Research Question: Answered?

Tags

advocacy, ashleygraham, beauty, bodydiversity, bullying, communication, constructive, culture, everyoneisflawless, femalebodyimage, ideal body, media, mixed methods

Throughout this project, I was always learning something new and things continuously are happening today. My research question at the beginning of this assignment was and still is: How does social media affect the way we see the “ideal” female body image? Is there still a conceptual ideology of the female body image or is it slowly fading? Well, according to Ashley Graham, I’d like to think that society is changing for the better and becoming, not only more body positive, but more able to express body diversity. So let’s get to know more about Ashley Graham and how she plays a role in all of the social issues happening now related to the topic of the “ideal” female body image.

Early Life & Career Start

She was born in 1987 in Lincoln, Nebraska. She was discovered in a mall and started modelling at the age of 12.  Doing everything from editorial and catalog articles to ripping the runway to being featured in commercials and TV shows/movies, she is well-known for her work as a lingerie model for the plus-size clothing retailer Lane Bryant.

Banned by ABC

In 2010, she starred in a Lane Bryant commercial that was banned from television and received over 800,000 views on YouTube. According to an interview with CBS on the early show, Ashley Graham stated that she had no idea if Lane Bryant used her to get publicity and create controversy within the industry but was “honored to apart of the commercial to represent women of my size and that we can be confident and sexy in our lingerie and to have it on television.” ABC banned this commercial from the air with no real justification except to say that the commercial aired during family hour around 8pm (the same time as American Idol was showing) and that it was inappropriate. During the exclusive interview, Ashley Graham brings up the point that Victoria Secret commercials are aired throughout the day and have never been banned or caused this much controversy, which I can even vouch for and say is true because in 2010 I was in high school and I remember Victoria Secret commercials airing at any time of the day, mostly in the afternoons and evenings. I weighed 118 in high school and was called “skinny” and bullied for being that way. I’ve also seen heavier set girls in my age group being called “fat” and bullied as well. No one can really help their size especially as a teenager. I think every woman, plus size or not, should be treated equally and get the respect they deserve as human beings. Ashley Graham was also featured on two gigantic billboards of that same brand on Time Square and 34th street in New York City in December of 2012, which received more positive feedback.

Over-Sexualized

Now in 2015, Ashley Graham talks about the over sexualization of the curvy female body image. She spoke to Details magazine about the way girls with bodies like hers are typecast and pigeonholed into ‘sexy’ roles, which limits the path for a curvy model or actress who wants to find success. “If you get an even curvier body, like mine, we’re automatically sexualized. I was cast in a role in a movie, I know without a shadow of a doubt that I would be the sexy girl, I would have a sex scene, and I would probably have to show a little nipple. That would just be the case, because of the way my body is.”

Staying Positive with TedX: Berklee Valencia

Having been a victim of bullying herself, Ashley Graham became the founding member of ALDA, a new coalition of models to promote beauty and a healthy body image of the female body beyond boundaries and limitations of size.

She takes the stage to deliver an inspiring TEDTalk on body confidence, the power of self-acceptance and why she rejects the term “plus size”. The talk started with her standing in front of a mirror and complimenting her own appearance. She describes her life growing up in Nebraska, where she was known as “the fat model – the girl who was pretty for a ‘big girl’”. People would raise their eyebrows when she told them she was a model and her confidence was knocked. In the US, the term “plus size” relates to any model between a US size 8-16, the equivalent of 12-20 in UK, which includes a lot of women. As a result, she says, “the fashion industry might persist to label me as ‘plus size’, but I like to think of it as ‘my size’.”

Your Thoughts?

Share your thoughts by commenting below.

What do you think about the “ideal” female body image? Does it exist? What do you think is the cause of it? What are some of the effects of this link between media and body image (both positive and negative effects)? What can be done to increase media literacy in developing young women?

Research Design & Impact

Tags

advocacy, beauty, body positive, bodydiversity, constructivism, effyourbeautystandards, femalebodyimage, mixedmethods, socialmedia

Transformative Design & Impact of study

There are women who have low self-esteem, anorexia, bulimia, and cause their own deaths as a result of social medias’ influence on the “ideal” female body image. Social media is something we use every day and becoming harder to avoid as everyone, including companies, are using it to stay connected with others. This kind of routine has made societies all over the world more attached to their phones, in order to check Facebook, Instagram, and twitter. With this is mind, it has become a superficial platform of selfies and random videos. For the women it can become a threat to their womanhood. They are insulted by groups of people and singled out for their individual physical appearances. This study will show the true impact that social media has on how women are subjected as objects and not human beings.

What is “Fat Shaming?”

According to Urban Dictionary, fat shaming is “a term made by obese people to avoid the responsibility to actually take proper care of their body and instead victimize themselves by pretending they’re discriminated against.” There could not be a more wrong definition for a word. Fat shaming is a term used to categorize the heinous acts behind those who bully or criticize any gender of people for being plus size, obese, or “fat.” These are acts of the community from virtual to in person.

#DearFatPeople

In September of 2015, a slender Caucasian woman named Nicole Arbour boldly, carelessly, and shamelessly posted a 6-minute video on YouTube, as well as, her personal Facebook page about her attitudes towards “fat” people, the new body positivity movement, and how she thinks fat shaming is not a thing. Ironically enough she spent the entirety of that 6-minute video doing nothing but fat shaming. She takes credit for speaking as the public and saying in her video caption, “What we’ve all wanted to say to FAT PEOPLE.” However, the comments she received on social media in reply to this controversial and hurtful video are against her argument and steer towards a more body neutral or body positivity side of the issue

What is “Thin” Shaming?

Well when you look it up on the internet, you get tons of hits for content based on research, opinions, social media, blog post, and otherwise. I found an interesting digital article on the Huffington Post website where a journalist from Ebony writes about the controversy of “Dear Fat People” and things that we should pay attention to as people in this society when it comes to body shaming overall. She even makes the note that we should not criticize anyone because even being skinny does not equal being healthy: “I have skinny friends that look healthy by appearances, but are not. You cannot tell if someone is healthy purely by the size of his or her body. I have skinny friends with diabetes, high blood pressure and who cannot walk a flight of stairs without falling out.”

Meghan Trainor: All about that Bass

While being a plus size woman who sings well and portrays a very girly image in the videos, Meghan Trainor sends the general message to young girls that they should be themselves and love who they are with the lyric, If you got beauty, beauty, just raise ’em up ‘Cause every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top. I would definitely say this is a wonderful message to vocalize in a song that hit the Billboard’s Hot 100 list for eight weeks. (check out the video here).

However, when Meghan Trainor continues the song with, I’m bringing booty back. Go ‘head and tell them skinny bitches that. No, I’m just playing… a new problem is created as the hashtag #tellthemskinnybitchesthat began to rise in usage causing unwarranted media attention.

What Meghan fails to realize in these lyrics, both at the time she released this song and after it is in the media, is that eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, “the body type portrayed in advertising as the ideal is possessed naturally by only 5% of American females.” Therefore, whether the woman is plus size or slim, 95% of woman are not even how they look due to Photoshop, airbrushing, and other editing alternatives. People have started using the hashtag #tellthemskinnybitchesthat and making t-shirts with the above lyrics, which was used 25,384 times on Instagram and almost twice as many on Twitter.

Recently, various health magazines and celebrity news sites have written articles about Meghan Trainor losing weight since her career jump started in 2014. Originally, Trainor weighed 175 lbs and was a size 12. According to healthyceleb and Inquisitr, in July 2015, Trainor weighed 149 lbs, which equals to a size 8. So much for being all about that bass.

What is “Body Shaming?”

Body shaming is a term used to describe shameful actions towards any body type. As a part of more neutral standpoints on the issue of “ideal” female body images there are more and more people discussing the differences between “fat” shaming and “thin” shaming by using the unbiased and all-inclusive term, “body shaming.” Body shaming affects everyone and can be tied to almost any aspect of our appearances — from weight to hair color to the size of your nose. If someone has reviewed your body for how it looks at any point in your life, then you are a victim of body shaming. This type of bullying is arguably harmful because it perpetuates the notion that somebody’s self-worth is subject to his or her appearance, a superficial implication that should not but does somehow exist.  That is why the body positivity movement has come to the forefront so powerfully.

#effyourbeautystandards, 2012-15

Tess Holliday put together a self-acceptance social media campaign, using the hashtag #effyourbeautystandards, as a way to get back at those who bullied her struggle with childhood obesity, an effect of using food as a coping mechanism when her mother passed away. This campaign originally started and still runs proudly today on Instagram with 2,454 posts, 196k followers, and 7,498 following. The effyourbeautystandards has grown to Facebook and Tumblr.

*So based on this research design and the impact I would like this study to make on the issues of body diversity, body positivity, and body shaming HERE is my draft survey created using Google Form.

Research Procedures & Methods

Tags

beauty, bodydiversity, constructive, mixedmethods, researchdesigns, researchmethods, surveys, transformative

So as I previously talked about in one of my last few blogs, there are four philosophical worldviews that influence the practice of research and need to be identified: post positivism, advocacy/participatory or transformative, constructive, and pragmatism. These worldviews can be influenced by education, religion, home life, and media. I am a constructive transformative, click here to read that blog post.

As you continue to read you will find my research design, role as a researcher, and methods for data collection, recording, and analysis along with the proposed structure and some ethical considerations.

Design

The data collection procedure for my proposal is under a mixed methods approach and I’m going to be using a survey that will get both qualitative and quantitative results. I want to do the survey on anywhere from 50-250 participants in a secure office site that involves the survey, follow up interviews with audio materials, and a social media check to see what people think about body shaming on social media and how they understand or interpret it.

My role

The researcher’s role is to make statements that help the reader understand the connection between the researcher and the study, be honest about bias, and indicate steps taken to protect the rights of participants. Ethical practices as a part of the researcher’s role are to discuss steps taken to gain entry to the setting and to secure permissions to study the participants or situation, as well as, addressing any sensitive content that may arise before collecting data.

Data collection

This part of the proposal study is where we, as researchers, must identify some key elements of how we will collect data. This includes but is not limited to:

• identifying purposeful sites and individuals
• identifying the number of sites and participants that will be involved
• identifying and stating the type of data collection (observation, interviews, documents, audio and visual materials, ones that go beyond these conventional methods, etc.)

Data recording procedures

This is the stage of the proposal where planning happens. You must plan to develop and use a protocol for the recording the observations, interviews, as well as, putting together a log of records like heading, instructions, questions, follow up questions, thank you statements, and other. The data recording procedures for my proposal will be to record audio interviews using a secure device where participant’s identities are private, and having surveys formatted by section headers to match the questions and a thank you statement at the end of it all.

Data analysis procedures

In order to write up findings a researcher must preserve all data and reconstruct or replace any missing data. Interpretation is the final step in the process. For my proposal I will write my findings in a way that relate to how different genders and age groups survey results relate to the “ideals” of female body image in social media from 2005 until now and relate the analysis of results to different artifacts or situations in society.

Validation of findings

The researcher checks for the accuracy of the findings by employing certain procedures and indicates that their approach is consistent across different researchers and different projects. There are plenty of validity strategies such as triangulation, bias, debriefing, and having an external auditor, as well as, there are various reliability procedures such as checking transcripts, checking for consistency within definition of codes, and even having an intercoder agreement.

Proposed structure

Important sections in a qualitative design include identifying the specific design that you will be using and provide references to the literature that discusses the approach (Procedures & References), providing some background information about the design (Background), discussing why it is an appropriate strategy to use in the proposal study (Purpose of Design), and identifying how the use of the design will shape many aspects of the design process (Explanations of Design).

Ethical considerations

In order to establish validity and reliability I will create a procedure for reporting accuracy of findings, as well as, keeping raw data to refer back to in case of confusion or need for exact quotes. I will also report any bias or personal opinions I have about the topic as I go through the different sections of the proposal. I will double check for consistency in my analysis and report of results.

Reflection on Research Design & Methods (part 2)

Tags

bodydiversity, femalebodyimage, ideal body, mixedmethods, qualitative, reflection, research, researchdesign, researchmethod, surveys

Throughout this multimodal blog assignment I wanted to talk address the controversial topic of the “ideal” female body image through the lenses of a constructive worldview for my final research proposal study.

The research problem of my study has changed over the course of this project as I’ve gathered information from academic, social, and cultural articles on the trending topics and opinions that arise when people in modern society discuss female body image. Currently, I have developed this research question: how does body shaming affect the way women are perceived? And what is the current “ideal” female body image that causes this body shaming yet at the same time promotes body positivity?

I looked at various examples and studies about body shaming related to being fat such as Project Harpoon on Facebook and against being slim like the lyrics from songs by Meghan Trainor & Nicki Minaj. Also, the other spectrum of things body positivity through social media campaigns like #effyourbeautystandards, #catwalk contender, etc.

My research problem for my study is that even though I don’t believe that there is an “ideal” female body image right now that opinions may vary especially when it comes to open forums like social media where people share their negative opinions about others. This leads to many women being the victims of body shaming from their “friends” on Facebook. It also leads to suicides, anorexia, bulimia, and overeating.

My research study is going to be mixed methods because it is a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods used to generate results and apply a new theory to the “ideal” female body image. This is shown in my blog post about surveying and the importance of ethics behind data analysis, collection, and interpretation.

When I first started my research for each blog post I found myself referring to the textbook, as well as, PowerPoint slides provided by the professor. I really enjoyed going through the points of struggling with understanding values and importance behind every single thing we do because I feel like I learned in this way and actually applied knowledge to the potential of a real life situation in what it takes to do a research study and how to write a proposal.

It’s been an awesome semester and I feel like I’ve excelled academically as a scholar of social media, communication, and research. I can’t wait to see what next semester has to bring.

Have a great end to your year and Happy Holidays on an early note!!

Thanks again for reading! 🙂

Reflection on the “Ideal” Image

Tags

beauty, communication, ideal body, perfection, reflection, research

Throughout this multimodal blog assignment I wanted to talk address the controversial topic of the “ideal” female body image. We all have different perceptions of what beautiful is whether it be of our own thought or influenced by media. So I wanted to talk about my world view as it relates to the way I conduct my research, the history of changing “ideal” female body images, and the effects social media has on the way people who don’t fit into Western societal standards of “ideal” are treated.

When I first started my research for each blog post I found myself trying to remain unbiased and just gather the information necessary to make a point that “ideal” doesn’t really exist because we all have our own opinions that vary.

I experienced slight frustrations reading through the life of Tess Holliday and learning about what she has went through as a plus size woman between the loss of her mother, the excessive eating, and the bullying. I, as a woman, immediately empathized with her situation and felt that nobody should have to feel the way she does. Not so much because big is beautiful but simply as I stated, because we all have different perceptions of beauty. The important thing that I wanted to stress is that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Don’t forget to share your thoughts. I’ll be back with another hot topic in a few weeks.

Thanks again for reading! 🙂

Social Media & Body Positivity

Tags

beauty, big is beautiful, body positive, bullying, effyourbeautystandards, everyoneisflawless, fat, plus size and proud, plus size wars, project harpoon, self love, size22, social media, tess holliday, the guardian, us magazine

Over time the media has brainwashed women into believing that if they are not fair skinned (white), thin, and tall that they are not beautiful. I’d like to stand up and say that I am not one of those women. I am Puerto Rican, African-American, and Trinidadian with a caramel complexion, dark brown eyes, dark brown reddish hair, and I’m only 5’4″. I know that I have a beautiful face and body. I have a strong sense of self love and body positivity, which is a new term that radically redefines and reclaims the body. It arose in response to Western culture recognizing only white, able-bodied, heterosexual, and thin bodies as worthy and beautiful. We are all valuable. We are all beautiful. We need to believe, know, and accept that. Now is the time more than ever before to be diverse and stand out.

For those of you who don’t know Tess Holliday: she is the first size 22 model who signed with the modeling agency MiLK Management in January. She was a part of an international advertising campaign for plus-sized clothing retailer, Torrid. She did a self-acceptance social media campaign titled “#effyourbeautystandards” as a way to get back at those who bullied her struggle with childhood obesity, an effect of using food as a coping mechanism when her mother passed away. I like using Tess Holliday as an example for body positivity because even though there are obvious weak points in her life she still finds a way to come back strong and be confident in herself. She even makes the effort to be a role model for other women and young girls to promote body positivity.

In June, she interviewed with The Guardian about how she will never be hurt by the word “fat” and so she is instead choosing to embrace it. She even had something to say to the body shamers of the world, “I’ve been called fat my whole life. I am fat, so it’s kind of silly to get mad about it.” A sentiment that is hoped to encourage those who are plus sized to join the body positive community and accept who they are as natural beings.

She later addresses her choice not to diet in an interview with US Magazine by saying, “If I shot all day (referring to a photo shoot) and I want a f–king hot chocolate and a chocolate croissant, I’m going to eat it. Am I going to eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner? No. Is it okay to do it? If you want.” This woman has not only a plus size body but a plus size personality. She accepts the truth and paves a path to those who don’t, but should, to be themselves in their own skin.

At the end of August, a Facebook page (Project Harpoon) was shut down for posting photos of plus-size models alongside Photoshopped images of them being depicted as thinner and using the hashtags #SkinnyAcceptance and #thINNERBEAUTY. The idea began on 4chan, whose users have a history of trolling and performing stunts meant to enrage those involved. The page’s administrator tries to justify their actions with patronizing language saying they meant to ‘help’ inspire the overweight women to lose weight by seeing how they looked thinner. Mind you, they did not have permission to digitally alter photos of well-known models, including Tess Holliday. [View the images below]

She had this to say on the UK Show, ‘Plus Size Wars’ around the same time as the incident, “Yes I know I’m fat and I’m very vocal about that. For some reason the internet gets angry when they see a fat girl in a bathing suit or lingerie. They just can’t help it. If I see someone being mean to me online, I just ignore it because you can’t fight stupid.”

Social media has a major effect on how people live their lives and react to things on a daily basis from talking to friends and family, networking with corporations and companies, all the way down to ruining someone’s day with words of hurt and negativity. Social media bullying… Matter of fact… BULLYING IN GENERAL needs to come to a stop. Why do people feel that the only way to make themselves feel better about their own psychological problems is to force that anger and aggression on others? Well, I’m not a psychologist for a reason. I believe the whole mechanism is unnecessary. If everyone just accepted themselves and the lives that they have been given whether they have to work hard or are born with certain privilege, I think the world would be a better place. People would be happier and sane. But’s that’s just my opinion.

Feel free to share your thoughts (only positive please) on this whole situation and share with your friends to see what they think as well.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Talk to you next time.

______________________________________________________________________

Sources:

“Body positivity.” The Ellipses Project . 101 resources, n.d. ellipsesproject.org. Web. 11 Sept 2015.

Lee, Esther. “Tess Holliday, Size 22 Model, Responds to Body Shamers: “I Am Fat, So It’s Kind of Silly to Get Mad About It” US Magazine. Celebrity Body: News, 8 June 2015. Web. 11 September 2015.

n.p. “Tess Holliday: ‘Never seen a fat girl in her underwear before?'” The Guardian. Fashion: Models, n.d. Web. 11 September 2015.

Stern, Carly. “Images of plus-size models and celebrities like Melissa McCarthy edited on ‘horrific’ Facebook page to look thinner – as creators claim they ‘help misguided women'” Daily Mail. Daily Mail, 19 August 2015. Web. 11 September 2015.

Olya, Gabrielle and Michelle Tauber. “Plus Size and Proud (cover story)” People 1 Jun. 2015, Vol. 83 Issue 22, p70-74. Kennesaw State University Library System. Web. 11 Sept. 2015.

The “Ideal” Female Body Image

Tags

beauty, body positivity, communication, culture, engl2030, ideal body, media, opinions, perfection, society

Today’s research question is, “What is the ‘ideal’ female body image?” In order to answer that question fully we must first understand the background behind the standards of “ideal” female body image.

Throughout history women have been a subject of interest when it comes to perceptions of “ideal” body image; from wearing corsets for a small waist to being told that smaller breast or broader shoulders are more attractive to being expected to maintain a skinny or toned body and having a tall figure in order to be accepted as a model.

Let’s take a look at the video below created by BuzzFeed, which features historical global perspectives of “ideal” female body types over the course of 3,000 years, determined by societal standards of beauty, starting in Egypt.

Women’s Ideal Body Types Throughout History, BuzzFeedVideo, 2015

BuzzFeed does a great job of showing the evolution of “ideal” body images, all beautiful but changing overtime. Why were these the standards though? Let’s examine closer.

Egyptians valued freedom where woman were able to have their own property, inherited titles of authority, and could even divorce their husbands. Women had long braided hair that framed their faces into a symmetrical form. They also had fit trim bodies with high waist and small shoulders which you can always notice in their clothing. High waist bottoms and dresses have a rhetorical power dynamic that makes the wearer appear more regal, dynamic, and tall to show authority (the reason why women were presented as such in Egypt).

Ancient Greece ironically enough was focused more on the “ideal” male image as we can gather from the fact that even Aristotle referred to women as “deformed males.” So with those kind of high standards on men, woman were body shamed for not looking like men. It’s said that the first nude female sculpture to be appreciatively displayed had a plump, full figured body.

During the Han Dynasty, Geisha girls were in high demand. Young girls would be chosen for their beauty and “sell their smiles” of perfect white teeth and red lips when really they were selling their bodies. The “ideal” body image that seemed to be the most desirable during this time was a slim bodied woman with pale skin, dark long hair, and small feet (something that be a symbol of Chinese beauty for many more centuries).

The Italian Renaissance a woman’s value was determined by her behavior and looks which were both a reflection of her male counterparts status (could be her God, father, or husband). Beauty was illustrated in artwork created by Botticelli, Michelangelo, and Raphael where women had full hips, large breasts, strawberry blonde hair, pale skin, and high foreheads.

In the Victorian Era, Queen Victoria herself set the standards of beauty as the most influential young queen of her time who was a mother, wife, and political figure. Corsets were the standard as small waist were desired by every woman and the size of the corset was based on the woman’s personal physique. A sign of femininity was long hair as men cut their hair shorter during this time period.

Fast forward to the early 20th century. The roaring ’20’s to be exact. This is the decade when short petite women with short hair and curveless bodies were most desired. Sounds like the description of a young boy… Well according to the BuzzFeed video women during this time wanted an androgynous look. Not really sure why but this is what the flappers perspective of beauty was and they shimmied around proudly as such.

The Golden Age of Hollywood isn’t actually fully represented thoroughly in the video above. In the 1930’s curves are slowly making a comeback as the original blonde bombshell, Jean Harlow is a 34B bust size. Then in the 1940’s tall but curvy from all angle women like Katharine Hepburn are found to be the most delightful. Last during this period is the 1950’s, better known as the “Va-Voom!” decade, where we find women, like Marilyn Monroe, of the hourglass shape are absolutely stunning.

The 1960’s & 1970’s undoubtedly inspired a thin body type from curvy to tall woman thanks to famous London model, Twiggy and disco. In the 1980’s we find eating disorders. This decade referred to as the Supermodel Era by BuzzFeed. Tall, slim bodies are popular. Exercise is emphasized more nationwide where we see a growing number of women with anorexia and Botox procedures, who feel that will be the only way to be loved and accepted by others.

The 1990’s ironically named the Heroin Chic era saw a rise in Heroin use causing women in society to be advertised and perceived as thin, withdrawn, and pale. On the other side of this decade there were woman who wanted to be more curvy as Sir-Mix-a-Lot debuted “Baby Got Back” saying that “I’m tired of magazines sayin’ flat butts are the thing” and giving off the message that big butts are natural and display physical fitness with the lyrics, “Shake that healthy butt.” But he also doesn’t want a women with a surgically implanted big butt because “silicon parts are made for toys.” I would definitely suggest clicking the link and listening to the lyrics of his song. This gives us an idea of woman’s beauty in the 1990’s from an African-American male perspective.

From year 2000-present day we find that there are so many perceptions of the expectations for women’s beauty. This has largely to do with the number of immigrants and mixed (biracial/multiracial) people in America causing a melting pot of diversity for beauty. Women of all shades of color are accepted and everyone has become so individualistic in this society that it doesn’t matter what the media says. What matters is that people of all ethnic backgrounds can love what they love about a woman’s beauty and accept one another for who they are on the outside and inside.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Sources:

Cookies OnDope “Sir Mix-a-Lot – Baby Got Back (Official Video)” Online video clip. YouTube, 16 Nov. 2012. Web. 11 Sept. 2015.

BuzzFeed Video “Women’s Ideal Body Types Throughout History” Online video clip. YouTube, 26 Jan. 2015. Web. 11 Sept. 2015.

“Women’s Ideal Body Types Throughout History” BuzzFeed. BuzzFeed, 27 January 2015. Web. 11 September 2015.

“See How Much the “Perfect” Female Body Has Changed in 100 Years (It’s Crazy!)” Greatist. Maria Hart, 15 January 2015. Web. 11 September 2015.

“Chinese Courtesans/Geisha” Mingmei Yip. Mingmei Yip, n.d. Web. 11 September 2015.

Having a Constructive Perspective

Tags

advocacy, communications, constructivism, mixed methods, postpositivism, pragmatism, research, worldviews

Hi my name is Brittany Rosario and I am student at Kennesaw State University. I am originally from West Hempstead, NY which is located in Nassau County, Long Island. I am the youngest of three children. We are all born from the same mother and different fathers but yet grew up together in the same household with diverse life stories and experiences.

According to Chapter One of Creswell’s Research Design textbook 5^th edition there are four philosophical worldviews that influence the practice of research and need to be identified: post positivism, advocacy/participatory or transformative, constructivism, and pragmatism. These worldviews can be influenced by education, religion, home life, and media.

Watch the video clip below from a show called, Big Bang Theory as a platform to explain the characteristics of the four philosophical worldviews.

Sheldon is a pragmatist. This comes from the clear need to solve the problem and only be satisfied by results. Not emotions, not opinions, but the cold hard facts and coming up with a distinct solution to the problem. From the beginning we know he is all about solving the problem when he says, “The problem appears to be unsolvable,” frustrated not at the problem existing but the fact that there is no solution available.

Raj is a constructivist. He is focused on creating a theory to generate a solution. He offers his own idea to the group for discussion to see what others think, “Maybe you could run some computer simulations.” He doesn’t just focus on solving the problem alone but also gathering the perspective of others in hope to gain more information together and of course, find a potential solution.

Howard is post-positive. He is focused on observing the situation, creating measurable conditions for problem solving, and thus, theory verifies more than coming up with his own idea. This is apparent when he says, “Ehh. There are too many variables it would take forever.”

Finally, we have Lenard who is more of a participatory or transformative kind of guy. His action plan for solving the problem involves reform that may change the situations for everyone in the group by focusing on the needs of each individual that may be disregarded or excluded. He is focused on strategically gathering a solution that will satisfy everyone, “We’ve got to be missing something. Let’s start again,” which insinuates that the group of friends has been at it for a while and is working towards a consensus. Later in the video we see that Raj may also be transformative in this situation.

Furthermore, Raj solves the problem or at least temporarily does. Howard is amazed and wonders how they all could have missed the solution. Sheldon refuses to come to an agreement, too focused on his way of solving the problem. Lenard tries to match the needs of the group by asking Sheldon if he will compromise with slurpies instead of icies. Then when Sheldon doesn’t they realize that the only other solution is to just leave Sheldon at home so they do just that. I guess being strictly pragmatist doesn’t really work out the best in social settings.

So after finishing chapter 1, I soon realized that I am a Constructivist. I am really into social and historical references, influences, and issues. Every time I see issues in society I always think about how it relates to history, social factors happening now versus what has happened already, how people will react and what impact it could have on the future of our culture in America and the global market. I do tend to assume that individuals seek understanding of the world, how it works and what they can do for the world. However I don’t try to develop subjective meanings from their experiences because I’d rather just accept a person for who they are then possibly offend them with my opinions.

Something that a person who displays constructivism does that I always do is look for complexity of different world views rather than narrowing meanings into a few categories. In this sense I am a little transformative. I have the desire to share their views and advocate for their causes.

My research question is related to how women view themselves and other women based on the concept of what the “ideal” female body image is. Research questions would include: what do women think about their own body image? and how has this concept of a small waist, big breast, and a big butt played a part in the way women function in society? Are they satisfied with how they naturally look? Do they end up with eating disorders? Do they feel socially pressured to look a certain way in order to be accepted? What about makeup? Etc.

I plan to illustrate a mixed methods research project by:

1. Writing my own opinion about it
2. Surveying other women about it to see what they have to say
3. Doing research to formulate my theory about “ideal” female body image within various cultures, forms of media, and societies.
4. Getting the opinion of previous researchers on the same subject

I am excited to get started on my research proposal! Yay!

Thanks for reading my blog and keep up with me by following my page. Make sure you share your thoughts in the comment section below.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Duderino “Bing bang theory cinema problem” Online video clip. YouTube, 24 Jul 2009. Web. 10 Sept. 2015.

Creswell, John. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. USA: SAGE Publications Inc., 2014. Print.

Hello, World of Researchers & Students!

Welcome to my class blog site for Research in Professional and Critical Writing!

Feel free to comment on any of my blog post and let’s get the discussion going 🙂