The following is a rough idea of what I will ask in my survey. I'm trying to create a computer program that will create a database from the provided answers, as well as allow users to digitally "sign" their surveys. I welcome all feedback and ideas, either in formatting of the quiz or in questions asked.
Page 1: Adobe acrobat signature consent page
Page 2: Demographics:
• Gender
• Age
• Average household income
• Highest level of education personally achieved
• Highest level of education achieved by parent
• Metro area
• Citizenship
Page 3: Vitals—internet usage (in hours)
• How much time to you spend online?
• How much of this time is spent on eating disorder-related websites?
• What are your favorite eating disorder websites?
• Have you visited pro-ana/mia sites?
Page 4: Vitals: personal internet
• What do you use for inspiration?
• Which of the following are on your website?
o Stats
o Pictures of yourself at various weights
o Thinspiration
o Quotations
o Tickers
o Food diary
Page 5: Personal stats
• High weight
• Low weight
• Current weight
• Goal weight
• Goal reason
• Height
• Which of the following do you do?
Restrict
Vomit
Exercise
Laxatives
Medication (what kind?)
Pick certain foods
Fast
Add your own
Page 6: History
• Diagnosis
• Was this diagnosis rofessional or personal?
• What age did you start developing food issues?
• Why?
Teased
Wanted to look good for an event
Write your own
• Anyone else in your family with an ED?
• Seen a doctor?
• How long?
• Been hospitalized?
• Been in a group?
• In recovery?
• How long?
• Medical problems related to ED: osteoporosis, hair loss, stomach problems, heart palpitations, etc.
Page 7A: Pro-ana/mia
• Number of visits in past week
• In past month?
• What have you learned: restricting, covering, exercising?
• What do you think the purpose is?
• If in therapy, does your therapist know about your web visits?
• Volunteer for phone interview?
Page 7 B: Pro-recovery
• Number of visits in past week
• In past month?
• What do you think the purpose is?
• If in therapy, does your therapist know about your web visits?
• Volunteer for phone interview?
Friday, June 30, 2006
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Statement of purpose: I want to finish my damn PhD
Within the past decade, popular media has begun to pay attention to the websites of young men and women with eating disorders. One of the most sensational type of these websites is the pro-anorexia or pro-bulimia (“pro-ana” and “pro-mia,” respectively) site. These sites function to either encourage those with eating disorders to continue to starve themselves, or they function to tout anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa not as diseases, but as lifestyle choices. Traditionally, eating disorders are the territory of psychologists. Psychologists studying eating disorders focus on the environment in which the disorder develops and exists, but this usually refers to the nuclear family or the visual media that they contend spawns this bodily deviance. I plan to use symbolic interaction to study anorexia and bulimia in a sociological context, first examining how one becomes diagnosed with an eating disorder, then to examine the recovery movement within eating disorders.
From there, I plan to examine how communities of those with eating disorders function, particularly in the use of electronic media. While media studies and journalism have examined the impact of general media on the wider community, I am particularly concerned with recovery and pro-ana/mia websites, web logs/online diaries, and message boards and how they function to help or hinder recovery. In order to assess how these web groups function, I will invite people who have eating disorder websites (either pro-anorexia/bulimia or pro-recovery) to complete an online self-assessment of their eating behaviors, onset of behavior, time spent online visiting other pro-anorexia/bulimia or pro-recovery sites, and other questions to assess how they think the online community has impacted their eating disorder. I will offer an option to complete a further interview via telephone, for further assessment.
In my MA thesis, which focused on eugenics decisions in the US from 1880 to 1920, I argued that shifting social mores created an environment where a woman’s deviant behavior of any kind could have her labeled as incompetent and sterilized against her will. I used symbolic interaction, labeling theory, and social psychology to explain that sterilization was a punishment meted out by parents to control their daughter’s bodily deviance. While that project focused on deviance of a sexual nature, my proposed dissertation project will focus on extreme weight control as a form of bodily deviance, and the pro-recovery and pro-eating disorder communities as filters through which this deviance is processed.
I am especially interested in this subject area because of my experience with eating disorders, both personally and professionally. While an undergraduate at Purdue University, I assisted in writing a handbook about eating disorders that was targeted toward the gay and lesbian community.
The University of Maryland appeals to me because of the work of Professor Melissa Milkie on pervasive beauty images and their effect on girls, and Professor John Robinson’s work on the social implications of the internet.
From there, I plan to examine how communities of those with eating disorders function, particularly in the use of electronic media. While media studies and journalism have examined the impact of general media on the wider community, I am particularly concerned with recovery and pro-ana/mia websites, web logs/online diaries, and message boards and how they function to help or hinder recovery. In order to assess how these web groups function, I will invite people who have eating disorder websites (either pro-anorexia/bulimia or pro-recovery) to complete an online self-assessment of their eating behaviors, onset of behavior, time spent online visiting other pro-anorexia/bulimia or pro-recovery sites, and other questions to assess how they think the online community has impacted their eating disorder. I will offer an option to complete a further interview via telephone, for further assessment.
In my MA thesis, which focused on eugenics decisions in the US from 1880 to 1920, I argued that shifting social mores created an environment where a woman’s deviant behavior of any kind could have her labeled as incompetent and sterilized against her will. I used symbolic interaction, labeling theory, and social psychology to explain that sterilization was a punishment meted out by parents to control their daughter’s bodily deviance. While that project focused on deviance of a sexual nature, my proposed dissertation project will focus on extreme weight control as a form of bodily deviance, and the pro-recovery and pro-eating disorder communities as filters through which this deviance is processed.
I am especially interested in this subject area because of my experience with eating disorders, both personally and professionally. While an undergraduate at Purdue University, I assisted in writing a handbook about eating disorders that was targeted toward the gay and lesbian community.
The University of Maryland appeals to me because of the work of Professor Melissa Milkie on pervasive beauty images and their effect on girls, and Professor John Robinson’s work on the social implications of the internet.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Music for all seasons
(I'm really proud of how I avoided a Rent homage.)
At the prompting of Chris, I felt compelled to create my own seasonal soundtrack. Some are recent acquisitions, and some are old favorites. So here we go:
Spring
Jack Johnson: Brushfire Fairytales
Norah Jones: Come Away With Me
KT Tunstall: Eye to the Telescope
John Coltrane: The Ultimate Blue Train
Summer
Miles Davis: Birth of Cool
Meatloaf: Bat out of Hell
Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings: Waylon & Willie
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Legend
Winter
Vince Guaraldi Trio: Greatest Hits
Sarah McLachlan: Surfacing
Cabaret: Original Motion Picture Recording
Joni Mitchell: Blue
Fall
Barenaked Ladies: Maybe You Should Drive
Nick Drake: Pink Moon
Melissa Ethridge: The Road Less Traveled
James Taylor: Greatest Hits
At the prompting of Chris, I felt compelled to create my own seasonal soundtrack. Some are recent acquisitions, and some are old favorites. So here we go:
Spring
Jack Johnson: Brushfire Fairytales
Norah Jones: Come Away With Me
KT Tunstall: Eye to the Telescope
John Coltrane: The Ultimate Blue Train
Summer
Miles Davis: Birth of Cool
Meatloaf: Bat out of Hell
Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings: Waylon & Willie
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Legend
Winter
Vince Guaraldi Trio: Greatest Hits
Sarah McLachlan: Surfacing
Cabaret: Original Motion Picture Recording
Joni Mitchell: Blue
Fall
Barenaked Ladies: Maybe You Should Drive
Nick Drake: Pink Moon
Melissa Ethridge: The Road Less Traveled
James Taylor: Greatest Hits
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Art
I re-read one of my posts about working at a performing arts camp, and remembered some of my conversations about the nature of art. The answers we came up with were, no one really can say what "art" is. (Isn't that just the perfect non-answer that you'd expect from self-described artists?) But, like pornography, we know it when we see it.
And when I see exhibits like this, it makes me want to paint, draw, and write. Check it out--it's pretty powerful stuff.
And when I see exhibits like this, it makes me want to paint, draw, and write. Check it out--it's pretty powerful stuff.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)