Research Example #5

Wiedermann, Wolfgang, Jürg Niggli, and Ulrich Frick. “The Lemming-Effect: Harm Perception of Psychotropic Substances among Music Festival Visitors.” Health, Risk & Society 16, no. 4 (May 2014): 323–38. doi:10.1080/13698575.2014.930817.

 

This article focuses on the public’s perception of how harmful psychotropic substances are among music festival goers. The researchers surveyed a sample of 367 attendees of the Open-Air St. Gallen music festival in Switzerland in 2009. The study specifically focused on the perceived harm of heroin, cocaine, cannabis, alcohol, and tobacco by using a split-ballot experiment to find out the impact cognitive accessibility of high drug consumption norms on perceived drug-related harm has in a social context that encourages drug use. Many harm minimization approaches focus on the harm that can be done with substance use, while others focus on a zero-tolerance based approach that assumes that the harm is inherent in the substance itself, in an aim to reduce the consumption of substances at these types of events.  Researchers found evidence that suggests that people shape their patterns of substance consumption and other health-related behaviors at these events around how said behavior is perceived by their peers. This is another great example of a study that has already been conducted regarding certain topics I discuss in my project. I believe that feedback of social norms strongly affects behavior, specifically for these types of events because of the very positive and communal attitudes this culture greatly supports.

 

Research Example #4

Ballou, Brian, Norman H. Godwin, and Van Tilbury. “Riverfest: Managing Risk and Measuring Performance at Little Rock’s Annual Music and Arts Festival.” Issues in Accounting Education 15, no. 3 (08, 2000): 483-512. http://ezproxy.redlands.edu/docview/210899031?accountid=14729.

 

This is a case that focuses on the operations of Arkansas’ largest annual arts and music festival, Riverfest. It is centered around Merle Flowers, a CPA whom executive director or Riverfest Van Tilbury has hired to conduct the assessment process. After providing a brief introduction and background of Riverfest, the case dives deep into the current operations of Riverfest, discussing all the main components that go into putting on an event of this size in great detail. This case was designed to give students an opportunity to assume the role of Merle Flowers, in this case, to try and identify business process risks, evaluate and consider possible improvments to the control of those risks, and develop a way to measure the elements of Riverfest’s operations that may possibly improve or help monitor the organization’s performance. I think that this is a great source to use for my paper because it gives me real world examples and questions that one may face when doing research in this subject. It even gives me potential solutions to the questions asked, which can help me have a better understanding of what exactly to be looking for when I discuss my research project. That way, when forming potential survey or interview questions, I will be able to word them in a way that may influence the best possible answer out of potential respondents.

Research Example #3

Brown, Steve and Alison Hutton. “Developments in the Real-Time Evaluation of Audience Behaviour at Planned Events.” International Journal of Event and Festival Management 4, no. 1 (2013): 43-55. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.redlands.edu/10.1108/17582951311307502. http://ezproxy.redlands.edu/docview/1315386691?accountid=14729.

 

This article focuses on the role that having psychological understanding of your audience has on the design and layout of a music festival. At the time this article was written, it examines current research being conducted in Sweden, Austria, and Australia looking for trends that may appear between them. This paper found strong evidence for the fact that real time data collection of audiences provides insights into the effective design and management, mainly risk management, of planned mass-gathering events. It makes arguments for an increase in research and analysis, in real time, of audience behavior in large events like music festivals in order to develop a better understanding of the effects that the event design has on the crowd as a whole. I think this is a great source for my project because of its scholarly status and direct relevance to my topic. It provides great detailed examples of the different design layouts of music festivals all over the globe and how it specifically affected the experience of the entire music festival for the audience. The results of the research conducted hits almost every point I make in my project, which gives me an incredible example of what my project may look like.

Causes and consequences of sea urchin abundance and diversity in Kenyan coral reef lagoons

Laugan Miller

Jim Spickard

Research Methods

3/24/19

 

 

Causes and consequences of sea urchin abundance and diversity in Kenyan coral reef lagoons

This research takes place in Kenyan Coral reef lagoons. The purpose of this study was to look at the main predators of sea urchins, the effect of predation on sea-urchin community structure, and the effect that an increase in sea urchin populations as well as a decrease in finfish populations would have on lagoonal substrate. This research looked at 6 different reef sites, two of which are protected. At these reefs, fish and sea urchin abundance was looked at as well as other factors. Finfish populations we 4X denser in protected areas and sea urchins larger than 100X denser. predation rates on sea urchins were 4 times lower in unprotected reefs, because their predators were not protected and were being fished. But then the artile said Balistad was the only fish that had a higher population in protected areas than in non-protected. Balistad populations were negatively correlated with sea urchin populations. The decrease in top invertebrate eating carnivores had a negative effect on the entire ecosystem of the coral reef. I would like to get the full document to look at how this reflects on other coral reefs with sea urchins and the relationship between top predator populations and sea urchin populations.

McClanahan, T. R., and S. H. Shafir. “Causes and Consequences of Sea Urchin Abundance and Diversity in Kenyan Coral Reef Lagoons.” SpringerLink, Springer-Verlag, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00317561.

 

 

Research Ex #5

Patton, Robert C., and Dennis E. Gregory. “Perceptions of Safety by On-Campus Location, Rurality, and Type of Security/Police Force: The Case of the Community College.” Journal of College Student Development, vol. 55, no. 5, 2014, pp. 451–460., doi:10.1353/csd.2014.0049.

This study examined Virginia community college students’ perceptions of campus safety. A survey of 11,161 students revealed the crimes students most feared being a victim of while on the community college campus and the areas in which they felt the most and least safe. The research also demonstrated the effect of certain variables had on students’ overall perception of campus safety. The variables studied included student demographics, the presence and type of security personnel, and the rurality of the campus setting. The campuses with the highest and lowest degrees of perceived safety were then further studied via case studies to gather detailed information, which may assist college administrators and policymakers in improving campus safety on community college campuses.

The article’s topic is perceptions of college campus safety. The research question is how do demographics, location, level of security, etc. affect a community college student’s perception of safety on campus? The type of data needed for this research project shallow and deeply held opinions and attitudes, demographic data, and reports of acts, behavior, and events.

The quantitative portion of the study utilized a non experimental survey research design. This study used electronic surveys to collect data on students’ perceptions of campus safety. After they got the results from the surveys, they collected qualitative data through case studies. They identified the most and the least safe based on student responses to the survey. The purpose of this case study was to identify characteristics, actions, and policies that may have affected students’ perceptions of campus safety.

I think that this source provides a great deal of information on perceptions of campus safety. I think that the data collection methods the researchers used were good and I think that it was good that they did both surveys and case studies. This is a great way to discover a lot, while also keeping the research budget relatively low, in comparison to doing case studies everywhere. I thought that this source was relative to the research topic we chose to do our interview practice with.

Research Example #4

Kosloski, M., & Ritz, J. (n.d.). Research Needs: Career and Technical Education. Career and      Technical Education Research, 41(2), 117–140. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.5328/         cter41.2.107

This study was written by two professors from Old Dominion University, Michael Kosloski Jr. and John Ritz, both of which are involved with the school’s STEM and professional studies department. They choose to discuss the need for more research into the field of CTE and what aspects of the program that should be a review for further adjustments. To do this the looked at the past research and the ideas that they studied. Then gathered some of the past researchers and authors of these works to partake in a panel. They used a Delphi study, where they had 4 and in each round, the panelist was asked to expand on the topics that have been and still need to be researched. From this, they gathered 11 topics based off of their set of criteria that are the most important aspect of CTE that has yet to be fully explored. Their findings are similar to the findings of Furbish and his collaborators’ article, both studies concluded that CTE is a very under-researched field. Yet, both articles agree that these programs need to be studied further especially in today’s modern era so that students can get the most out of their education. In order to account for bias, I must state that these are topics that have been found to be important based off of a set of criteria that the authors put together themselves and may not represent the entire fields views. However, this articles is well designed and easy to read; I would recommend it for anyone interested in furthering CTE research or who needs help finding a topic to choose. These authors share my same feelings that are paramount that educators of today’s students must continue to be “finding more information about what needs to be researched for improved delivery of career and technical education” (Kosloski, 2016. 1).  Careers change every year and if we don’t evolve our CTE programs we will fail to educate our students for the careers and life in the 21st t century.

Research Example #5

Schneider, J., & Foot, R. (n.d.). Teaching Strategies to Support Vocational Education Students’ Reading Literacy. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 86(1), 32–36.

This study from Jennifer Schneider and Rachel Foot, both associated with Kent State University in the School of Teaching and Learning, they discuss the need for new teaching methods that address a wider variety of texts. This is a skill that is lacking in our students today thus causing them to struggle in the workplace. After looking at teaching methods they outline four practices that have been found to improve student’s summarizing, sequencing, predicting/ hypothesizing, retelling, extending information, finding information, comparing and contrasting, giving opinions, and evaluating. There finding was similar to the findings in the article “Let’s Not Forget the Career in College”, since both articles see the need for a change in the way our language arts are being taught. The article from, Schneider and Foot, however, is shorter and their methods are outlined in clear concise paragraphs clearly stated. The author’s findings may impact my research because they outline four key methods that can easily be implemented in primary and secondary schools.

Research Example #5

Gunewardena, Nandini, “Human Security versus Neoliberal Approaches to Disaster Recovery”, in Gunewardena, Nandini and Schuller, Mark Capitalizing on Catastrophe: Neoliberal Strategies in Disaster Reconstruction, AltaMira Press, (2008).

Using a descriptive case study logic, Nandini Gunewardena analyzes the relationships of “‘natural’ and human-mediated disasters,'” (3) to better understand destructive processes. She focuses on the after-effects of natural disasters, specifically the limitations and restrictions set against market economies and what she describes as the “neoliberal economic doctrine” (4). Documenting the paradigm shift from humanitarian aid based on genuine desire to ease human suffering to corporate, free-market incentivized “investments” in recovery, Gunewardena explores the loss of human sympathy and strategies to profit from disasters. By using neoliberal strategies to commodify developments in a post-disaster context effectively intensify underlying socioeconomic vulnerabilities for marginalized communities, increasing social and economic inequalities for overlooked communities. This work aligns very well with my research design, essentially bringing together the issues highlighted by all of my research examples and sources. Seeing the same ideas I wrote on for my extended design outline exemplified in just one chapter of this book shows the potential evidence I could draw from this literature in continuing my research design.

Research Exercise #5

Wheeler, Barbara L,PhD., M.T.-B.C. (2007). Receptive methods in music therapy: Techniques bbbbbiand clinical applications for music therapy clinicians, educators and students. Music bbbbbiTherapy Perspectives, 25(2), 127-129.

 

This source covers the methods and descriptions of techniques a Music Therapist Clinician would use whilst performing their job and other aspects of what a Music Therapist Clinician does. Working with multiple techniques and showing tables outlining multiple ways to apply each methods. (Abstract) “This practical book describes the specific use of receptive (listening) methods and techniques in music therapy clinical practice and research, including relaxation with music for children and adults, the use of visualisation and imagery, music and collage, song-lyric discussion, vibroacoustic applications, music and movement techniques”. Wheeler’s book was not exactly a research project based book, but rather than just on the topic of music therapy clinician practices. I liked this book because it gave me background on more factors that may playa role in getting my results, and what I need to take account of rather than just me shooting from the hip and hoping for the best. This research was interesting and useful for me because rather on explicitly explaining the exact results, it showed what was important leading up to the procedures and the actual procedures. Something I did not know before that I now do is that in order to obtain desirable results, you have to create an environment that resembles what you are trying to replicate. This helped me a lot because now instead of just sitting people down say in the library, maybe I would be able to go outside in an open grass area, or a more run down space in order to inflate my results. I think people will find this book interesting because it shows the process of music therapy rather than just the results we see in articles or on twitter.

Overfishing reduces resilience of kelp beds to climate-driven catastrophic phase shift

Laugan Miller

Jim Spickard

Research Methods

3/19/19

 

Overfishing reduces resilience of kelp beds to climate-driven catastrophic phase shift

In Tasmania coastal waters are warming approximately 4 times higher than the average elsewhere. This has led to an increase in sea urchin levels which are causing deforestation of kelp beds and loss of biodiversity. These sea barrens are especially predominet in areas where fishing has wiped out sea urchin predators, specifically lobsters. The point of this research was to look at if areas in Tasmania with increased rates of fishing effected have a negative impact on the resilience of kelp beds and increase the amount of overgrazing by C. rogers a long-spined sea urchins. To test this theory, C. rogers were put in to reefs in Tasmania where there are no-take MPAs with large amounts of and other reefs that have open fishing and have low levels of sea urchin predators. In Australia C. Rodgers has had the highest damage of shallow reefs. The results showed that sea urchins were not able to grow their numbers as large in areas where there predators were present. It was also important that lobsters were large enough to be able to wrap around the sea urchins which is not found in most areas with fishing.

 

Ling, S. D., et al. “Overfishing Reduces Resilience of Kelp Beds to Climate-Driven Catastrophic Phase Shift.” PNAS, National Academy of Sciences, 29 Dec. 2009, www.pnas.org/content/106/52/22341.full.