Hill, Jennifer Ann. 2011. “Endangered Childhoods: How Consumerism is Impacting Child and Youth Identity.” Media, Culture & Society 33 (3): 347-362. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.redlands.edu/10.1177/0163443710393387. http://ezproxy.redlands.edu/docview/1928299552?accountid=14729.

For the last research exercise, I wanted to find research that more closely relates to the final reseach question that I have been tweaking for the last few weeks. My article for this assignment is called Endangered Childhoods: How Consumerism is Impacting Child and Youth Identity and it was found through ProQuest.

This article discusses the extensive presence of consumerism in children’s lives, using information and data from a plethora of previous research conducted From a very young age, children are bombarded with advertisements and images displaying consumer products, encouraging them to buy them or beg their parents to. Due to this, children’s identities are created and affected by the ways in which they consume. The author’s purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of consumerism, in order to assess identity formation and development in youth. This articles topic is about the lasting effects that consumerism has on children’s identities, and the research question is “In what ways does consumerism affect youth identity in the United States?” The type of data needed to answer this question would be acts of behavior and events. However, this author did not conduct her own research and instead used existing research from other authors. The author use meta-analyis to collect information from various studies to create a more compelling argument. The method of data analysis is both qualitative and quantitative, because there was numerical and non-numerical data assessed in the report.

I think this author used compelling evidence from a multitude of studies, and the article itself is published in a legitimate journal. The author cited about 51 sources, which indicates to me that she thoroughly inspected existing research and is very educated on this topic. I think if the author conducted her own research, perhaps her evidence would be a little more updated and accurate, as some of the research cited is slightly dated. The most interesting part of this article for me was learning how much time and resources companies spend on advertisements geared towards children. Companies are focused on “cradle-to-grave” marketing which means they begin gearing advertisements towards children early on, in order to create and ensure brand loyalty in the future.

Although this study was rather complicated and had a lot of elements that were hard to follow, the researchers set out to observe the relationships between compulsive exercise, psychological distress and the motivation to change in patients with anorexia nervosa. (Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that causes people to obsess about their weight and what they eat).  

What I really took away from this research was the background information and conclusions and how it could be beneficial to my own research project.  The results showed that greater compulsive exercise is moderately associated with people who have poorer eating disorder habits, and higher levels of eating disorder psychopathology.  Greater compulsive exercise is also weakly associated with higher levels of psychological distress. The type of data collected were surveys and questionnaires, cognitive-behavioral therapy sessions, sessions of LEAP treatment, and interviews.  

The researchers mostly used the questionnaires as a main source of data.  From this, they were able to asses eating disorder psychopathology, compulsive exercise, psychological distress, motivation to change and quality of life.  After compiling the different factors and their data, they were able to determine if there were strong, weak, or positive correlations between their findings.    

Researchers found that there was a weak positive associations between compulsive exercise and psychological distress.  There was also a weak positive relationship between exercise and obsessive-compulsive traits. They found excessive exercise to be negatively associated with obsessive-compulsive symptomatology. ‘This study utilized a quantitative definition of compulsive exercise and categorized patients as excessive exercisers if they endorsed obligatory exercise for at least 1 h per day, on at least 6 days per week for 1 month.’

For this research example, I found an article that explored a research question similar to my own. In “Factors in organic farmers’ decision making: Diversity, challenge, and obstacles,” from volume 14 of American Journal of Alternative Agriculture, Leslie A. Duram poses the question: “Who are the farmers who specifically decide to adopt organic methods, which are outside the practices used by most of the agricultural community?” (Duram, 2). Duram conducts a multiple-layered study in which she strives to understand the characteristics of organic farmers as well as the ways their decisions are made and influenced.

After giving a brief description of what sets organic farming apart from other forms of agriculture, Duram describes her methods of data collection. Duram sent a mail survey to 49 organic farmers, receiving 26 responses. In addition to the surveys, she conducted in-depth interviews with five farmers. She utilized qualitative analysis and qualitative data techniques to analyze the responses she received from her sample. Duram found that the reason many farmers decided to become organic was because they were excited about taking on a new challenge as organic farming requires many modifications and changes to their land, lifestyle, and knowledge.

This study was similar to my own proposal because Duram crated a list of eight factors in decision making. These included “diversity, challenge, change, businesslike approach, no formal agricultural education, love of the land, anti-‘radical environmentalist,’ and obstacles” (Duram, 2). She uses these eight factors in her survey just as I would use my seven categories of challenges in a survey for my own research project. I felt that there was a lot going on in this article and that it would have been more beneficial to focus on only one aspect of organic farming.

Duram, Leslie. 1999. “Factors in organic farmers’ decision making: Diversity, challenge, and obstacles.” American Journal of Alternative Agriculture14(1). Retrieved March 29, 2018. http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1016&amp=&context=gers_pubs&amp=&sei-redir=1&referer=https%253A%252F%252Fscholar.google.com%252Fscholar%253Fhl%253Den%2526as_sdt%253D0%25252C5%2526q%253Dchallenges%252Bfarmers%252Band%252Branchers%252Bface%2526btnG%253D%2526oq%253Dcha#search=%22challenges%20farmers%20ranchers%20face%22

In this research journal, the researcher compared two famous cases of repatriation of indigenous human remains.  She compared the Kennewick Man and the La Jolla Skeletons, because the two cases involve “ancient human remains and contemporary injustice.”  Both sets of skeletons are radio carbon dated at around 9,000-10,000 years old, which has made them of great scientific interest for researchers.  Tsosie compared how in both cases researchers argued that the human remains are Paleo-Indian and cannot be linked to a modern tribe.  They argued that since cultural affiliation is impossible, the remains could not be repatriated to any tribe under NAGPRA.  However, after both sets did eventually end up being repatriated, groups of scientists attempted to repeal the decisions and were unsuccessful in this.  She outlined the lengthy legal processes and battles that the Native Americans had to endure for the remains to be repatriated.  In the case of the Kennewick Man, the significant amount of time caused by the appeals court allowed scientists to perform extensive research on the skeleton.

The researcher, Tsosie, used a comparative case study research logic, which was helpful for me to examine, since I am utilizing a similar method for my own research.  She utilized reports of acts, behaviors, and events and collected them through public and private records.  She analyzed the data of the La Jolla skeletons and the Kennewick Man cases in a qualitative analysis.  This was an interesting case study since the two cases are extremely famous in the archaeology world, and I think the researcher provided thorough analyses of the data.

Tsosie, Rebecca. “Indigenous Peoples and Epistemic Injustice: Science, Ethics, and Human Rights.” Washington Law Review 87, no. 4 (December 2012): 1184-190.

I found this source using the libraries online database. The journal illustrates the beliefs that teachers have towards technology use in the classroom and the resources needed to utilize those tools such as computers, phones, and smart boards. Research shows that school use of technology is limited to learning games, drill and practice, and word processing without the real importance of using that technology to progress student learning outcomes. This study looked to interview twelve teachers from the state of Mississippi and get their opinions and beliefs about technology in the classroom and how it should be used. The study was significant because some of the teachers have been long time educators and their views are important to see if they are willing to change their teaching habits to incorporate technology into the academic setting. The new teachers also have an impact on the students and their beliefs will shape the way students learn and retain information. Most of the teachers interviewed enjoyed the idea of integrating technology in the classroom as long as it was user friendly or they felt comfortable applying it to their teaching methods. Teachers also collectively interpreted computers as tools and should be used as such. The computers should help the students learn information more quickly but should not be the main priority in the class.  Problems that teachers ran into was lack of funding and insufficient amount of resources. The other problems that result from more technology is the training needed to adapt to different programs. Teachers needed to feel that they were skilled enough to smoothly utilize computers and various programs in  the classroom to give the students the best chance of learning.

Chien, Y. (2013). The Integration of Technology in the 21st Century Classroom: Teachers’ Attitudes and Pedagogical Beliefs Toward Emerging Technologies. Journal Of Technology Integration In The Classroom, 5(1), 5-11.

For this post I decided to use the Armacost library online database. I used the search bar for journals then I scrolled through pages of results. The journal I found was by Nian-Shing Chen and Gwo-Jen Hwang. The topic their topic was educational technology in the classroom. Their research question was educational based gaming was an effective learning style in the classroom. The conducted studies where they used control groups to see how effective the learning style was. Once they conducted their experiments they wrote a paper on their findings which were that there was a significant increase in learning when it came to the educational gaming. They then had to submit their research to a review board in order to possible get it published. This article talked a little more on the review process but none the less they gathered classrooms of students and gave some the educational gaming and others had normal learning styles. In my opinion I think this data gathering would do the job but I could see better ways of doing this. But all in all their research was sound and effective.

Chen, Nian-Shing, and Gwo-Jen Hwang. “Transforming the Classrooms: Innovative Digital   Game-Based Learning Designs and Applications.” Educational Technology Research and Development, vol. 62, no. 2, Dec. 2014, pp. 125–128., doi:10.1007/s11423-014-9332-y.

I dug deeper into the statistics of the Hawaiian public school education to gather more information about what students were achieving more than others and to possibly gather some hypothesis. I was able to go the the DOE (Department of Education) website of the state of Hawaii which has public records of the achievement levels of students that differentiate between female and male, ethnic background and socioeconomic background. Through this website, I was able to find that native islanders do have a significant achievement gap. In elementary school, they seem to show very little improvement throughout their time through the grades which is very important to note especially when doing the long experiment on how the new place-based curriculum improves a students scores and attitude towards school throughout their time in elementary. These will be helpful to use as comparisons when I finally have my own results. What I would like to find now though is more information on what could be leading to this achievement gap. What I could look for now is the exact curriculum that is taught in schools. I would like to try and get my hands on a TE (Teacher’s Edition) from an elementary Hawaiian classroom. The teacher’s edition is a book that mirrors the books students get for each subject. Having these TEs will help me to see exactly what is being encouraged in classrooms, but it is not always necessary to include all activities so an interview will be detrimental to the continued gathering of my research.

I focused my article on homeless shelters to see the different things they provide for clients, but more specifically I focused on women in shelters and the services offered to them. This was an article in ProQuest titled, “Homeless Shelters in Alabama: A Study on women’s health services.” The author of this article is Veta Robinson.

Robinson, Veta. “Homeless Shelters in Alabama: A Study of Women’s Health Services.” Order No. AAI3544008, . http://ezproxy.redlands.edu/docview/1520338981?accountid=14729.

The article was focused on women because studies have shown that women and families are the highest growing groups in the homeless population. There have been no studies done though to focus specifically on services offered toward women. They wanted to see if women knew of the services that were provided for them and/or if they were utilizing them. In order to obtain this information they would use surveys/questionaries to see what the women are aware of and if they are utilizing any of the programs. Also used surveys to ask the directors/staff if they provide any specific programs toward women. To analyze this data they will use qualitative data to find patterns in the women’s responses. It was interesting to read that there wasn’t a consistent pattern in what the women were and were not aware of. They either knew about none of the services that they could be using or they were aware of them and were utilizing them or preferred not to utilize them. I thought this was interesting because this showed that only a certain amount of the homeless population knew of varying services, meaning that as the homeless population is growing they need to increase peoples knowledge of what they can do to help themselves and who is there to help them.

‘Development and validation of makeup and sexualized clothing questionnaires’

In this ‘exploratory factor analysis’, researchers took a sample from 403 college undergraduate students(women) and measured the pressure women feel to wear makeup and sexualized clothing.  There were two different studies being conducted at the same time. In Study 1, researchers created two questionnaires to assess the ‘perceived pressure to wear makeup and discomfort when not wearing makeup’, and ‘perceived pressure to wear sexualized clothing, and body image concerns with regards to sexualized clothing’.  “The exploratory factor analyses revealed Unconfident and Unease scales for the Makeup Questionnaire (MUQ) and Body Dissatisfaction and Pressure scales for the Sexualized Clothing Questionnaire (SCQ). In Study 2, the confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the factor structure for the MUQ and SCQ. The incremental validity analysis revealed that these measures can be used to predict self-objectification and shape and weight concern in women.”

The research topic of this study was: the development of validation of makeup and sexualized clothing.  The research question was: to what extent do women feel pressure to wear makeup and sexualized clothing on college campuses.  

This type of data was sample and survey data.  This data took on the form of categorical data.  Although this isn’t in exact correlation to my own personal research question, what really interested me was the data analysis method and data in itself.  This is exactly how I would want to conduct my experiment because it possesses the same moral concepts in terms of measuring feelings and patterns in people.  I think using a questionnaire is a good way to collect data, but the results can be broad and not give enough specific information. With using a scale or a few different scales, like in this research, It would be able to provide much more specific data, as well as a wider range.  I think this research showed a way to be able to get the most out of using a survey/questionnaire/scale as your main source of data. It can be as specific as you like and bring some very interesting behavior patterns to the surface.

Isaksen, Katja Jezkova, and Stuart Roper. “The Commodification of Self-Esteem: Branding and British Teenagers.” Psychology and Marketing29, no. 3 (February 7, 2012): 117-35. Accessed March 24, 2018.

The Commodification of Self‐Esteem: Branding and British Teenagers, by Katja Jezkova Isaksen and Stuart Roper. I found it through Wiley Online, using the Redlands library website.  According to the article’s abstract, the study explores the role that consumption has in British adolescents’ lives in terms of their own perception. It particularly focused on its role in forming and maintaining self-esteem. In order to answer their research question, the authors examined concepts like materialism, brand loyalty, self-esteem, and socioeconomic status. The authors found from the focus groups that as a result of peer pressure and the desire to “fit in” among their peers, consuming the right things at the right time is crucial for social acceptance, forming friendships, and thus, self-esteem as a whole. I chose this article because it touches on socioeconomic status and the way that can affect some children’s access to these commodities that help them “fit in.” According to the study, however, children from low-income families were actually more eager to want to purchase the more expensive brands. This article’s topic is about the role consumption plays in forming self-esteem in adolescents. The question is “What role does consumption play in the formation and maintaining of self-esteem in British adolescents?” The type of data needed to answer the question is reports of acts, behavior, and events. In order to collect this data, the authors used six focus groups comprising of 20 individuals. This study is qualitative, as the data is not numerical, and comes from focus groups.

This research is extremely interesting to me, and closely relates to what I want to answer with my own research question. The research is published in a respected journal, so that leads me to believe that the authors are trustworthy and the data collected was done so properly and in accordance with guidelines. The conclusions that the authors came to are logical and make sense sociologically, but I would like to build on their conclusions with my own proposed research question. The most interesting aspect of this research is that the authors concluded that while adolescents have the most awareness regarding the role of branding, advertising, and peer pressure, they are seemingly unable to resist them.