about the subject under study that might expand and refine the existing conceptions
gathered from the former participants. It is commonly used in the grounded theory approach,

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where it is employed to collect rich data from informants for theory-generation (Thomson,
2011). Typically, the first participants recruited in theoretical sampling are purposively chosen
or conveniently available, while the second group will be selected based on the preliminary
analysis of the data (Brayman, 2012; Creswell, 2013; Schneider et al., 2013). The researchers
continue to sample relevant cases until reaching a point with the data, the point at which
analysing new data no longer produces any further information related to the research study
(Brayman, 2012; Creswell, 2013; Schneider et al., 2013). Therefore, sampling should end
when theoretical saturation is reached. The main drawback of this sampling method is the lack
of guidelines that identify and explain how the theoretical saturation point is achieved by the
researcher, and much experience and sophisticated research skills are needed for deploying this
technique.

1.8.6 Sample size

Determining the sample size in qualitative research is still a debatable issue amongst
methodologists and researchers (Brayman, 2012; Creswell 20013). According to the views of
seasoned methodologists and early career researchers, to the thorny question of ‘how many
interviews are enough?’ in order to carry out a piece of qualitative research ,some experts
suggest using a saturation point; selecting participants until the point of redundancy is reached
in fact central to qualitative sampling  (Baker & Edwards,2012). However, Bryman (2012)
argues that this task requires sophisticated skills for integrating the sampling, data collection
and data analysis stages of the research, instead of treating them separately. Thus, no method
to identify the number of informants who should be involved exists at the outset of a qualitative
study, but the concept of saturation is commonly thought to be a viable resolution;
consequently, some researchers provide numerical guidance.

1.8.7 Unstructured interviews

 

Conversely, unstructured or in-depth interviews are sometimes referred to as ‘discovery

interviews’. An effective qualitative method for acknowledging and understanding the
interviewees’ personal feelings, opinions and experiences, unstructured interviews can
discover relevant information that appears to be irrelevant to the topic under study before the
interview dialogue takes place; hence, the researcher should allow respondents to talk further
about the new topic. Having a normal conversation that may be prolonged (often lasting several
hours) between the researcher and the subjects being researched may facilitate a better rapport

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between the researcher and the respondent. Such rapport makes unstructured interviews the
ideal approach for researching sensitive subjects, such as domestic abuse.

Despite unstructured interviews tending to be less intimidating than structured interviews, the
interviewee’s responses may be subject to social desirability bias. Another drawback of
unstructured interviews is that they can be time-consuming in comparison to other research
methods (Creswell, 2009; Locke et al., 2010). The lack of pre-determined interview questions
means that respondents may express their views and elaborate on their answers, making it
difficult to set a time limit on the interview. There may be a trade-off between the time that is
allocated to each interview and the number of interviews that can be conducted, thus impacting
upon sample size. The possibility of respondents digressing from the topic means that the data
collected could be worthless, which could adversely affect the generalisability and
representativeness and the findings.

1.9 Ethical approval

 

Ethical approval will seek and obtain for the quantitative phase of this study from the ethics
committee research approval at your University, UK.

1.9.1 Consent form

 

From a legal perspective, for informed consent to be ethically effective, the researcher must
reassure the interviewees about the following five areas of ethical concern: disclosure;
understanding; volunteering; competence; and consent. The following section discusses how
the researcher should manage each of these aspects on an individual basis.

1.9.2 Disclosure
 

During the recruitment procedure, the potential recruits will be provided with both an
Information Sheet and an Informed Consent Form. This will give the participants the
opportunities to read about what the study entails, discuss the process with their relatives and
to decide whether they want to participate. The Information Sheet details the following
information: the nature and purpose of the study; what the interview process entails; what the
data will be used for; details of the research team who will have access to the data; how long
the data will be retained and the assurance that it will be disposed of securely .

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1.9.3 Understanding
 

The informants will be given an opportunity to satisfy their curiosity regarding the current
study and to ask any questions about anything they would want to know before providing their
final consent to participate in the interviews. The Informed Consent Form has been written in
nonprofessional’s language, and the researcher has avoided all technical jargon in order to
convey what the study is about in the clearest possible way.

1.9.4 Volunteering
 

The participant’s consent to take part in the study must be voluntary and free of any coercion.
The potential participants will be informed that they will not oblige to participate, their details
will be maintained private and confidential during the course of the study,and that they will
have the right to omit, that means they can refuse to answer or respond to any question that is
asked if they are unwilling to or even to withdraw from the study at any time without an
explanation.

1.9.5 Consent
 

The research participants indicate their assent by signing the written form. However, it is
important to understand that consent is not necessarily permanent and may be withdrawn at
any time. Finally, I will comply with the instructions and guidelines of institutional ethics
committees with respect to obtaining specific assent from participants for audio recording their
interviews. This is just one of the aspects covered in the Informed Consent Form that the policy
makers will be asked to sign before the interview.

1.9.6 Confidentiality and anonymity

 

All the information collected from participants will all be kept confidential. This includes
conversations, written or tape-recorded, and any notes taken. No one will have access to
information about or records of the participants without participants’ express permission.
Participants will be assured of the privacy, confidentiality and secure storage of the recording
(the computer and files will be password-protected). Each interview will be anonymised by

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allocating it a case number and date; thus it will not be identifiable by name. Pseudonyms will
be used in the writings and the transcripts. Participants will not be identified in any report or
publication (Brayman, 2012).

The qualitative data from the individual interviews will be transcribed and case numbers
appended. NVivo software version 11 will be used to analyse the transcripts, which will also
be password-secured. Recorded data and all documents identifying information about the
participants will be carefully protected in a secure storage cabinet and destroyed after
transcription or once data analysis is complete.

1.10 Data analysis

Before and during the data collection stage and qualitative data analysis, this study will be
considered and resolved three technical issues to guarantee the quality of the data collection
and obtain worthy findings; the three technical issues include the processes for recording
interviews, data transcription, and using qualitative data analysis software.
1. For recording interview data, this study used a high-quality digital voice recorder, which was
facilitated the recording and transcribing process.
2. The resercher will transcribe the interview recordings verbatim and check the transcripts
against the original recording for accuracy. Each transcript will then be anonymised to protect
the identity of the interviewee. This will be achieved by replacing the informant’s name with a
pseudonym and by removing or changing any information that would readily identify the
informant.
3. A computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software package NVivo will be used to assist
with data management and the analysis process, as it helps specifically to facilitate coding, and
the organisation and rapid retrieval of information. The anonymous transcripts will be imported
into NVivo version 11.0.

Thematic Analysis (TA) is an extensively used in qualitative data analysis method/s. This is
one of a cluster of methods that highlight the identification of patterns or ‘themes’ across a
data-set. This approach has been extensively used in the social, psychological, behavioural and
applied sciences such as clinical, health and education sciences. One of the advantages of TA
is that it is theoretically flexible and applicable to research questions related to people’s

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experiences, views and perceptions. As such, it is appropriate for my research question, which
endeavours to elicit the views of plicy maker about obesity epidemic.

Thematic analysis will be accomplished through the process of coding the data into six phases
to establish meaningful patterns. These phases of TA are familiarisation with data; generating
the initial codes; searching for themes among the codes; reviewing the themes; defining and
naming the themes; and producing the final report. This study will identify patterns through
a rigorous process of data familiarisation, data coding, and theme development and revision.

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Appendix 1: Time plan
Time Development of survey Methodology
Literature review Ethical approval Data collection Data analysis Writing up
Tasks questionnaire plan
October 2018 ● Research
November methods course
December ● Communication
January 2019 skills
February ● Supervision
meetings
March
April
May Proposal ‐
June Submission Methodology Ethical approval
July Development of Plan
August Interviews questions
September
October
November Pilot study
December
January 2020 Pilot study
February
March Submission
April Transfer seminar
May Resume supervision
June meeting
July Preparing for main
August Study
September
October
November Main study
December
January 2021
February Main study
March
April
May
June
July
August Writing up
September
October
November
December
January 2022
Thesis
February
Submission
May Viva

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