Patricia Leavy, Introduction to Social Research

• Which approach among the five discussed have you utilized in your own past research?

In the past, I have used quantitative research the most often in way of interviews to gather people’s subjective experiences. In my media studies classes, I have used interviews to gain information about opinions about representation in popular movies and tv shows. I have also been a part of some psychology research projects in which I completed quantitative research surveys and activities that measured my responses to Likert questions. When writing research papers in the past, I have used mixed methods research to gather both numerical information and experiential information that works together to further understand the subject. For example, in my public speaking class, we were asked to write an informative speech and for my choose topic of the benefits of practicing yoga, I used both quantitive data to inform. I used qualitative data talking about my personal experience and the experience of others with yoga and its aid to anxiety and stress which I attained from nonformal interviews. I also used quantitative information to inform, "based off of research, practicing yoga even once a day can maintain your nervous system and lower your risk of heart disease" which I got from document analysis.

• What genre would you utilize to categorize this research?

The genre I would say that my research would fall under is most aligned with interviews, field research, and unobtrusive methods. The interviews I conducted were casual as I would take note of other topics that would arise from the discussion of yoga's benefits, the field research was aligned with my personal experiences, and I used a lot of unobtrusive methods for basic information and statistics.

• What paradigm and theory/theoretical school have you applied as the perspective to analyze this research?

I would categorize the kind of research that I've done in the past to be interpretive or constructivist as some of it had to do with subjective experiences and I would also say it held ideas of postpositivism and objective as some facts were backed by science. In my media classes, I would research reactions and attitudes towards representation whether that be of race, gender, or orientation in popular TV shows and movies that could be transformative in the sense that I was hoping that asking questions would alter the interviewee's process of thought about the media that they consumed.

• What method did you apply to conduct the research?

In my field research, I used participant observation. As I regularly practiced yoga I was observing myself and others through our practice to notice any patterns that linked themselves to my informative topic. For unobtrusive methods, I used document analysis, visual analysis, and content analysis. In my research interviews, I used mostly a semistructured approach which might equate to a more casual conversation with someone on their viewpoint on if yoga is beneficial to practice.

• After reviewing your previous research, please think about and briefly state which approach and method you will want to experiment to integrate visual study with your secondary field? Why? What knowledge or understanding can they help you gain/investigate?

After looking through my somewhat limited research experience I really want to branch out and try some more advanced methods that I haven't used before. I'd really like to experiment with a more visual method of research such as collage or photography. I'm not sure exactly how that would look but I'd be excited to learn more about how to use art as a research method. I also think that looking into literary practices of research might help me link integrated visual study with media studies. Using both the writing element of experimental writing and some sort of artistic study might allow me to explore how my two fields link together in more ways than expected. Admittedly I am having a hard time visualizing how the research will help link my two studies but I am more of a visual learner so I will hopefully catch on as we discuss more about the kinds of research and how you can use them effectively.