Lee, Jaehoon. 2011. “The Self, Interpersonal Relationships, and Conspicuous Behaviors:Consumption and Helping.” Order No. 3473370, The University of Texas at San Antonio. http://ezproxy.redlands.edu/docview/896114299?accountid=14729.

For this research exercise I used ProQuest to find my article. This article looks at social class differences within certain patterns of conspicuous consumption, as in selecting a gift. The author of this article, Jaehoon Lee, tests whether or not certain social classes have a larger tendency to purchase conspicuous gifts for other people or for themselves. The author concluded that this only happens when a conspicuous gift is associated with a certain social status. He also concluded that this happens due to a desire to gain a higher status and fit in with other lower class individuals who are trying to also portray a higher status. Lee stated that lower class individuals have stronger desires for status and conformity, as compared to more higher class individuals.

The article’s topic is social class differences and conspicuous consumption purchasing behaviors. The research question is, “What are the conspicuous shopping habits of lower class people when buying gifts for others?” To answer this question, the author needed to collect reports of acts, behavior, and events, as well as use demographic and financial data. The data gathering method that this author used is in-depth interviews as well as economic data, because he compared the amount individuals from different social classes spend on lavish celebrations like weddings. The method of data analysis is both quantitative and qualitative because the author analyzed reports of acts, behavior, and events, as well as analyzed numerical financial data. The financial and demographic data used is interval/ratio data. I think this research is logical and valid. I think the author was able to collect very insightful data and deep answers from people of different social classes, as well as analyze financial data, which resulted in reliable conclusions. Personally, I agree with what the author found about people of lower classes valuing status more than wealthier people. I also agree with the conclusion that conspicuous consumption is more crucial to lower social classes because it conveys a certain status to others. An interesting part of this article that surprised me was that the author found through his research that consumption patterns vary by cultural capital rather than by economic capital. Before reading this article I would have assumed it would be the opposite.

I chose to look at the peer reviewed journal titled ‘Journal of Eating Disorders’ from the Armacost Library. More specifically I looked at the article called ‘’Body dissatisfaction, excessive exercise, and weight change strategies used by first-year undergraduate students: comparing health and physical education and other education students’.

The authors are Tonia Gray, Christina Curry, and Sian A. McLean.
This was received, on October 18th 2016, accepted on December 18th 2016 and published on April 3rd 2017.

In this particular study, these sociologists surveyed university students who were studying to become health and PE teachers as well as other types of teachers and compared these groups in regards to how they feel about their body (if they had a desire to be thinner, more muscular..etc), as well as what types of behaviors they were engaging in . The female health and PE teachers were more likely to be engaging in excessive exercise rather than the just regular female teachers. These sociologists concluded that these findings to them meant that they we should carefully consider the attitudes and behaviors of teachers who are presenting information about food and exercise in schools.

After what we’ve been doing in class the past two weeks, I found it significantly easier to read how their journal was structured. The type of measures that were used were, demographics, body image, excessive exercise and weight change behaviors. The data was collected as a part of a longitudinal study. In order to analyze the data, they compared different factors that could have influence, as well as others that may or may not. This was the perfect use of applying correlation.

A very interesting finding through observing their data tables and analysis was that they found scores to be higher on the
‘Obligatory Exercise Questionnaire’ to be significantly higher for both male and female health and PE teachers than non. I was also incredibly surprised to see was that 57% of undergrad participants reported that they were on a diet that they created themselves, 41% were consuming high protein products, and 67% of men and 81% of women were using exercise to change their weight.

To be completely honest, I thought this research was a little bit scattered. I feel as if they tried to examine too many aspects and made the results a little all over the place and it was a bit overwhelming. I felt as if they focused on just consuming high protein products, drinking water to lose weight, exercising to lose weight OR, being on a diet it would have been less scattered. Maybe this is my lack of education of how to be conducting research accurately, but I would have been satisfied with only one of those examinations.

Specifically, the tables and data charts were a very helpful tool. Table 2 in particular. It answered the most questions raised and stimulated my own personal interest. Seeing the different ways SO people attempt to lose weight and change their bodies was crazy to see all listed out…and I was incredibly surprised by the percentage of men who are unhappy with their weight and have disordered eating and exercise behaviors.

Yager, Z., Gray, T., Curry, C., & Mclean, S. A. (2017). Body dissatisfaction, excessive exercise, and weight change strategies used by first-year undergraduate students: comparing health and physical education and other education students. Journal of Eating Disorders, 5(1). doi:10.1186/s40337-016-0133-z

The journal article “Curating Secrets” contains a case study that evaluates the institutional processes in museums and its power structures when handling cases of repatriation.  The author focuses on cases of sacred objects that are returned to Native Americans tribes.  He argues that repatriation serves to shift power back to Native Americans by the return of their sacred objects, but the actual result is the reinforcement of colonial power through museums.  Chip focuses on a specific repatriation case of Zuni War Gods from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  The War Gods are statues that are transformed into gods through ceremonies and are placed in shrines around the Zuni Reservation to protect the land and help hold the universe in balance.  The DMNS returned the statues to the Zunis promptly after the passing of NAGPRA.  He suggests that the museum was anticipating a claim from the tribe and acted proactively in order to control the returning process.  He also suggests that the museum retuned the statues without a claim to hide information about how they were acquired in the museum’s collection.  Chip applauds the thousands of repatriated objects since the passing of NAGPRA, but suggests that the process is still flawed by the significant amount of control museums have in the process of determining cultural affiliation.  He argues that there is a lack of transparency in the ways in which a museum collects and manages its collection and he urges for a better system of accountability.  The author relied on cultural knowledge, expert knowledge, and reports of acts, behaviors, and events to cultivate this case.  He accessed this information through research of public records about repatriated cultural objects.  He used a descriptive analysis of this data.

Colwell, Chip. “Curating Secrets: Repatriation, Knowledge Flows, and Museum Power      Structures.” Current Anthropology 56, no. S12 (2015).

Steiger, Bill. “Meet Bennet Omalu, MD: The Physician Leader Whose Research Inspired The Movie Concussion.” Physician Leadership Journal 3, no. 2 (March and April 2016): 8-10.

This article explains the story of Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian pathologist who discovered chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Mr. Omalu discovered this disease in 2002 when he autopsied Mike Webster; a former NFL center who died shortly after his NFL career. Initially, Mr. Omalu found nothing out of the ordinary when studying Mr. Webster’s brain. However, he tirelessly continued to analyze it and eventually came across unusual proteins. With help from other pathologists, Mr. Omalu named this disease and then published an article titled “Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in a National Football League player.” Originally this article did not get much publicity, but eventually the interest for it grew and it became controversial. Critics of the paper threatened Mr. Omalu and attempted to force him to take it down. The article stayed and the concern for NFL players health increased. Since this incident, Mr. Omalu has found the disease in other NFL players who also passed away shortly after their playing careers. This discovery is threatening to the NFL because it creates controversy over whether the sport is safe to play or not. A research question that rises from this article is: Will the revolutionary discovery of CTE pose a threat to the NFL’s future?

Expert knowledge was a type of data used to report findings in this article. Mr. Omalu is a certified doctor and he used his knowledge to conclude his research. Acts, behavior, or events is another data type because Mr. Omalu physically researched and experimented on his own. Ethnography is a data collection method used. The article describes Mr. Omalu’s findings, which were told to the reporter.

I used the schools library computer system to find an article about the use of technology in an academic setting. In most classrooms there seems to be a greater emphasis on the use of technology against traditional styles of teaching. Technology such as the use of power points can make information easier to display, but can also cause bad learning habits. In the article students were questioned about their ability to absorb information and found that more interactive styles of teaching were the best to gain more knowledge and relate to the subjects which they were studying. Both teachers and students agreed that technology can sometimes be distracting and disrupt important class time. Issues with computers or various slide show presentations can take away from learning and disrupt the flow of class. The availability of notes that could be shared online had mixed reviews and some students said that it made it easier to learn, while others said that they would rather learn the material straight from the source.  Students were more concerned with availability of resources and the integration of good technology into an academic setting. The best classes were the ones in which teachers could effectively use technology to display information without any glitches. The use of technology in classrooms has made teaching easier but has also made generations of new student unable to retain information because everything is digitized. Teachers who are able to fully engage with students while using technology offer the most benefits to the learning capabilities of students.

Young, J. (2004). When Good Technology Means Bad Teaching. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 51(12). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/214681148/

This article, “Islamist Challenges to the ‘Liberal Peace’ Discourse: The Case of Hamas and the Israel-Palestine ‘Peace Process’” was written by Corina Mullin in 2010. It is cited as: Mullin, Corinna. 2010. “Islamist Challenges to the ‘Liberal Peace’ Discourse: The Case of Hamas and the Israel-Palestine ‘Peace Process’.” Millenium: Journal of International Studies 39 (2): 525-46. Mullin analyzes the reasons why Hamas is not used in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Hamas is an organization that focuses on the use of violence in protesting, using Islam as their basis for argument. The dispute between Israel and Palestine has been, on Israel’s side, somewhat apartheid, Palestinian Muslim’s use of suicide bombing and weapons against the state of Israel has been globally unaccepted as an anti-apartheid tactic. The article involves several frameworks including how Hamas is marginalized, how peace processes are normally executed, and the framework of the Islamist movement. Mullin’s research uses reports of acts, behaviors, and events and expert knowledge as her types of data. She also collects data by looking at other documents written about the Israel/Palestine conflict. Qualitative analysis is her method of data analysis because she analyzes people’s behavior. I think this research was very interesting and well put together, mostly because I focus on peaceful protests and its benefits in the Middle East. By looking at Mullin’s analyzation of a violent form of protest, Hamas, I was able to understand other viewpoints. I enjoy studying more peaceful ways to combat apartheidism in Israel, but I know that many Westerners only see the conflict as violent. My classmates might think this would be interesting because it somewhat validates many opinions about why Hamas is a pessimistic global view.

Data Exercise #1

Meg Rickard
SOAN 300

Code Set #1:
For the first set of codes, I used #139 (the percentage of unemployed Americans as of 1993) and #151 (the overall health ranking in America as of 1993). The r= -0.47***.When I compared maps, there was a direct correlation between the two. The higher the employment rate, the lower the quality of health was in that region. When I looked at the scatterplots, I saw that as unemployment on the x-axis increased, the health rate on the y-axis decreased. Code #139 had central tendency statistics with the median being 6.20 and the mean being 6.25. The dispersion statistics had a standard deviation of 1.44 and the range was from 2.60-10.80. Code #151 had central tendency statistics with the median being 0.00 and the mean being 5.08. The dispersion statistics showed a standard deviation of 7.95 and a range from 0.00 to 22.00.

Code Set #2:
For the second set of codes, I used #111 (the numbers of violent crimes per 100k citizens) and #120 (the amount of people put in prison for over 12 months). The r=0.69***. The map was a little more sporadic. Nevada showed more violent crime and more jail time, while Texas showed less violent crime and more jail time. The scatter plot showed that general, as crime on the x-axis increased, so did the amount of jail time on the y-axis. Code #111 had central tendency statistics with a median of 502.80 and a mean of 5.08. The dispersion statistics showed a standard deviation of 264.1 and a range of 86.7-1071.0. Code #120 had central tendency statistics with a median of 288.00 and a mean of 301.26. The dispersion statistics showed a standard deviation of 126.25 and a range of 78.00-637.00.

Code Set #3:
For the third set of codes, I used #203 (the number of Playboy subscriptions per 100k people) and #210 (the number of homes with no adult female per 1000 people). The r=0.73***. The map showed that the amount of Playboy subscriptions correlated with the lack of adult females at home in that state. If there was a high number of Playboy subscriptions in the area, there was also a lack of an adult female in the home. The scatterplot showed that as the number of male-led households on the y-axis increased, so did the amount of Playboy subscriptions on the x-axis. Code #203 had central tendency statistics with a median of 1,399.4 and a mean of 1,401.9. The dispersion statistics showed a standard deviation of 302.0 and a range of 766.3-2,388.9. Code #210 had central tendency statistics with a median of 37.21 and a mean of 38.66. The dispersion statistics showed a standard deviation of 7.82 and a range of 27.02-67.84.

This article in the peer-reviewed Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture was written by Daniel Kurtzer, the previous US ambassador to Egypt and Israel. His article is cited as:
Kurtzer, Daniel. (2017). Transformational Leadership and the Prospects for Peace. Palestine Israel Journal Of Politics, Economics & Culture, 22 (2/3), 7-14.
The link to the web-article can be found at: http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.redlands.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=f87f9d3c-c159-49d1-b891-763cfa35cbf7%40sessionmgr4007

Kurtzer analyzes the “negotiation” tactics of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s leader, Yasser Arafat, from the late 1960s until his death in 2004. Arafat used extreme violence to resist Israeli occupation, including attacks on civilians, suicide bombings, and airplane hijackings. Although he did change some of his methods, it was clear that he caused internal damage within the PLO and further resistance from Israel. Kurtzer also questions the motives of Donald Trump regarding a two-state solution and his so-called “ultimate plan”. The research question could be posed as, “What negative effects did Palestinian leaders’ negotiation tactics have on the PLO and the overall conflict between Israel and Palestine?” Kurtzer used expert knowledge and reports of acts, behaviors, and events as his types of data. In order to collect the data, he used public and private records and ethnography. His method of data analysis is qualitative. I believe this research is credible because it was found in a peer-reviewed journal and was written by a professor who has extensive knowledge about the region. One thing I found that others might find interesting is that because the article was written in July of 2017, Donald Trump’s declaration of the capital of Israel had not yet been publicized. Clearly, Trump does not believe in a two-state solution, which is exactly the point of view that Kurtzer was concerned with.

Variable Set #1:
For this set, I looked at the correlations between the death rate due to motor vehicle accidents per 100k people in 1997 (Code #62, CarDeath 97), the percent of the population uninsured from 1999-2000 (Code #83, %No Ins 00), the median age according to the 2000 census (Code #8, Med Age 2000), and the number of males per 100 females in 2000 (Code #10, SexRatio 00). The CarDeath 97 has a moderate, positive correlation of 0.39** with %NoIns 00. This was not surprising to me because if you don’t have insurance, you are less likely to be able to afford care if you are in a car accident. The %NoIns 00 has a moderate, negative correlation of -0.38** with the Med Age 2000 (not surprising because as you get older, you find it more and more important to get health insurance) and a moderate, positive correlation of 0.37** with SexRatio 00 (unsurprising because men are more likely to think they are resilient to injury, and therefore do not need health insurance). Med Age 2000 has a moderate, negative correlation of -0.45** with SexRatio 00. This was not surprising because females live longer than males. There was no correlation between Med Age 2000 and CarDeath 97 (surprising because usually, younger people get into more car accidents), and CarDeath 97 and SexRatio 00 (unsurprising because there is no correlation between sex and the ability to drive well).
I chose to use CarDeath 97 as my dependent variable because it can be influenced by a number of different factors. After running my regression analysis, I found that when I statistically controlled for Med Age 2000 and SexRatio 00, the predicted CarDeath 97 is expected to increase .42 units for every 1 unit increase in %NoIns 00 (Beta = 0.42**). When I statistically controlled for %NoIns 00 and SexRatio 00, the predicted CarDeath 97 is expected to decrease by .08 units for every 1 unit increase in Med Age 2000 (Beta =-.08). When I statistically controlled for Med Age 2000 and %NoIns 00, the CarDeath 97 is expected to decrease by .14 units for every 1 unit increase in SexRatio 00 (Beta = -.14). %NoIns 00, Med Age 2000, and SexRatio 00 account for 17.1% of the variation in CarDeath 97.

Variable Set #2:
For this set, I looked at the correlations between the Marriage rate per 1000 population in 1998 – without Nevada (79.5) (Code #19, Marry Rt 98), the number of teen births per 1000 in 1999 (Code #50, TeenBirth99), the percent of HS grads immediately enrolled in 2-yr or 4-yr colleges in 1998 (Code #87, % College 98), and the percent of the population that is black as of 2000 (Code #24, % Black 00). The Marry Rt 98 has a weak, positive correlation of 0.33* with the TeenBirth 99. This was somewhat surprising to me because I thought there would be more marriage based on the number of teens having babies. Marry Rt 98 has a weak, negative correlation of -0.35* with % College 98. This was interesting to me because as less people got married, more were seeking a college education. The % Black 00 has a strong, positive correlation of 0.54*** with Teen Birth99. I was somewhat sad to hear this because I know that people of color often have less access to resources that white people do, and to me, this looks like minorities are not receiving as much access to sexual education and birth control. There was no correlation between Marry Rt 98 and % Black 00 (not surprising because I have not seen any literature on race being a factor in marriage rate), % Black 00 and % College 98 (this was surprising because of the research done on people from different ethnicities attending college), or Teen Birth99 and % College 98 (surprising because usually, teen births result in deferring higher education).
I decided to make marriage rate my dependent variable because it had both positive and negative correlations. After running the regression analysis, I found that when I statistically controlled for % College 98 and Teen Birth99, Marry Rt 98 is predicted to decrease 0.04 units for every 1 unit increase in % Black 00 (Beta = -0.04). When I statistically controlled for % Black 00 and % College 98, Marry Rt 98 is predicted to increase 0.30 units for every 1 unit increase in Teen Birth99 (Beta = 0.30). When I statistically controlled for % Black 00 and Teen Birth99, Marry Rt 98 is predicted to decrease 0.28 units for every 1 unit increase in % College 98 (Beta = -0.28). % College 98, Teen Birth99, and % Black 00 all account for 19.3% of the variation in Marry Rt 98.

It found a very interesting article about the implementation of a community based program called “Service-Learning: Implications of Empathy and Community Engagement in Elementary School” by Katherine Scott and James Graham. The article recounts an experiment that the authors conducted about the benefits of incorporating service into the academic environment. I considered this as an aspect in the community/place-based education that I have slowly been mapping out, but I didn’t think that having as the focus would be beneficial. I read this article to compare my own opinion to that of a group of people that have already put together and executed an experiment about the results of a service based education. In this article, the goal was to increase community engagement, therefore increasing interest in the students which would increase the test scores. They also predicted that the students would have an increased level of empathy which would make them more tolerant and productive members of society.

The researchers gathered written consent from parents so that their children could participate in the study. The program that was introduced included a lesson about different aspect of community service and then was followed by some sort of project that related to that area of study. For example, what are some current issues that the students can help in, what are different ways that the students can help someone else out in the community? The goal is to educate about social issues while also giving the students the knowledge to help eliminate those issues within their own community. In assessing their findings, researchers gathered the demographics of each student such as age and socioeconomic status. These are gathered to better understand how the absorption of the material is taken based on students with different situations. The community engagement was pretty simply measured by word-of-mouth/interviews. The amount of empathy gained by each student was calculated by asking students questions and analyzing the responses. They also implemented the Garton & Gringart’s scale modified for each age group. They were asked to respond to certain questions posed by the researchers.

In the end, the results were that the community engagement and empathy overall, but it was only in the fifth graders that they reported a development in cognitive empathy. Cognitive empathy being the ability to feel or understand the emotions that an individual is experiencing. Personally, I conclude that this article is important for me to continue to analyze and include in my ultimate conclusion about my research topic. This is because I still believe that place-based education, the education that takes into account the place in which the students are taught and incorporating aspects of the surrounding community into the classroom to make lessons more relevant. Although there was more community engagement, it still comes back to the fact that classrooms need to be able to relate to the student. Service is important to build empathy and also motivation to help the community, but education needs to be able to relate to the students and a service-based learning environment focuses on other people.