Assignment Showcase: “Gender Roles and the Media” Field Research Project (Jean Schwind)

Introduction

While the “facts” that you interpret and evaluate in humanities classes are usually in print and nonprint texts (literary, philosophical, and religious works; paintings; musical compositions; theatrical performances, etc.), the “facts” studied by social scientists are often empirical. That is, they are derived from the direct observation of people and social institutions in field research. The aim of this paper is to give you some experience in conducting the kind of field research that is a central means of gathering information in sociology, psychology, political science, economics, anthropology, journalism, and other disciplines.

An area of social science research that interests psychologists, sociologists, and educators is gender socialization, the process by which we form a masculine or feminine identity. A gender role is a set of cultural expectations that prescribes how females and males should act, think, and feel. Many cultural institutions contribute to our definitions of gender roles: the family, schools, popular media, religious groups, legislatures and courts, literature, etc.

Adolescence is a particularly crucial period in the formation of gender identity. Theorists and researchers believe that gender-role training becomes more intense at puberty as adolescents become increasingly aware of gender expectations. According to the gender intensification hypothesis, “psychological and behavioral differences between boys and girls become greater during early adolescence because of increased socialization pressures to conform to traditional masculine and feminine gender roles” (Santrock, 2005, p. 220). In other words, as boys and girls develop into adults physically, they are encouraged (by parents, teachers, and friends) to behave in more stereotypically masculine and feminine ways. (For example, I was admonished to “Sit like a lady!”)

Responding to this new pressure to conform to gender roles, adolescents develop heightened sensitivity to all the information our culture provides about what it means to be a man or woman. The media (TV, films, music, Internet, magazines, newspapers, electronic games, etc.) are a major source of this information. Sociologists have determined that  “the average 8-to 18-year-old in the United States spends more than 7 hours a day—more than 49 hours a week—using media” (Santrock, p. 485). Mass media present models of masculinity and femininity that influence adolescents’ gender attitudes and behavior.

Assignment:

Design a mini field research project that will help you to answer an interesting or important question about the gender role models presented to American adolescents by the mass media. Conduct your research, and then write a research report that presents and analyzes your findings.

There are three major field research methods: interviews, observations, and questionnaires or surveys. Use observation or a simple survey for this assignment.

Directions:

1) Brainstorm to come up with a list of research questions about gender role modeling in the media that you might investigate. Be careful to limit your field of research (i.e., one teen magazine or one TV show with a predominantly adolescent viewing audience) and to keep your research question narrow (i.e., “What subjects dominate the advice columns of Seventeen?” or “According to Grey’s Anatomy, what do men want?”). Some other examples:

• Survey: Whose photograph will be correctly identified by more college women¾Sandra Day O’Connor or Lindsay Lohan? Condoleeza Rice or Beyonce?

• Whose photograph will be correctly identified by more college males—Clarence Thomas or Chris Rock? Dick Cheney or Peyton Manning?
• Do the ads in Maxim and Vogue present men as “success objects”? (Callaghan, 2007, p. 401)
• How do the current “Top Favorite” videos on YouTube model male or female gender roles?

• How do the Cover Girl (or Levis or Gap or Jockey) models in 1987 and 2007 issues of Seventeen or Sports Illustrated compare and contrast? Are “ideal” women growing stronger? More assertive? More “serious” looking (i.e., in business suits rather than flimsy dresses)? Do men look sweet and approachable? Fierce and “don’t mess with me”?
• What are the major concerns of the female characters on Gossip Girls or The Hills?
• What are the major concerns of the male characters in The Simpsons?
• How does Kayne West’s Graduation define male or female gender roles? (Track 8, “Drunk and Hot Girls” looks promising.)
• · What do Tiger Woods and Maria Sharapova (Teen Choice Male and Female Athletes of the Year for 2007) reveal about gender difference in ideals of athleticism?
• What does “The Way I Are” suggest about the difference between a “lame” guy and a real man?
• Is Ms. Pac-Man a feminist?
• Do ads for identical or similar products (i.e., body wash, cars, Coke) significantly differ in Cosmo and GQ? Do these differences reflect gender norms?

2) Decide on the question you’d most like to answer through field research. It must be a question that interests you. Then determine your research method: What TV show, video, website, electronic game, CD, etc. will you observe¾and why? What exactly will you be looking for? How will you tabulate your observations? If you’re doing a simple survey, how will you frame your survey question(s)? How will you select your respondents? How many responses will you solicit? What will you tell your respondents about the purpose of your survey? What will “count” for a right answer? (Is “that black guy running for president” good enough for “Barack Obama”?) Be sure your project is narrowly defined and doable within 1 1/2 weeks.

3) Conduct your field research. Keep your eyes open for significant and unexpected details. Take careful notes on what you see and hear. If you’re examining ads or other print media, reproduce two or three of the best as illustrations for your report. (Do not take pages out of library periodicals.) Copy full URLs if you’re using Web sites.

4) Write your research report. Assume that your audience is a professor in an introductory sociology or psychology class. Your report should include these four parts (and use these subheadings):

a)      Introduction: clearly poses the question that you hoped to answer through field research, explains why this question is important, and presents a preliminary hypothesis;

b)      Methodology: carefully describes how you designed and conducted your research (see section 2, above);

c)      Data: presents your findings (a chart or graph is often the best way to do this);

d)      Discussion: interprets your data by explaining the significance of your findings and showing how these findings confirm or contradict your hypothesis.

5) Your final report should be about 3 pages. Title your report and use the more “objective” style preferred for scientific research reports. (Avoid the first person.) If you cite any secondary sources, use the APA method of documentation. That is the preferred documentation style in the social sciences, and is modeled in this handout. See Callaghan (pp. 533-550) for details.

6) Papers will be evaluated according to these criteria:

• Does the paper include all four parts described in section 4 (above)?
• Are all parts of the research report clearly and fully presented?
• Are the writer’s findings reliable? Persuasively presented?;
• Is the report well written in the scientific research report style?

7) Drafts of this paper (plus group copies) are due Tuesday, October 9. (There are serious penalties for failing to attend drafting conference: see the course syllabus.) Revisions are due Thursday, October 18. (This is a revised date.)

References

Callaghan, P. & Dobyns, A.  2007.  A meeting of minds (2^nd ed.). NY: Pearson.

Santrock, J.W.  2005.  Adolescence.  10th ed. Dubuque, IA: Brown and Benchmark.

Draft conference, paper 3: Gender Roles and the Media

October 9, 2007

Respondent: ____________                                      Paper’s author: ____________

1) Follow along as the writer reads the paper aloud. Then record your first impression: What is your initial reaction to this paper? Is the draft complete? Interesting? Reread the paper after recording your first impression. Make marginal notes on the draft and answer questions 2-6.

2) What question about gender roles presented to adolescents by the media is the writer attempting to answer through field research? Is it clearly and narrowly defined? How is the importance of this research question explained? Does the writer present a tentative hypothesis?

3) Is the research methodology adequately explained? How might the methodology description be improved?

4) Is the data gathered through field research clearly presented? Would a chart or table be better than a narrative presentation of data? Has adequate data been gathered?

5) What conclusion(s) does the writer derive from the research data? Are these conclusions valid and clearly supported by the data? Does the writer explain the significance of his/her findings? Explain.

6) Is the paper well written? Documented in APA style? Does it use the “objective” style favored for scientific research reports? Is the lead effective?

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