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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 5th 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.

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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.