One step back, two steps forward

Since we are almost done with school (!!!) I am soon turning in the "final" version of my literature review and methods section, so that I am ready to go on my own. In preparation for this step, we had individual meetings with Mrs. Haag.

My meeting was very productive. While there is a lot that I have to do to make my papers as strong as they can, I feel confident in what I have to do to get there. Additionally, I am very motivated to follow through and put the most effort into this assignment, to make my research even more meaningful. Since there was a lot to do though, I consider this a small step back. I completely understand though how Mrs. Haag described the research process as recursive because each time I make a change, or decide to take a single part in a different direction, I have to go all the way back to the literature review so that my research is consistent and justified.

This weekend, I started implementing my research. I faced some challenges but it was exciting actually diving into the research. I watched the incredibles first, thinking that the singular family was very easy to define which would simplify the data collection.

It went pretty well, as I saw a lot of the traits coming up in the characters and actions. However, I think the way I collected the data is still vague and will not give me a nuanced amount of results. Specifically when coding for the authority and submissiveness of Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, they both displayed the traits of very authoritative figures. I simple checked yes or no for the traits though, so even though I would say they were more authoritative, there were still some instances of submissiveness. Therefore, I think a scale would be more nuanced in that I could account for the frequencies of traits, giving me a stronger perception of the characters within the code. The scale would be based on the amount of times a trait is displayed like I conducted for the gender personality.

Another thing I am having some trouble with is how long my code is. Because I have to sort through where to mark certain things, I often had to pause the movie. Obviously this is just a necessary evil, but I plan on trying to organize the sheet better to make it more efficient. There's a lot of information to record, and I am sure I will get more comfortable once I start coding more.

Some Progress & Setbacks

After the critique, I realized that I have a lot of editing to do on my methods section. As a class, we went through the organization and interactions between my results and I still have to effectively convey this. I also overestimated the time I would have this past week since I am still in school and tutoring. For these reasons, I am a week behind on my schedule. 

While this may sound bad, I made my schedule very lenient so that it was flexible. I planned an extra week for figuring out the discrepancies between the two times of coding and I planned to watch 6 movies a week. My schedule also planned on watching each movie twice, but I realized this was not necessary. I am still looking for a reliable statistic, but I think I will only have to watch about 25% of the movies twice for intrareader reliability. When I am done with school I think I can watch more than one movie a day. 

To start my methods, first I really need to finish editing my methods. My code sheet is pretty solid though, so I can start collecting data as soon as possible. For my own organization, I would like to get my written section solid before I jump into watching movies. 

I still think what I have accomplished is on target with the schedule right now. I have plenty of time especially when school gets out to implement my methods, but what is important now is to get feedback on my lit review and methods written section so that I am totally prepared for the implementation and collection of data. 

Another challenging part, for me, is actually starting the implementation. I feel like there is so much work up to this point that I am afraid I will start coding and it will fail. I realize this is a possibility. To combat this, I can adjust my code and finesse my methods. Either way, it is still intimidating. 

An analogy to how I imagine I would feel starting my methods... 

Or a better one for my intimidation is swimming in the winter. You’re cold standing by the pool waiting to get in and you really don’t want to get in. Finally, it gets too cold and you jump in because you have to. It’s a little colder than you expected so you keep swimming, kicking really fast to warm up. Finally after a few laps, you’re really comfortable and ready to complete a good workout. 

I’m still outside the pool. But I know the warm water is waiting, I just have to jump into my implementation.

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What are the Happenings?

Writing the methods section was a fundamental and insightful process in actually determining what in the world my research would take form in. I knew what I had to do for my methods (a content analysis) it was just a matter of figuring out the logistics. After mapping and drafting, I finally came up with a pretty solid code sheet, built off of body language and psychological studies. This will be used to code the sample of movies that I chose based on top-grossing animated films and inclusion of a family. Additionally, since I am one reader and the only person doing the research, I had to make validity precautions. To make my results solid, I am coding the movies twice and using a statistic thing (Cohen's Kappa value) to measure that the two times I coded them are near perfect agreement. With all of these numbers and validity precautions I will have a numerical scale in which I can make a qualitative conclusion on whether or not a character is following the expected stereotype.

I think one thing that I struggled with in my methods was effectively communicating what numbers I am getting and using from the code. I think my explanations of those feel forced, so I need a way to integrate them better and in a more formal, but clear manner. For example, I do not think my explanation of Cohen's kappa is that strong. Would it be helpful to provide an appendix with the equation and defined variables? To me, the averages seem pretty straight forward since everyone knows how to take an average. But what I am doing with these numbers might not be as clear as it should be.

Another weakness, I realized, in my paper was opening with a discussion of my research question in order to get to my methods. I open up by justifying the movies I chose, whereas I think I could add more about justifying a content analysis first, then moving on to the movies. I hope this will be a simple fix, by taking the information/ definitions I already have on content versus thematic analyses and moving this up to the beginning. From there, I can expand on the relation to my own research question.

Although I initially dreaded the process of writing my methods (and it was very intimidating) it has turned out to be a really interesting part for me. It is exciting to start finalizing research plans and envision what the next actions are.

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Figuring It Out

I handed in my research proposal to Mrs. Haag this morning... which means there are a lot of emotions right now. I'm proud of myself because I think I am getting an even stronger grasp on my research and what I will be doing. And I am really looking forward to starting the data collection. However, I am also nervous about more writing and conveying my methods in a way that is clear but not oversimplified.

My plan moving forward consists of reviewing my proposal, writing the methods, editing, starting validity tests, and then finally watching some movies.

There are still considerations I need to make like the best way to organize my results so that I can actually draw meaning from them. As of right now, I have a code sheet that has a column for the frequency of the behavior or attribute. But, I need to know these traits for each character and each family and each movie and then as a whole. In order to make meaningful results on a character level to a general trend, I imagine writing a qualitative analysis of whether each character fits the capitalist definition of his or her role based on whether their character has a majority of the characteristics of that role. Then, I can make a conclusion on the family as a whole, which can contribute to a discussion on whether the movie contains clearly defined families and gender or not. Once I make a conclusion on each movie, I can have a spreadsheet of these conclusions so that I can look at the sample as a whole.

If I see a trend in the possible contradictions between the characters and the capitalist structure, then I can pull specific traits and their frequencies. For this I imagine using a spreadsheet that would add up the frequencies of specific traits of every character in a certain role (ex: authoritative mother or aggressive mother). I am afraid this may be too subjective or cherry picked if I only took out data from certain characteristics. So, the other option is I could have a spreadsheet that would add the frequency of each trait in a certain role and then could look if there are contradictions. This would also strengthen the qualitative conclusions I make on the movies and sample as a whole. Realistically though, I do not know what this would look like in terms of creating a spreadsheet that can add everything up for me (especially if I have separate spreadsheets for each family or movie).

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Elevator Pitch

Strengths and Weaknesses of my Methods

I am really excited about the progress that I have made over this time. We just turned in our methods assignment and I feel like I have a good grasp on the steps I have to take to make this project happen. 

I feel really good on choosing a coded content analysis. First of all, I chose a content analysis versus other methods like a thematic analysis because I know what I want to find in movies, it is a matter of tabulating them. Other methods are more exploratory and find general trends in the movies. 

Luckily, I already have some sources that outline the things that I will need to code for, so I have a strong basis to start my research. I will then be able to make my own coding chart and improvements on the previous methods. To make improvements, I plan on turning one of the source’s questions that they answered into statements that I can more accurately code for. I plan on creating two separate coding sheets: one for gender and one for family. This means I will be coding each movie at least twice. So, I am comfortable creating the coding sheet and justifying why I am using those things. 

However, I am still shaky on defining things like when to code. For example, one source I read talked about if the scene changed it would code for a certain behavior but what if it focuses on one character then changes to another character and back to the original character? Do I code for the behavior once or twice? So it is little ambiguities that I think I will have to define in the paper (or if they are very minute I guess in my head and stay consistent in my coding). Also, I think if I code the movies more than once, I can account for these small ambiguities. 

Another factor I am unsure about is the movies that I will be watching. I originally found a source that said the 1970s was the decade the modern idea of family was solidified. But, then I realized this date coincides with Dorfman’s publication, which I am trying to say is outdated. For this reason, I am wondering if this is a contradiction or an interesting aspect that I can analyze and discuss? I do not want to arbitrarily pick the last decade, but I am also concerned about how many movies I will have to analyze. 

The Aftermath

Since it has been a while on the blog, I'll do a recap of where my project is right now and what I am researching. We just finished our literature reviews, which included my central research question, "are the Marxist definitions of familial interactions and gender distinctions represented in the family units of modern Walt Disney Studios feature-length animated films?" To answer this question, I will be looking at authority within family interactions, and how gender markers affect those interactions.

I feel like I learned a lot from writing the Literature Reviews. And it was one of those processes that now that it is mostly finalized I feel like it wasn't that bad, but we all know it was a tough assignment. I am relieved that it is done though because I feel like it helped me focus my research a lot more. Making all the connections in the lit review, made the goal of my research a lot more clear.

My first draft of the literature review was rough, mostly because I focused on getting everything in it, but not enough on making it clear. I found the critiques and comments extremely helpful in order to improve. I focused a lot on making more connections between the claims and levels of my argument throughout my literature review, which made me really think about the direction my research is going. Now, I really can see how the steps of researching are so connected because I would have to add research and think about my methods and there is still a ways to go.

Overall I am excited about my project. I already have a majority of the sources I need for the methods assignment since I looked at different content analyses to understand the academic conversation. I think the analysis of these will be more straightforward for my project. I already have some critiques of each study but will have to go through them again specifically looking at the methods part. 

The main thing I am worried about for this assignment is trying to figure out my plan especially since I have two layers going on in my project: authority and gender. So, my struggle will be defining these two and making the connection and analysis clear. I am thinking of doing two separate sections for these “variables,” but I also want to see how gender plays into authoritative roles. But, I have time (and more reading) to figure the specifics out. 

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