Research Methodology
The first step I always take starting a research project or a study is to plan everything
that I believe needs to be considered and the places I can look at to find the information needed. Consequentially, I created a list (Fig1) of the keywords and terms I wanted to use to start my
initial exploration of the research topic. In this case,
I created a ‘To-Do’ list (Fig2) with the tasks I needed to do in order to have the most comprehensive
understanding of the subject while managing my
time. This plan helped me later to keep my focus on the question as while reminding me to look at
subtopics and understand the main concept better. After the planning or mind mapping session was complete, I started an initial online search. Even
though I had somewhat knowledge on subliminal
perception and its use in advertising, I searched as
Figure 1 Keywords list I created to help me with the direction of my research
though it was a completely new topic for me. I started looking at articles and blog posts about subliminal perceptions, subliminal persuasive approaches and definitions of
related terms on various websites. This initial exploration stage put me in a great point to start studying the field in more depth. I started looking at examples of media that subliminal
messages have been applied to (or tried to – I will explain the controversy of the subjects related to subliminal persuasion later in the chapters).
Collecting images as I go, to include in this report as examples, I started examining. I understood that
there were different types of subliminal or hidden messages used in various media. As shown on the
Figure 2 A To-Do list I made in the early stages of my planning (not in the order)
diagram below I developed that represents my
research methodology (Fig3), I go back and repeat
some steps for an extensive data collection. To
search and find good sources for related literature, I 5
