Wednesday, February 8, 2012
For Thursday, February 9: Positioning Yourself (Box 10)
Read the instructions and the example for "Positioning Yourself" on page 113 in your FieldWorking textbook. The purpose of this activity is to "help you uncover the assumptions, preconceptions, personal experiences, and feelings that influence you...throughout your research process" (113). In other words, consider how your own experiences and biases might influence how you select, read, interpret, and interact with your sources. Note that the authors refer to a "fieldsite," but the same approach is useful for thinking about the kinds of books and articles you will encounter on your topic: After all, real people are behind those texts.
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ReplyDeleteFor my topic I am choosing to write about media's influence on society and advertising. I will mostly be covering the subtopic of sex and scandals within the media. As a member of the media influenced age group I know what it is like to have different forms of media alter your opinions and decisions. No matter where you look sex is all around you; it is one of the largest selling points for certain brands such as alcoholic beverages and specific restaurants. However, the way the sexual interpretations are viewed is obviously up to the consumer. I am excited to get started on this topic and review all the different examples in the media currently as well as scandals that have occurred within the topic.
I am choosing to write my topic about the process of tracing back family history and exactly how to do it. I will mainly write about the steps involved in tracing back family history along with my family history as a main example. I know the difficulty in finding information about my ancestors, after listening about the process from both of my grandparents. There are many obstacles that prevent people from finding certain information, but there are alternate ways to discover family lines. I look forward to continuing with this topic and the process of tracing back family lines. I also hope to clear up any misconceptions about "trustworthy sites" or that "googling" everything does not always work.
ReplyDeleteI am researching the psychology and behavior of people in violent situations. This subject interests me because I am going to join the military. I have never been in a truly dangerous situation, but stressful situations create some of the same symptoms as violent ones. “Mind over matter” is the most important concept to remember in any stressful situation. One victory encourages people and often triggers several more victories. I know that danger is not the only thing that affects soldiers’ behavior, but also who is with them. This “peer pressure” has led to numerous instances where soldiers have acted in foul ways. I believe that people’s support of the soldiers also affects how they think and act. It does not make sense when people say “I support the troops, but not what they do”. Everyone perceives the reasons for war differently, and it seems like most people’s opinions are just inherited from people they admire. Warfare has changed dramatically over time, and I assume the psychology and behavior have changed with it.
ReplyDeleteI was brought up in a family who participates in triathlons and consumes naturally healthy food. I was born in Atlanta, Georgia later moving to South Carolina at age 15. After I graduated I moved to Indiana and decided to attend Ball State so I can receive a degree in interior design. Now I live on the legacy of my parents to graduate with high grades and to become as successful as they are. I participated as an employ at a Boy Scout camp called, Ransburg Scout reservation; where I became certified as a lifeguard, blood pathogen, and first aid certified. Naturally, I am fit from playing soccer for 14 years and enjoying manual work outside throughout the last summer.
ReplyDeleteThe subject I am researching about is nutrition of athletes. The focus of this paper is to understand how to eat properly, while being able to push yourself to the limit of your strength. Growing up with my parents who both participated in triathlons has caused my curiosity to understand why they do what they do. This particular idea is self- control at a new limit.
Since, I have grown up a triathlon family it may be hard for me to understand why people cannot acclimate to the type of lifestyle I grew up in. My strong opinion is that anyone willing to put forth the effort towards this lifestyle will succeed, although this may not be possible for some people. Nutrition aspects can be subjective towards individual bodies. Some people may not even be able to produce enough glycogen to survive in an endurance sport.
A concern I have is that I may think people understand simple terms such as glycogen will be understood. But, if the audience I am writing too has never her terms within athlete’s dialect they may not understand most of my paper. Another worry of mine is that many people will not be able to relate to my family and there lifestyle choices. Although, I do not want to dumb down my paper this may insult my audience who have already participated in this type of culture. Hopefully the context of my paper will be in the middle to the audience and can relate to both non-athletes and athletes about nutrition.
I am writing my research paper on vaccines, with a focus on their impact on children. There is an on-going controversy on whether vaccines should be required or not, because some of them are live. I personally think that it should be the parents choice to have their child vaccinated, but on the other I do realize the benefits that vaccines have. I want a better understand the reasons that people have for wanting or not wanting vaccines.
ReplyDeleteFor my project, I am researching different skills behind the career of architecture. I will not only write specifically about what this career entails but also how it can be linked to the career of interior design. Also in regards to these careers, I plan to write about some of the essential skills such as creativity, sense of design, and also an open mind. Since I have interviewed both an architect and an interior designer, I also plan to see how their opinions about aspects of these careers can overlap. It is interesting to see how people from differing yet similar career fields could inadvertently come to an agreement on the main focus of design. Since I have been more involved in the career of architecture, I think that will cause many of my resources to be architecturally based. This could then also cause me to interpret them in the same sense with architecture coming first.
ReplyDeleteI am from Cuba, I moved to the United States a couple of years ago. So, as a part of the Latino community, I know that aspects of Hispanic culture such as the Spanish language and family values are "common denominators" of the Hispanic culture; but Hispanic culture is not made only out these two things. In order to better understand Hispanic culture, I will try to subdivide Hispanic culture into several sub-regions based on geography, politics, demographics and economy of different Latin American countries. So, the focus of this research is not only to understand the similarities between Latin America countries, but also its differences. Some aspects of the Latin American culture I will be looking throughout my research are how Hispanics make use of the personal-private space, gender and society, politic within a particular country or an area, economy, and education.
ReplyDeleteI am researching the legacy of the Friends church, and the ways that has been passed on through generations because I call myself a Quaker, and though everything that I hear about what that means seems to fit my spirituality, I still don't feel comfortable in my knowledge of the Friends' beliefs, and I want to be knowledgeable about something that is a sort of modifier to my Christian faith. The Quaker church is and has been a huge proponent of equality, and as such, I don't believe any of my demographics will factor much into my perceptions of what I read, but my status as a Christian does make me use language one might not normally hear outside the church, and I look at parts of the Friends' faith differently than a non-believer might.
ReplyDeleteBranching out from my first essay, I am going to discover why and how Milltown went from a nice, known town to off the radar recently. I am from Milltown and my first-hand experiences have only been with the recent declined town. I interviewed my grandmother twice which provided me with the interest in the town from the past and also my father is the Mayor of Milltown which encourages me to find out how the town fizzled out. I plan on getting different stories and views on aspects from at least six or seven other Milltown residents and with their help and my fathers I am going to find artifacts from around the town to help in my essay. I am looking forward to doing something that no one has done yet. :)
ReplyDeleteI am going to research the impact that the Internet has on today's youth. I believe that the are detriments to using the Internet at such a young age. I have already Interviewed my mother twice on the topic and have found that she shares many of the same beliefs that i have on the topic. I think that I have a fairly good understanding of the topic because I have grown up using the Internet myself so I can relate to the topic.
ReplyDeleteI am writing my research paper on how nurses communicate with patients in different settings and situations. I choose this because after my interview I wanted to expand on the topic. My mother is a nurse so I have heard her talk about her job all my life. I don't believe I have a fixed position that will affect my view. My subjective position of being the daughter of a nurse might affect my view because of the information I have heard from my mother over the years.
ReplyDeleteAfter interviewing my informant on the implications her faith and identity as a Christian affected her work as a nurse in the medical field, I have decided to further researching the correlations between religion and spiritual beliefs and how it affects a patient's health and recovery process. As I am a Christian, I recognize that through my research, I will be more inclined to understand how one's beliefs particularly in Christianity affect their health; yet, I am curious to discover how faiths in other religions as well as having no spiritual beliefs affect a patients health.
ReplyDeleteI am writing my research paper on how weddings are different in different cultures. I choose this topic after talking to my friend Saadia and realizing how different the Indian and Pakistani culture was from that of most American culture weddings. I was intrigued by the detail and time Indian and Pakistani culture put into their weddings. Yet, I was almost appalled at the way women were so belittled through out the culture. If I have any bias in writing my paper it would be that of a woman and also the friend of a woman who was raised on this culture where she learned she had a disadvantage in life simply because she is a female.
ReplyDeleteI am going to do my research paper on type 1 diabetes and its history and expansion of treatment. I am choosing this topic because I myself am a type 1 diabetic and have never really looked into the history of diabetes and its origins. Being a diabetic, I will be able to understand more about what i am researching and will be able to use what i already know to better support/explain what I'm talking about. I am curious to learn what forms of treatment were used for diabetes before the lack of insulin was found as the culprit of diabetes and how diabetics lived with those treatments compared to how I live with it today.
ReplyDeleteI am writing my research paper about corporate relocations and the effects that has on families. Through my interview process, I learned how my mother dealt with moving around a lot while growing up, I think that this might influence my perception of the impact of relocation on families especially the children. I also interned in a corporation’s Human Resources office. This company did a lot of relocations, so I have seen the positive effects they can have on the companies.
ReplyDeleteI have chosen to write my research paper on how hospitals deny patient's care due to their disease's state. I became interested in this topic because a close family member of mine was told that she could not be readmitted for chemotherapy. Although she had the necessary insurance and paper work filed, it turned out that the IUPUI medical center did not want to readmit her because of her chance of living was low. They did not want to make themselves look bad. I will explore this topic through talking about points such as liability, risk management, and patient's rights.
ReplyDeleteAfter conducting an interview on pregnancy back in the ‘50s and ‘60s compared to today, I have decided to continue my research on the correlations between the use of drugs and alcohol during pregnancy and diseases like Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and other genetic mutations. Personally, I don’t think I will have a fixed position towards this subject, but rather feel as though I will gain insight on the causes and symptoms on an array of diseases dealing with drugs and alcohol on the fetus.
ReplyDeleteThe topic of my project will be centered around designer babies, beginning with a synopsis of genetics. I know that when I write this paper, it will be very difficult for me to be unbiased in the fact that I am completely against designing your own baby with genetic engineering and mutations. Because of this, I will have to be very aware that it does not affect my piece. I wanted to research this to better influence my audience about the different ways that this could possibly wreak havoc on a person or culture.
ReplyDeleteI am writing my research paper about vegan lifestyles and its impact on health, the environment, and why it is we have evolved to believe certain animals deserve better treatment than other animals. I chose this topic originally for my interview, because I had yet to ever personally meet another vegan other than myself and was interested in speaking with someone else who shared my same beliefs. I do try to look at two sides of everything especially when it comes to my personal beliefs as a vegan and the everyday habits of society. I am going to do my best to look at both sides of the debate and try not to have any "fixed positions" until I fully research each area. I believe that looking at both sides of the fence, my research will be more persuasive and factual, then just focusing on what I personally believe is the best way to live. I hope by keeping an open mind and not strictly sticking to my own beliefs, it will have a positive affect on my essay overall.
ReplyDeleteI am analyzing and justifying the fragility of the African American psyche, by interlacing economics and historical occurrences. I am directly invested into this topic, because I am African American. I have devoted the past two years acquiring knowledge on this subject. I am eager to analyze this issue in a way that has yet to be done (I think). I only aspire to inform my audience; not to persuade.
ReplyDelete