My Research Journal

Digital Politics Infographic: Who Uses Social Media?

2012-12-06T03:22:17Z

http://pewinternet.org/Infographics/2012/Digital-Politics.aspx

This is an awesome infographic that depicts findings from the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project. I love the visual that they use, but I think it's also important that they give links to the description of their study. Research that gives all the information of how it was conducted is the most credible. I think it also helps that we know that Pew Research Center is a credible research organization, so great studies like this one are to be expected.

Gallup Poll: In U.S., More Cite Obesity as Most Urgent Problem Analysis

2012-12-06T03:11:36Z

http://www.gallup.com/poll/159083/cite-obesity-urgent-health-problem.aspx

More Americans than in the past say obesity is the most urgent health problem facing the United States, climbing to a new high of 16%. That compares with 1% in 1999, when Gallup began asking the question on an annual basis.

It looks like this poll was conducted longitudinally, over a span of about 13 years. This survey was in a open-ended question format. The most recent survey was conducted November 15-18 2012 and was distributed to a random sample of 1,015 adults, about equal men and women participated. The article even includes that this survey was conducted over the telephone.

I really liked this article because it gave great, in depth information about the survey, how it was conducted, and insightful results. I was a little surprised that it was an open question format survey, considering how long it can take an open-ended question survey to code.

Gallup Poll: In U.S., More Cite Obesity as Most Urgent Problem

2012-12-06T03:10:36Z

Senior driving safer than teens according to study

2012-12-06T02:52:03Z

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/05/senior-driving-safer-than-teens_n_2237499.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

This article talks about a recent study completed by AAA that shows, maybe despite stereotypes, that senior drivers are in fact safer drivers than teenagers. Their research is supported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Insurance Institute For Highway Safety.

I think this study is really interesting. I like how the article gives possible reasons for why the results are what they are. It's always nice when doing research to be able to gain and give insights to people. It's also crucial, if teaming up with other people or organizations for research purposes, that those people or organizations are credible, with credible research techniques.

How a hyper-gendered age of toys affect children

2012-12-06T02:46:03Z

video platform video management video solutions video player

How a hyper-gendered age of toys affect children

2012-12-06T02:40:30Z

Author Peggy Orentstein has studied family politics and gender for years. She says we are fighting the same battles we did in the 1970s with gender specific toys. One study that she talked about showed that 3 year old girls with older brothers have better spacial skills and are more excepting of gender-neutral toys. I thought it was interesting how unspecific she described the study. What type of study was it? A longitudinal? Was this based on observation or surveys? How many people were studied and where? There are still so many questions that need to be answered.

The Real Reason You Have Insomnia

2012-12-06T02:29:28Z

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/advice/health/insomnia-causes#slide-10

This Cosmopolitan article cites reasons why you may not be able to sleep, proven by sleep experts. I wondered while reading this what types of studies and/or research were completed to give these reasons. I know that Cosmopolitan doesn't use extremely scientific research studies to cite their work, but it would have been nice to know, as well as it would have been more credible with better source citation and method explanation.

10 Astonishing New Species Discovered in 2012 Analysis

2012-12-06T01:32:46Z

Even with billion dollar satellites and high tech monitoring equipment, researchers are still able to find new species on land and at sea. This fascinating article makes me wonder how advanced technology will have an impact on future research. It's interesting to think, just 20 years ago people never even took surveys online, and now it is the most popular and used way to survey people. Just what exactly does our future hold for research techniques?

10 Astonishing New Species Discovered

2012-12-06T01:12:36Z

College Enrollment Hits All Time High

2012-12-06T00:43:57Z

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2009/10/29/college-enrollment-hits-all-time-high-fueled-by-community-college-surge/

This article is based on the report completed by the Pew Research Center's analysis of the October 2008 Current Population Survey and Census Bureau's historical time series on college enrollment available on the Census Bureau's website. The article states that the latest census shows that there are more college students enrolled than ever, primarily due to a surge in community college enrollment.

My criticism with this article is that it was just recently published, but the results of the census show numbers from 2008, which was almost 5 years ago. I think this article may be a bit misleading for people reading it that think these are the most current numbers. I think it should have been more important to state clearly in the article that the information is from 2008 and there could be different trends now.

French Sperm Count Falls By A Third

2012-12-05T01:34:21Z

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20593467

The sperm count of French men fell by a third between 1989 and 2005, a study suggests. The semen of more than 26,600 French men was tested in the study, reported in the journal Human Reproduction.Researchers say this constitutes a serious health warning.
From the looks of this article and study, it looks like the next phase of research will be about what is causing the decrease. Some researchers hypothesize it is most likely due to a high fat diet combined with increased chemical exposure in the environment.
Since this study took place over a period of years, it is important that the methods remained the same for comparison, which is noted in the article. When setting up experiments, it is also important to take into consideration important factors, which this study did when taking into consideration factors that affect sperm quality, such as age, smoking, and weight.

Scientists Discover Oldest Dinosaur Yet Analysis

2012-12-05T00:54:23Z

New findings show that dinosaurs have been around longer than anyone expected. With new data collection from researchers, they hypothesize that the newly collected bones (data) reveal a number of common characteristics shared with early dinosaurs and their close relatives. The interesting part of this story is that the bones were found in the 1930s, first described in the 1950s, but never published, and now 80 years later the researchers are putting all the pieces together.
I think this article is interesting because of how the data has been used over the years. It shows that data is important, and essential, and shouldn't be forgotten. If we don't have the technology now to make sense of the data, it is a possibility that in the future we will have the technology and more educated researchers to work with the data.

Scientists Discover Oldest Dinosaur Yet

2012-12-05T00:39:28Z

Health Behaviors of College Women Survey Analysis

2012-12-04T23:59:16Z

This survey was on health behaviors and perceptions of college women. It was quite a long survey, about 30 questions with a mix of both scaled questions and open-formatted questions. The survey began with demographic questions, followed by perceptions of social issues, and then questions about sexual/relationship behavior while at college. I thought the survey was really interesting and the results could be really insightful at the end. This survey offered an incentive of a chance to win a $25 Target gift card. I wonder if this had any effect on the number of people who participated in the survey. As we have learned in class, incentives can play an advantageous role in the number of people who participate.
I thought that the questions were formatted well and didn't involve any leading or loaded phrases, which could have been easy to do considering the topic of the questions. The only criticism I have of this survey is a question that asked about which generation of my family immigrated to the United States. The only options were me, my parents, or my grandparents, which none of these options fit my situation. If I were to rewrite the survey, that would really be my only correction.

Health Behaviors of College Women Survey

2012-12-04T23:57:48Z