The Objectve: The revised research plan is where you will describe how you will occupy the niche you identified in the literature review. Spend some time reviewing how the literature review sections transition into methodology sections of the student research papers we have read this term, and then decide on a method most appropriate for your topic. We will talk extensively about the methods section of your paper in class over the next few meetings.
The Task: Write a planning document that outlines the following:
1) Your research question: Write a paragraph describing your question and how you arrived at that question. Remember, your question may have changed since you first started your project. Use sources from your literature review to describe your niche.
2) The data you plan to collect to answer the question--ie, who you plan to study.
3) How you will go about doing that research. Be as specific as possible about the number of research subjects, how the research subjects will be chosen, and what you will do (interview, survey, observation, focus group, and so on). We will continue to work on this in class.
This blog posting is due before class on Tuesday, 3/19/2013. AND this is a mandatory blog posting, so regardless of how many postings you have done thus far, you will have to complete this one.
If you should have any questions, please send me an email.
Jake Rosenberg
ReplyDelete3/19/13
Longhany
Week 11 blog
After researching the field of fan identification in sports and self-image of sports spectators, I have come to the consensus that there is much to study. My inquiry based research question has morphed from a general question about the mental states of fans to a more specific question focused on a phenomena discovered by Cialdini in 1976. Therefore my new question is as follows, is there a difference in how fans BIRG in a face-to-face setting versus a written setting? I have come to arrive at this newly sculpted question by doing a lot of research and identifying some gaps in different research on the topic of BIRGing. Since Cialdini only researched BIRGing by having phone interviews and observational studies, I want to see if there is a correlation with BIRGing in a written fashion. Do people still use the pronoun “we” when referring to the team they support after a victory and the pronoun “they” after a loss when writing about the game? I have yet to come across research in the field that has answered this question. Overall, I think this question has great potential and with the studying of this question, a gap can be filled.
Because I plan to base my experiment of Cialdini’s experiment in 1976, I am going to try to make my study as similar as possible to his. I want to use college age participants in my research to be able to compare my results to his. These participants must be sports fans, they do not need to be fanatics but they do need to follow a team. I really want to survey as many people as possible, as my study is quantitative and not really qualitative, but I know that with the time I have I may have to sacrifice on the amount of participants I can have. I want my survey to be brief so I do not loose the interest of the subjects. My experiment is going to consist of a questionnaire filled with approximately 10 sports related questions about hopefully describing sporting events in order to get the participants to BIRG. These questions will be both multiple choice and explanation style. I feel with the employment of specific and thought out questions I can get usable results for my experiment. After I have gathered my results I plan to compare them to Cialdini’s results by counting the number of “we’s” and “theys” in both of the studies. If the survey is not working properly, I am going to study different sports team blogs to study BIRGing in a written fashion. Although I really want to use a survey, I still have aback up plan to use if the survey falls through.
In conclusion, since my inquiry based research question has become more specific, I plan on “twisting” Cialdini’s initial experiment on the topic of BIRGing in order to fill in one of the major gaps in the field of fan identification and fan self-image. By using a survey I plan to compare my results to Cialdini’s to ultimately prove whether there is a correlation between written BIRGing and verbal BIRGing.
Brittany Taylor Wentlandt
ReplyDeleteMarch 16, 2013
ENC 1102-0014
Revised Research Plan
Body image has been the focus of my research and planning from the start. I began with the question, “To what extent have young adult female body image ideals presented by American media changed over the course of the last century and why have these changes occurred?” It was brought to my attention that 100 years was a long time, “American media” is a broad term, and I really did not want to simply catalogue history for my research project. I wanted instead to focus on the woman herself and how she felt about body image. I also decided to narrow down “American Media” to what I believe to be the most influential attribute: the modeling and fashion industry. I ended up with this question: “How does the modeling industry affect young women and their ability to ‘own”, or love, understand, and accept, their bodies?” With this question, I’m presenting former research on the effects of poor body image, but I’m also looking at how women personally understand their bodies.
In my research paper, I’ll preface my personal research by explaining the findings of authors such as Phillippa C. Diedrichs and Christina Lee that discuss how smaller models promote a poorer body image, while larger models promote a more positive body image. I’m going to take this one step further in my own research by examining what elements of a models body contribute to certain feelings about their body type and the body type of the consumer.
I’ll conduct my research by creating an online survey, forwarding the link to all my female friends on Facebook over 18 and under 30, and asking them to do the same. I’m going to be asking questions about the participants themselves, as well as images of slim and plus-sized models I’m going to supply. I’ll be focusing on how women perceive specific aspects about the models body, the models’ overall attractiveness, and how the participants compare themselves to the models. I’ll also include questions to assess the participants’ levels of internalization, or to what degree the participants scrutinize themselves against the models due to the Social Comparison Theory. Internalization is a pivotal aspect of this research because the data I gather will not make sense if I do not separate women that can be affected by advertising from women that can’t.
If all goes well, I will have reviewed past research on the effects of fashion models on young female body image. I will have added a new layer to the discussion by stating how models affect a woman’s feelings and understanding of her own body. Ultimately, I hope to show that, slim or plus, models depict (at best) “ideal” standards of beauty that do not reflect the average woman. With this knowledge, I hope more women will feel more adept to “own” their bodies.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBrianne Addison
ReplyDelete3/19/13
Professor Longhany
Week 11 blog
From the start of this project, I have wanted to research something to do with exercise. After brainstorming with Professor Longhany, he helped me narrowed my topic even more to focusing on athletes and their mind set during competition. Being a student athlete on the women’s rowing team, I can really relate and be interested in this topic because mid set is half the battle in being successful in rowing. Many rowers and athletes experience a battle between themselves and their minds, so I would like to study this and see if a proper mind set can actually make a difference in performance or not. My research question is “How do athletes sustain a focused mind set throughout their performance and what factors contribute to this?”
Unlike most of the collected data from the research projects, I will be my own research subject. I will be analyzing and recording all my different thoughts when I am on an erg or in a boat with the rest of my teammates.
To go about doing my research, I will have a notebook to record my mental states as well as what I think about during my training sessions and during a racing event. I will record that for 1-2 weeks, and then the following week I will practice mental techniques as discussed in my different research papers and see if it has a positive or negative effect on my performance.
Kelly Brown
ReplyDelete18 March 2013
ENC 1102-0014
Research Plan
Throughout the semester my focus has been on horror films and different decades of horror films. I then narrowed my search to gender roles in horror films. After searching this topic I found that most literature written about this topic discusses slasher films and how different roles are played in these sorts of films. After narrowing my focus and collecting information on the subject I came up with the research question “How does gender play a role in slasher films?” To be more specific about the topic I will be discussing female victims and male killers. I found throughout a few of my articles the authors talk about the final girl. I would like to look more into this a find out what this final girl is really all about.
In my research paper I will discuss the findings of authors such as Carol J. Clover and Kelly Connelly, both who discuss the roles and outcomes of the final girl. I will take their findings into account and then perform my own study by examining the types of movies they discuss in their literature.
I will conduct my research by showing a select few of these movies, including Halloween and Scream, to a select few people, while providing them with a questionnaire with questions based on gender roles. Including what they think the female's role is and what they think the male's role is. And then going into more detailed questions. My goal is to have 4 research subjects, 2 female and 2 male, with different age groups. My main objective is to see how they view the gender roles in these movies and if what they say will be close to what I have found throughout my research.
Haley Wood
ReplyDelete3/18/2013
ENC 1102
Revised Research Plan
The research question at hand for me is how does social media impact the learning capabilities for college students. At the beginning of my research the question was more along the lines of does social media social media impact us as learners. As my research progressed, I realized that there was no one who denied that it impacts us but there was a debate among scholars about how and if it is smart to use it in the classroom.
I plan on studying a group of my peers (fellow college students) and ask them a series of questions relating to the topic at hand. Such questions will be something along the lines of “ approximately how many hours do you spend a day on social media?” or “have you ever used a social network for academic purposes i.e. finding a study buddy or belong to a study group?” I will record these answers and calculate percentages based on the data received. There will be about 6-10 college students interviewed and a possible 3 or 4 adults to compare between a time that is technologically savvy and one in which computers did not exist. It will be a series of yes or no questions and a couple of short answer.
The issue I want to research about is how the media portrays sharks. That is why my research question is: How does the media portray sharks and does it effect our viewpoint? At first I wanted to be able to research on why people see sharks so negatively, but that would have been too broad of a topic. That is why when researching I saw that media had a major impact on the way people portray things, which is why I chose to go this way.
ReplyDeleteThe data I plan to collect is to see if media does portray sharks in a negative way and if it effecting our views on them. I plan to study people and their viewpoints. All the research I have read about deals with studies performed on the content of newspapers and televisions, not the opinions people actually have.
I will go about doing my research using a survey. I am going to take a lot of time to decide on the questions of this survey, so it is not bias and I am able to get the most accurate opinions from it. I want to have 10-20 people take my survey as the research subjects, from different age groups. The different age groups will enable my research to more correct. This survey will enable me to find out the opinions people have on how sharks are portrayed in the media, and if it effects their viewpoints.
Katelyn Lechner
ReplyDelete3/18/13
ENC 1102
Revised Research Plan
1. Originally I wanted to do something with birth order of children and how that affected their personalities, but that has evolved to looking into different parenting styles and the effects, rather than just focusing on the children. This seemed like still too broad of a topic for me to cover in just one semester, so I narrowed it down. My research question has now become, "How has the women's movement impacted parenting styles?". More and more women are going to work outside of being a housewife, and men are being more frequently seen as the caretaker of the children, along with nanny's, changing the ways that the parents take care of their children.
2. I plan on doing extensive research about different parenting styles and how they have evolved over the years. I also will be doing research on the women's movement, the causes of it and how it continues to impact family life. My target audience is parents, specifically mothers, so that is who my writing will be aimed towards. I will discuss with them different aspects of my paper, taking their opinions into account and using their knowledge and personal experiences to enhance my writing.
3. Since this question deals directly with parents, that is who I will interview. I will conduct these interviews with three to five sets of parents, specifically the mother's, asking them in-depth questions relating to their parenting styles as well as their own parents style of guiding their children. I will also ask them if they have a job, their mother had a job, and if they believe the women's movement has had an effect on their parenting. I will choose the subjects based on their age, if they were born in America, and I will want some to have a job and some not to have a job, to see if their are any differences.
Being a health enthusiast and a believer in natural and organic products, I wanted to research food choice motives. Specifically I want to try and determine which food choice motive plays the most prominent role for college students. As we know, obesity rates have been on the rise most noticeably since the 1960s, and in order to better determine the cause of this ongoing pattern, we need to better understand the rationale behind our food decisions.
ReplyDeleteIn order to collect data for my study, I plan to interview at least 20 different individuals, divided evenly into male and females. The individual traits of the interviewees should range from active lifestyles to inactive lifestyles, and possibly even vegans to fast food junkies. In addition, there will be an effort to diversify the sample groups, in order to better correlate cultural customs with food choice motives. This variety should give a broader array of responses, rather than that of a narrower sample of people.
With the interviewees I plan to assess their personal choices through a modified version of the established Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ), in order to better identify a main factor amongst college aged individuals. This modified FCQ will attempt to adhere more towards a young adult mindset rather than the general population, it should address aesthetics values, mood, satisfaction, health, convenience, and tradition.
Kaitlyn Lopez
ReplyDelete3/18/13
ENC 1102
Week 11 blog
From the beginning I knew I wanted to blend both my love for music and psychology. I thought the best way to do this was to research music and its effects on an individual’s emotions and perceptions. After deciding this and researching this topic I had noticed that several different psychologists had already come to an agreement that music can induce certain emotions. I then decided to further specify my question. I ended with this: To what extent can music induce and/or change emotion and perception within an individual. I will be testing the extent to which music can heighten or lessen sadness, happiness, and suspense. I would like to see if there is a significant difference between emotions and which ones could be most manipulated.
I would like to have a sample of at least 15 to 20 subjects in order to get the best results. All of these subjects will consist of friends and family and friends of friends. I will start off by having every subject take an emotional stability to test to ensure that each subject has a normal emotional level, this will narrow the margin of error that might occur if for example one of my subjects had just broken up with a significant other and because of that are more inclined to respond more emotionally to stimuli. After having taken the test, I will split my subjects into three separate groups. Then each subject will watch a visual stimulus intending to evoke a happy emotion. One group of subjects will be given the visual stimulus with no audio. The second group will be given the same visual stimulus but with audio intended to heighten the intended emotion. And finally the third group will be given the same stimulus intended to lessen said emotion. I will repeat this experiment but testing for sadness and then suspense.
I plan to test the extent to which I can both heighten and lessen an individual’s response to neutral stimuli by simply adding music. I will test three separate emotions including sadness, happiness, and suspense. After I have recorded all the data I will see if any of the three emotions were significantly easier to manipulate than the others, or if all three of the emotions worked the same.
Natasha Minoso
ReplyDeleteWhen I began my research on pop music, I had originally thought that I was going to show correlation between an artist’s image and their popularity with the music they produce. After looking into many different articles, I noticed that this theme was already prominent to most authors. My research project will now focus on pop music and lyric quality, from the past up until the hits being played on the radio today. I am looking for the quality of lyrics and how they’ve gone from being considered poetry with subtle meaning to blunt and catchy phrases.
I plan to study anyone who listens to the radio (preferably stations that are known for playing pop music). I aim to understand why they listen to the music they prefer; what influences their musical taste, whether it’s location, their peers, availability on the radio, or mood. By supplying about fifteen different people with a survey, I will compare their results to see where the majority of people stand with their views on pop music and lyric quality.
I will have about fifteen subjects who will most likely be friends and neighbors to survey. These 15 subjects will be given a questionnaire/survey with about six questions pertaining to their musical preference; whether they consider lyrics to be important in a song and how often they listen to the radio. These questions will require either short answers or categorizing words from least important to most important. After recording the results from the 15 surveys, I will hopefully have a better insight as to why people listen to pop music and whether or not they believe lyrical quality is of importance in a song.
Kahfi Sims
ReplyDelete3/18/13
Longhany
ENC 1102
Initially, my research question revolved around the perception that Americans have on the American flag. After researching, nationalism and patriotism paralleled with the topic of the American flag. Therefore I decided to change my question to how nationalism/patriotism has changed over American history. At last, I came to my final question: What factors cause American nationalism? I came to this conclusion because I have learned that many factors, not just one item or event plays a role in how people react or reacted to events in our history.
Data for my research will come from various subjects of age, gender, and race. I want to have the subjects watch a video clip of former President George W. Bush’s State of the Union Address after the 9/11 incidents. I will conduct a poll asking how radical, from low to high, do the subjects think his message is. Also I will ask them to provide one word to describe his speech, words, and body language.
Francois J. Turner
ReplyDeleteWeek 11 Blog
3/18/13
Revised Research Plan
The Psyche’s Effect on Physical Performance: Specifically the utilization and efficacy of mental imagery or visualization as a performance enhancement.
Being heavily invested in fitness and ‘’bodybuilding’’, my interest and enthusiasm in the subject area brought me to an intriguing inquiry based research question that will not only aid me in my endeavor, but those looking to excel or better their physical performance in the gym, on the field or elsewhere as well. How can one’s psyche- mental state or mind (meaning thoughts and feelings) - affect his or her physical performance? If so, how effective is it towards physical performance and or fitness? How can we train ourselves into developing a positive state of mind to positively impact our outcomes? Simply put, the research is targeting the use of mental imagery and its supposed role in the improvement or enhancement of physical performance.
The methodology I will use to gather information and data to answer the questions I posed earlier as well as the claims I’ll make follows three various components: case study, focus group and interviews.
The case study is composed of four individuals, two female and two male who are currently participating in an ongoing fitness or workout plan. The age, ethnicity and fitness level of the individuals differ as to present a more inclusive research population; which is partly some the basis on which they were chosen. However, I made my selection of the participants based on how frequent I encounter them in the gym, seeing the intensity and dedication they have towards working out. This observation assured me they had a consistent workout plan (a major requirement for the study) and a solid mental attitude already intact. These participants will keep a journal log of their feelings, thoughts and the various approaches they take towards their mental preparation and state before, during and or after working out. This journal will be logged for an entire month to give me sufficient data to use in my analysis later on. Following the conclusion of the case study is a focus group with the same four individuals as participants and me as both mediator and participant as well. The purpose of the gathering is to discussion the patterns and revelations if any within the journals. Each participant will be given the chance to share any findings or insightfully discovery about themselves and or their mental attitude and state over the course of their workout. They will be identifying whether or not there is some usefulness to the journals beyond my need for data. The final component of my research method is an interview with five personal trainers, chosen on the basis of the credentials, education, specialization and philosophy. I was keen to include at least one trainer from each specialization, along with varying ethnicities, age ranges, educational level and differing training certifications. Again, these qualifications ensure an inclusive research population. This will provided me with an insight into what is the most commonly practiced strategy for training clients, seeing whether or not these fitness professionals consider themselves as ‘’mind-body guides’’; also identifying whether or not an emphasis is placed on the mental focus and attitude of their clients.
I’m positive I’ve chosen the most effective methodologies in order to get to my answers as well as the ‘’right’’ individuals who will consider this research as an opportunity to learn something new about themselves and to push beyond their limits with the conclusion of their participant, hoping to gain something that will better their training.
The question I will be researching is "What is the most effective way to introduce a second language." I wanted to do something related to bilingualism but a lot has already been done in the field. There are a lot of specific studies that only look at one aspect of teaching a second language for example what age is best and which language is he easiest. What my research focuses on is looking at all of these different things that have been shown to be beneficial and combine them and see what the entire ideal and most effective way to introduce this second language.
ReplyDeleteThe way i plan on gathering information is through various journals and books dealing with bilingualism. I also want to get personal testimonies of parents, and children who are bilingual. Not only will I be looking at bilingualism but also I will be looking at the cognition behind it and looking at which techniques can most increase the effectiveness and cognition.
What I will be doing to acquire this research is looking in depth at two different bilingual families who tried to teach their children a second language. I will have an interview with them and ask them all about the process of teaching their children a second language (how they did it, why they did it like that etc.). I will then administer different verbal and written tests to the children of these families to see how well in reality they have actually learned this second language. Based on the interview with the parents and how well the children/young adults score on these tests I will then compare it to my research and see if maybe they are not as successful in their second language acquisition because of the way they were taught.
Blake Anderson
ReplyDeleteProfessor Longhany
What are, and how influential are the motives behind choosing and changing a college major? I arrived at this general topic for two main reasons, the relevance to me, and the accessibility of research. Being a new college student, I myself wonder what I should choose to major in and focus on for the rest of my life and recently, I have thought much about this. Also, living at the second largest college campus in the United States, it is very easy to gather information and conduct research. This specific question arose after I read other articles on this topic. Most researchers focused strictly on one type of person and group; I wanted to focus on the general population and have an unbiased research group full of all ethnicities, genders, economic backgrounds, etc.
Do gather research and information I planned on conducting multiple surveys and interviews with the college population here at UCF, some graduated students, and individuals whom have never attended college. Also, if available and time permits, I would like to interview those incoming to college who have no yet chosen a major. Many of the articles I read consist of formulas and methods that can be beneficial to my study in organization and planning.
I plan to hand out a minimum of 20 surveys to close friends and possibly random strangers who are aware of the project. A few of these people will be subject to in depth interviews so I derive some other sort of psychological information about their thought process that I could not through a survey. The thought of using the class as a subject group has also recently crossed my mind. These surveys will be broken down into two parts, one describing the individual using aspects such as ethnicity, gender and age and the other part is a Lekert scale ranking 1-5 on how influential certain motives are. There will also be a portion for any other that the interviewee will be able to fulfill if any motive arise in their mind that was not covered by me.
Week 11 Blog
ReplyDeletePlan Outline
John Campbell
SAC’ed: A Study on Surface Air Consumption Rates
Research Question: Can one’s SAC Rate accurately predict the likelihood of contracting a diving related illness?
Originally, I planned to study the factors that affect one’s SAC Rate, which I still will to some extent, but due to certain constraints I had to change the focus of my paper slightly. Overall though, I chose to study these topics because I am an avid scuba diver and member of this community. Seeing that I am pursuing a career as a commercial diver, these questions have a direct impact on my future. Though extensive research has been done on dive-related illnesses, little work has been done on SAC Rates due to the number of factors that may affect it. My goal is to determine if there is a relationship between the factors that compose a SAC Rate and the probability of contracting certain dive related illnesses based on current standards.
Data Collection Plan: For my project, I will be conducting an online survey asking basic information about a diver’s habits.
Since divers log the details of every dive they complete, there are many quantitative numbers I can use without bias. In addition, I will also be asking basic questions asking participants to describe their height, weight and time it takes them to complete a mile run. Should I receive enough participants, I plan to fit the data into correlations to determine SAC Rates. I will then compare my data to data used in research I obtain from other sources.
Research Details: I will post an online survey using surveymonkey.com on Scubaboard.com, the largest scuba forum in the world.
This survey will use a voluntary response system after reading the posting describing my study and its intentions. It asks over 25 questions including recent dive information, dive habits and basic physical description questions. From these questions, I can determine SAC Rates as well as other significant quantitative data. I hope to receive participation from as many individuals as possible to determine if there are correlations between factors, but if there are not enough participants to make a strong relation between certain factors, then they will not be evaluated.
Planning Document:
ReplyDeleteResearch Question: My research question is” How does gender role identification affect communication?”
My research question has always focused on communication and aspect which are affected by gender role identification. I am very interested in how gender role play out in relationships. This question does not only focus on heterosexual relationship but for those that are homosexual as well. Communication is very important aspect of our lives. Its intricacies have been studies for many years. The literature I review in the beginning of my research was mostly about communication and its foundation in our daily lives. Then I expanded my research to how gender roles are affected by communication in the absences of any relationships. This helps me see communication style of individual. Looking at communication within genders help ascertain the differences among gender. Lastly I research communication within couple to help really inquire about my research question.
My course of action as far as data collections is interview and observation. I plan on talking to two gay couples, two lesbian couples, and two straight couples. Research subject will be chosen from those who have the availability to participate in the study and meet the following requirements. Couples need to have been together for more than a year. Individual must have known and accepted their sexual orientation for more than a year as well. Everyone must agree to take this study seriously and accept and understand that there will be no compensation expect for my gratitude. Each couple will be given a consent form and a set of questionnaire to answer. The consent form will state that they agree to be recorded in both audio and video. They also understand that no one else beside myself will see these taping and audio and the only evidence of that will be left of the session is an anonymous transcript, everything else will be destroyed after the study. They are also told all information is confidential on both the questionnaire and the recorded session. They are made to understand that I have no license or degree in any psychological study and that this is just a research to help me inquire further in my studies. The questionnaire will have cover background information will help rule out other factor that may affect communication. I understand this method is constrained by the number of subject but it does require such a small amount because I do need to focus on more than just verbal communication. The couple will have both verbal and nonverbal communication observed.
I will use all the data I collect to identify the difference base on the literary research i have gather. I hope to add to the discourse community for which I am participating in. If that doesn’t happen I hope to at least learn difference in communication base on gender role identification that can help improve relationships. This will help me aid my friend and family that are struggling to communicate with their loved ones whether they are in a homo or hetero-sexual relationship.
My research paper is based upon the following questions: How does eating affect a person’s mood? Can chocolate or a set diet be used to replace antidepressants?
ReplyDeleteThere are thousands of people who depend on antidepressants because they face disorders such as depression or anxiety. Antidepressants are used to correct chemical imbalances of neurotransmitters in the brain. There are numerous food products that affect the production levels of neurotransmitters and serotonin; these chemicals affect ones mood and behavior. If this is true, then can depression and anxiety disorders be cured depending on the way one eats and what their diet is?
I choose this research topic because I thrive to better my personal well being, physically and mentally. By learning about what foods can enhance my mood and behavior I am increasing my happiness and state of mind. I can learn a diet that will decrease my anxiety and keep my more calm and relaxed. If I plan a correct portion amount I can also keep a balanced nutrition that won’t cause any weight gain.
Aside from comparing the research done by experts in this area, I plan on conducting my own experiment. The entire experiment will be done in a six-day period and consist of four people, two boys and two girls, all college students, all have a meal plan, and all live in a dorm at UCF. The first three days each person will have the options to eat any foods they desire. Each meal will be recorded, along with the portion amount. Throughout the day they will record, their mood and behavior, energy level, irritability, and productivity. For the next three days, each person will eat a particular diet, containing foods that increase the production of neurotransmitters in the brain and the production of serotonin. They will again record the same information as the first trial. At the end, I will interview each participant separately and ask them how their diet affected each question they answered.
Ginni Correa
ReplyDeleteENC 1102
As I began to brainstorm a topic to do my research project on I realized I wanted to connect it to my major in college. I am studying psychology and through the videos Professor Longhany showed in class I realized most subjects are correlated to psychology. One day while browsing the internet I read that animals an exercise are the two most helpful things that help with depression. I'm not a huge fan of exercise but I love animals so I decided I would research how animals are able to help those who are ill. Since there are a lot of animals and a lot of illnesses I had to narrow my question down a bit. I chose dogs because they're my favorite animal and the ones most commonly used for animal-assisted therapy. I chose depression because it is something I deal with in my life. "How can dogs help patients with depression?" is the question I chose for my research project.
Animal-assisted therapy is something which began in the 1970's and plenty has been written about it so far. For this research project I plan to do a lot of reading. At the UCF library I found 3 books: Animals in Our Lives, Animal-Assisted Therapy and, Between Pets and People. I plan on reading sections of each book as well as a few online articles which I gathered through the UCF database. Aside from reading I have already spoken with a few women who specialize in dog-therapy and bring their dogs to campus for students. In the near future I will be arranging interviews with these women as well as the counseling center on campus and possibly a few animal shelters.
For my research I have already collected a couple business cards and will email animal assisted therapy specialists as well as psychologists. I want to interview these people on their personal experiences, what it takes to train a dog, and several other questions and writing down what they tell me so I can incorporate it into my paper. I also plan on finding a couple animal shelters in Orlando and finding out the adoption process and information about the animals in the shelter. By visiting an animal shelter and adding that to my research project I hope to encourage my audience to go out and adopt a furry friend.
Nick Borimonoff
ReplyDeleteWeek 11
I always wanted to do my research with a topic related to film or the film industry. When I began thinking of possible research questions, my first decision for my research questions was “What makes a scene great?” or “How has the film industry evolved?” As I continued researching my topic, I decided to make my research topic “Why are people making films today? How has filmmaking evolved in just the past few decades?”
I plan on studying filmmakers and aspiring filmmakers, but also moviegoers as well. When studying filmmakers, I want to find out what they want to convey with their films and why they were interested in making them to begin with. As for moviegoers, I want to see what they are interested in seeing certain films.
My research will consist of about 25 participants, some filmmakers and some moviegoers. I will give filmmakers and moviegoers two separate surveys. The filmmakers will be asked questions about themselves and what they want to make as a filmmaker. They will also be asked to rate some movies, ranging from small budget independents to big summer blockbusters. The moviegoer participants will also be asked to rate films. The moviegoers will have a gap in age to see how has a moviegoer’s interest in films changed.
Matt Barnes
ReplyDeleteENC 1102
Longhany
As I began to research things to do I decided to focus on the National Football league because I am a diehard fan of the sport. After some consideration I decided to focus more on the concussion issues facing the league because these issues could end up leading to the dismantling of the league. However I could not focus on the science, because I’m not a doctor so instead I decided to focus more on the legal aspects of the issue. For my research question I have decided to choose “Has the NFL’s concussion litigation and tort lawsuits affected the entertainment value the game holds for its fans.”
For my research I intend to create a questionnaire which I will have football fans fill out which will have questions on it that will focus around the now illegal hits in the game and whether or not even though these hits are illegal when a person sees them are they still an enjoyable and an entertaining part of the game or do the fans of football actually not enjoy watching the “Big Hits” that they once loved so much in previous generations, to more accurately find an answer participants will be of all ages ranging from 18 to 75 because of the variation in the age of football fans.
Alexis Dickison
ReplyDeleteLonghany
03/19/2013
1. My question has not changed since I originally came up with it. My question is,” How does being biracial affect identity?” The reason I have not changed my question is because I feel as though my question is broad. I like that I will be able to attack many different aspects of this question without getting away from the topic at hand. I arrived at this question because I know how I identify with being biracial and I know the process that I went through. Now I feel as though it’s time for me to step outside of the box and see how others identify with being biracial.
2. The data I plan to collect will be detailed description of how people identify with whatever race they identify with.
3. I will be conducting more interviews. So far, I have conducted 4 of interview and now I am waiting to hear back from a few subjects to see when they are available to be interviewed.
Catherine Rucker
ReplyDeleteLonghany
03/19/2013
-My research began as an analysis of a classic piece of literature and has not changed much since I’ve continued gathering information to support my evidence. My research question now consists of exploring the issue of the affinity formed between the main characters Heathcliff and Catherine and to determine, through an analysis of Heathcliff, this close bond formed through childhood experiences. I also wish to determine whether or not I can somehow tie in some psychological aspects and diagnose Heathcliff to try and bring about an explanation of his behavior all the while focusing mainly on the literature itself. Before I had only thought to speak about the main characters, the romance between them and describe their interactions and the negative effects caused by their decisions, but I didn’t really have a way to explain, or start to explain how or why this could be relevant. Well that’s when I decided to briefly bring psychoanalysis into the question. I’ve found that most behaviors can be explained and diagnosed through psychoanalytical methods, so why not take one of my favorite literary characters and try to examine him through these methods as well?
-There aren’t many sources to turn to with my subject. So I ultimately have to rely on critiques of the novel, and of whatever academic literary journals I can find on the topic. Wuthering Heights, although a classic, is not read very often because it’s a difficult read. But those who’ve taken the time to research it, I’ll make sure to consider using for my own research. So far I’ve found authors like Eric P. Levy who goes into the psychology of loneliness of the novel and delves very deeply into Heathcliff, which is what I wish to do as well. Then there is Irving H. Buchen who discusses the fundamental nature of love and its connection to childhood experiences.
-My research doesn’t really require any outside research subjects. Other than possibly interviewing those who have thoroughly studied the literature and who are active in the field of psychology, there isn’t much active research to acquire. My best bet in order to fulfill what I wish to complete, I have to be able to not rely so heavily on others understanding of the text and form my own opinions for my research.