Cummings, Kelsey. 2018 “Gendered Choices: Examining the Mechanics of Mobile and Online Girl Games.” Television & New Media 19 (1): 24-41. doi: 10.1177/1527476417697269.

The author Kelsey Cummings researched the subgenre of mobile online games created for girls. The research question is whether the mechanics in three games–Barbie Fashionistas, Style Studio: Fashion Designer, and Central Park Wedding Prep–serve gendered ideologies that are harmful to girl players. The data that the author chose to gather and analyze are the games itself, as well as some reviews and game play footages available on social media. In looking at Barbie Fashionistas, Cummings criticize the game play as it revolves around the aesthetics of Barbie’s bodies; the core mechanic of dressing her is reliant on her thinness and unattainable body image. The author calls the Style Studio game mechanics as “playing against design” because it differentiates itself from the Barbie Fashionistas. It includes male models and it does not encourage girls to dream and imagine themselves as the avatar like with Barbie. However, the game still showcases thin female models and muscular and masculinized male models. Although the female models display a more attainable body image, they still reinforce the strict cisnormative gender binary. The last game Cummings looked at is Central Park Wedding Prep, which is different from the other two games because the player needs to wash, cleanse, and pluck the avatar’s face before applying makeup, select hair and eye colors, and finally dress the avatar in preparation for their paid-for wedding in Central Park. In the reviews, this game is criticized because it perpetuates the notions of the New York Fashion Scene that are present in pop culture, but not the real culture. It is marketed towards what young girls want to believe, and not the reality. This game perpetuates class-based ideology as the bride and groom dream for a Central Park Wedding, and did everything to attain it. Even having their wedding photo album done in Central Park, even though they could not have a Central Park wedding. Girl players are taught to follow a Cinderella narrative that they can project themselves onto. In conclusion, Cummings deduced that no matter the attempts at breaking away from the patriarchy, the marketing of these “Girl Games” are still terribly designed and still perpetuating particular ideologies and worldviews that are potentially harmful to young girls who play them.

My article for this week is called “Poverty and Mental Health Practice: Within and Beyond the 50-Minute Hour” by Lisa Goodman, Meghan Pugach, Avy Skolnik, and Laura Smith. It is suggested that there are several dimensions to the issue of poverty and mental health practice that need to be addressed in order to get impoverished mentally ill people the help that they need and keep them on said treatment or program. These include exclusion and isolation of poor people, limited access and use of mental health services by low-income adults, and the structure of practice and accommodation for poor people that is currently in place. The article first discusses the relationship between mental health problems and poverty. Prolonged living in stress leads to anger, fear, hopelessness, and isolation. The stressful living situation and isolation leads to feelings of powerlessness and low levels of feeling that they are in control or have a sense of autonomy. These states of being and the mindsets acquired as a result indicate high risk for developing mental illnesses. Lack of insurance, cost of treatment, service hours, transportation, and limited accommodations for low-income individuals act as barriers to accessing mental health services and treatment. If a low-income client is able to make it to a service in the first place they may be met by unwilling clinicians, which research shows causes low-income adults to give up seeking treatment. Low-income clients who make it to a therapy session may also be unwilling to fully disclose important information to their therapist out of the concern that someone from a different class than them would not be able to understand or help them. The article lists suggestions to combat these issues. The solutions include “transportation to and from therapy, home visits, childcare, and flexible scheduling, as well as case management that involves assessing clients’ external stressors and instrumental needs and developing intervention to address them” (Goodman, 2012). It is also important to train mental health professionals to overcome any discomfort they might have in regards to their low-income clients, because it can lead to the professional avoiding certain topics. The article suggests this can be combated through “increasing self-awareness of own class, awareness of assumptions about poverty, knowledge of poverty’s psycho-social impact, and knowledge of the effective interventions for addressing the negative psycho-social consequences of poverty” (Goodman, 2012). This is important to my topic because several contributing factors to the issue of mental health service access and poverty are discussed (+how this facilitates mental illness) and possible solutions are suggested, giving me more perspectives to explore when it comes to formulating my final research proposal.

Goodman, L., Pugach, M., Skolnik, A., Smith, L. (2012). Poverty and Mental Health Practice: Within and Beyond the 50-Minute Hour. Journal of Clinical Psychology. (Vol. 69, Iss. 2). doi: https://doi-org.ezproxy.redlands.edu/10.1002/jclp.21957

My research example for this week comes from the Bureau of Justice Statistics published by the U.S. Department of Justice. It is a national inmate survey taken from 2011-2012  titled “Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates”. The report includes demographic data and reports of acts and behavior. This is the BJS third National Inmate Survey taken in 233 state and federal prisons, 358 jails, and 15 special confinement facilities operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Military. The survey was administered to 92,449 inmates age 18 or older, including 38,251 inmates in state and federal prisons, 52,926 in jails, 573 in ICE facilities, 539 in military facilities, and 160 in Indian country jails. The NIS is part of the National Prison Rape Statistics Program, which collects reported sexual violence from administrative records and allegations of sexual victimization directly from victims in the form of surveys of inmates in prisons and jails and of youth held in juvenile correctional facilities. Surveys consisted of an audio computer- assisted self-interview (ACASI) in which inmates used a touchscreen to interact with a computer-assisted questionnaire and followed audio instructions delivered via headphones. Some inmates completed a short paper form instead of using the ACASI. One weakness of the survey was that some inmates may not report sexual victimization experienced in the facility, despite efforts of survey staff to assure inmates that their responses would be kept confidential. The results showed that staff sexual misconduct was a prevalent issue in women’s prisons and provided insightful and useful information for my research, but failed to mention the gender of the prison staff as a variable in the investigation.

Beck, A. J., Berzofsky, M., Caspar, R., & Krebs, C. (2013). Sexual victimization in prisons and jails reported by inmates, 2011–12. Retrieved from http://www.bjs. gov/content/pub/pdf/svpjri1112.pdf

The article “The Effects of Service-Learning on Middle School Students’ Social Responsibility and Academic Success” investigates the effects of service-learning on a group of diverse students, grades 6-8 (Scales et al., 2000). From their research of the existing literature, the researchers of this study find that service-learning is seen as a strategy to promote students’ social responsibility and academic success. This study the validity of these theories. The researchers try to answer 4 research questions, the overarching question being: Does service-learning have a positive impact on students’ social responsibility and academic success? The researchers gathered reports of acts, behaviors, and events from students both involved and not involved in service-learning. They collected this data by administering a survey to students, measuring “social responsibility”, “personal development opportunities”, “parent involvement”, “commitment to classwork”, “engagement with school”, “perceived scholastic competence”, “intellectual achievement responsibility”, “evaluation and mastery goals”, “academic success”, and “conduct” (Scales et al., 2000). The researchers use ANCOVAs for their data analysis method. This method compares service-learning students with non-service learning students, using a variety of dependent variables. The researchers found service-learning can have positive effects on student’s concern about the welfare of others. This concern was found to decline in students not involved in service-learning. In regards to academic success, service-learning students reported a higher commitment to their classwork then non-service learning students. Service-learning may help maintain students’ positive views toward school providing them opportunities (Scales et al., 2000). A limit in this study was: the students that participated were “far from typical” (Scales et al., 2000). The students were already participating in service learning projects at higher rates than average students (Scales et, al., 2000). This is why in my research I plan to investigate the effects service-learning has on struggling students that are newly involved in these projects and see if it has any effect on their academic success.

Scales, P.C., Blyth, D.A., Berkas, T.H., Kielsmeier, J.C. (2000). The effects of service-learning on middle school students’ social responsibility and academic success. Journal of Early Adolescence, 20(3), 332-358.

The title of this article is “Disproportionate Proximity to Environmental Health Hazards: Methods, Models, and Measurement”, it can be found in the American Public Health Association. The article was written by Jayajit Chakraborty, Juliana A. Maantay, and Jean D. Brender. Several studies discussing environmental justice or a similar topic were analyzed – the hazards examined and analytical techniques used in each study. Environmental justice is the disproportionate distribution of environmental “goods” and “bads”, with the burden of the bads and the shortage of goods falling mainly on ethnic minorities and lower income populations. The purpose of building a database filled with environmental justice research studies is to explore the different spatial techniques used to analyze the disproportionate proximity to hazards and measure environmental justice. The article reviews the use of the five most popular techniques. The one that best interested me is the “Pollution Plume Modeling”, the other techniques explored lack the ability to accurately estimate the dispersal of pollutants. Buffer zones are not as accurate because it usually depends on the analyst to set an arbitrary radius that may not be correct. Spatial coincidence analysis is another technique that isn’t as accurate, this method uses the number of hazard sources within a zip code or census tract to measure hazardous chemical exposure. This method doesn’t represent the actual size or shape of the area exposed. However, Pollution Plume Modeling uses data on chemical emissions and local meteorological conditions to analyze the dispersal of pollutants. The combined data turns out a hazard release parameter that can delineate the boundaries of a potentially exposed area. Spatially a “footprint” is created, there may be a ring buffer included; this is when ground- level concentrations are ranked. Where this technique falls short is the lack of accounting for ground and water contamination, but because my topic analyzes pesticides and their wind dispersal patterns the technique seems ideal.

Chakraborty, J., Maantay, J. A., & Brender, J. D. (2011). Disproportionate proximity to environmental health hazards: methods, models, and measurement. American Journal of Public Health, 101(S1), S27-S36

For Research Example number 5 I discovered an article on the library catalog titled “Concussions in Youth Rugby Union and Rugby League.” I researched concussions in rugby because the sport is very similar to football. Just like football, rugby is a contact sport and the objective is to get an almond shaped object from one side of the field to the other. Meanwhile, players on the opposing team are trying to prevent that from happening by tackling the player with the ball. Rugby players do not wear helmets, and for that reason the sport is surprisingly safer.
Concussions are the most common among NFL players, but according to a study conducted by Hinton Bayre et al, concussions are not the most common injury in rugby. Contusions, muscular strains, joint injuries, abrasions, and lacerations are more common injuries in rugby than concussions. Although this was surprising, it makes sense. Because players do not wear helmets defenders are more aware of their tackling form. They are not as tempted to aim high because not only will that hurt their opponent, but also it will severely hurt them. They have adapted to be spot on when it comes to their tackling form. The NFL has taken notice of this and have even talked about the idea of eliminating helmets altogether. New helmets and rule changes over the past 5 years in the NFL has not made a significant impact on reducing injuries, especially concussions. They will continue to make changes in an attempt to make the game safer, but if that does not make a difference many years down the road they might deeply consider eliminating helmets.
This article also talked about the main causes and preventions of concussions in rugby. Tackling, as expected, was identified as the most common cause for concussions. The tackled players are reportedly more at risk of getting a concussion than the player being tackled. Additionally, forwards are at a greater risk of getting a concussion because they have the ball more than defenders. There are more tackles made in rugby per game than football, so it is common for players to occasionally have poor form when making a tackle. Lastly, it was reported than less training resulted in fewer concussions.
Reports of acts and behaviors as well as expert knowledge was used for this report.
Kirkwood, Graham, Nikesh Parekh, Richard Ofori-Asenso, and Allyson M. Pollock. “Concussion in Youth Rugby Union and Rugby League: A Systematic Review.” British Journal of Sports Medicine 49, no. 8 (2015): 506-10. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2014-093774

This article was found in the NWSA Journal, and was written by Thomas Ricks, a research scholar on Iranian and Palestinian history. The full article is cited as:

Ricks, Thomas M. 2006. “In Their Own Voices: Palestinian High School Girls and Their Memories

of the Intifadas and Nonviolent Resistance to Israeli Occupation, 1987 to 2004.” NWSA

            Journal 18 (3): 88-103. Doi: 10.1353/nwsa.2006.0059.

Ricks interviews 17 and 18 year old Palestinian high school girls to detail their experiences in Palestine post-Intifadas. His objective is to reveal the hardships faced by Palestinians in their daily lives as a result of Israeli occupation. His data types are reports of acts, behaviors, and events and deeply held opinions and attitudes. To collect this qualitative data, he uses in-depth interviews (oral histories) and private records (school diaries). This article is credible because it was written in a peer-reviewed journal by a researcher with extensive knowledge on Palestine. Ricks’ interviews were interesting to me because he chose to interview young women, which is not a demographic that most Middle Eastern researchers report on. This may be interesting to my classmates because it details how women have led a resistance against violence, which is a cause that is highly publicized in our own country at the present.

In regard to my seven categories of challenges that American farmers and rancher face today, Ryanne Pilgeram and Bryan Amos’ article “Beyond ‘Inherit It or Marry It’: Exploring How Women Engaged in Sustainable Agriculture Access Farmland,” in Rural Sociology, Volume 80, Issue 1, presented me with a new category to consider: gender inequality. Pilgeram and Amos explore the ways in which female farmers obtain their land. After a brief literature review in which they outline the history of female farmers and today’s population of female sustainable farmers, they ask the question, “What are the different ways that women engaged in sustainable agriculture access farmland and how are those pathways to access affected by specific economic and cultural moments?” (Pilgeram and Amos 22).

Pilgeram and Amos selected a population of 40 female sustainable farmers in “Sunset County.” They compiled this population through online resources and speaking with stakeholders and farmers’ market managers in the region. Feeling confident that they had a list of all of the female sustainable farmers in the county, Pilgeram and Amos sent letters and emails to all members of the population asking for their participation. Of the 40 population members, they were able to obtain a sample size of 17 women with whom they would conduct in-depth, semi structured interviews with. After conducting the interviews (either over the phone or on the farms), Pilgeram and Amos utilized NVivo software to code and transcribe their responses and field notes. They then used cross-tabulations to analyze the patterns that were present.

They discovered that there were three main themes in how these women obtained their land: “Access through Marriage,” “Access Later in Life through Personal Savings and Retirement,” and “Land Access as Young Women with a Male Partner.” There were clear patterns of age groups within each of these categories. Those who gained access through marriage are the oldest group of women, and those who gained land access with an equal partner are the youngest group. Patterns regarding access to other important things were also present. Those who were able to be an equal partner in the land access had more access to time, education, and their own money than those who obtained their land through marriage.

This study presented me with a new category of challenges that today’s farmers and ranchers face. It was interesting to read about the increased number of female, sustainable farmers and the different groups within this category. It is clear that there is inequality among these female farmers as some have more access to other important things such as education, time and money that benefit their farming lifestyles.

Pilgeram, Ryanne. Amos, Bryan. 2015. “Beyond ‘Inherit It or Marry It’: Exploring How Women Engaged in Sustainable Agriculture Access Farmland.” Rural Sociology80(1): 16-38. Retrieved March 25, 2018. (http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.redlands.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=7&sid=c3235d15-40c5-4a9b-a1b7-9eb374975f83%40sessionmgr4008)

The research article I selected for research example number five is an article I found in the Armacost library database. The article from the Journal of Environmental Health volume 71, number 4. The title of the article is “Microbial Water Quality and Influences of Fecal Accumulation from a Dog Exercise Area.” Animal wastes such as contamination from animal agriculture have been known to cause outbreaks of waterborne diseases. Dogs and other animals are potential sources of waterborne diseases. Frequently used dogs parks with a lot of dog fecal matter could potentially contaminate surface waters. The authors examined the effects of areas with a large amount of fecal material in a popular dog exercise park. The dog exercise area is located in the Burke Creek recreational area in State Line Nevada adjacent to Lake Tahoe. The public drinking water supply is approximately 200 meters from the creek outlet. Over a period of fourteen months. The authors analyzed water samples from the creek for E. coli and collected feces from areas to estimate the amount of fecal accumulation. Over the fourteen-month period an estimated total of over 100 pounds of fecal material had accumulated in the area. The method of study consisted of mapping the area with constant collection of fecal material and water sampling. The goal of the study was to discover any trends in and to find any correlation between the amount of fecal material and E. coli in the surface waters.  The authors found that there was no correlation between the amount of fecal material accumulated and the amount of E. coli found in the water. It appeared that during a good portion of the year the E. coli bacteria did not survive long enough to enter the surface water. The authors also conclude that it would still be beneficial to educate dog owners and to encourage to pick up after their dogs. This would prevent increasing the potential risk of contaminating surface waters from fecal material.

Garfield, L., & Walker, M. (2008). “Microbial water quality and influences of fecal accumulation from a dog exercise area”. Journal of environmental health, 71(4), 24.

Research Example 5

This peer reviewed article is called “Learning to Think Critically, A Visual Art Experiment”. The article talks about research done to test weather students who were exposed to art, could engage better in critical thinking.  To do this research a trial was conducted, where some of the students were told to participate in a school program at an art museum, while others were not. The findings of this research showed that students who participated in the school art visit, were much stronger critical thinkers.

The topic of this article is art and its relationship to education/intelligence. The question posed is, “are students who are exposed to art, able to think more critically than students with no art exposure?”

In order to test this question, you would need deep opinions/attitudes as well as expert knowledge data.

You would need to run the data by an expert who knows specifically about art and its association with critical thinking, specifically who could figure out if the art was affect the students thinking. You would also need to test the students (through learning there deeply held opinions and attitudes), to figure out if they are stronger critical thinkers after being exposed or not exposed to art.

After collecting all the data, you could analyze it by coding! See what categories matched with art and intellect/critical thinking, and draw conclusions from that.

I think this is really cool research. I personally believe that art can drastically affect intellect! I like how this study tries to use science to make a claim.

This would be a primary source because the information they tested was obtained first hand.

Bibliography

Bowen, D., Greene, J., & Kisida, B. (2014). Learning to Think Critically. Educational Researcher, 43(1), 37–44. doi:10.3102/0013189X13512675