Research Process

I wanted to do this topic in order to find out more information on a field of work that i might possibly go into. To find this topic i just had to think about something that i wanted to find out in depth reasons in why people feel the way they do towards chiropractic as a health care alternative/complement. After doing some research my view did change i used to think that a lot of people were die hard against chiropractic care and in my research i have found that although there are people like that in the world, there are still many people that are for it (chiropractic care) and that number is growing exponentially with the more and more studys that give evidence that it is not just an unscientific cult. I feel in the future only more work will be done, and more studies, solidifying Chiropractic care as a great alternative/complement to modern western medicine, and as this happens more, people will be informed and educated on the positives of this new age medical care, and it will only grow in popularity, and mature as a science/art in helping people in a different non western way. In doing my research i have found the hardest part is that there are not many books on the topic, and there are few scholarly articles as well. What i feel will happen then is i will have to rely more on my interviews as a main part so i will need great questions that and great answers from the people i interview. In doing this paper i hope that if i do decide to pursue the Chiropractic degree, i will be able to help stop ignorance on the topic and help understand the reasons why people think the way they do about chiropractic in order to find ways to better educate them.

Paraphrasing

There should be very little of a final draft that is quoted from sources, about ten percent. In the majority of students research papers there is too much quotation used, and must be limited. A good way in doing so is while taking notes to limit the amount of quotes written down and therefore in the final paper there will be less as well.

Tipping point recap

In thinking about question one and focusing on my research question topic, I feel that making people more aware about the options for health care in my community at home would be a great social action that i could do. A possible way to do this maybe would be to hold a party, its pretty hard to get people together and what better a way than with beer. Then find people who the members of the community trust, such as mavens, salesmen and connector to get people together and teach them about the different options.

I forget what chapter i saw this in, i think it might have been the power of context, but the example I'm pretty sure we have all done, when you are waiting at a cross walk, unsure if you should pass, when someone abruptly walks right past you, then of course you walk directly after. This is just an broad example, that can be used for many other epidemics such as teen suicide, and smoking just to name a few.

There are two really great themes that i will take from this book, one was expressed in chapter 8, about the woman who, with what she had was able to rise awareness of breast cancer, without asking for huge grants for advertisement, all she did was change the context and find mavens, connectors and salesmen by moving it to beauty salons and teaching through the stylists. The second idea that i will apply to my personal life is that word the principal of human contact and word of mouth is so much more appreciated so to say, and it will only become more and more powerful as immunity and isolation grow in our culture.

Chapter three discussion questions

1. The story of Bernie Goetz was that he was a man who was on the subway in NYC and was being essentially robbed, and instead of giving five dollars up shot 4 kids who all ended up having criminal records. Was this right? At first I thought that what he did was not so bad, but the more i think of it, i believe it was plain wrong. What really changed my mind was the video we watched in class, in it Goetz was simply cold, and had no remorse whatsoever and even said he did a favor to society by shooting them.

2. I definitely believe in the power of context. We are all products of our environment, I would like to think that the environment that you are brought up in is the one that affects you the most. Therefore if you were brought up in a good and honest environment that you will be a good and honest person as goes for the complete opposite. I believe there are exceptions as well because people do learn as they get older, but I think if a person grew up in a house full of hostility, then they have a better chance of being hostile if the situation presents itself. I think those certain individuals are more sensitive to their environment. As for my behavior the environment does somewhat effect my behavior, but I feel I have the strength and morals to do what I think is right.

English undergrad

One of the conferences i attended was titledtranscedental meditation and the internet: Two approaches to omniscience, their expression in, and effect on literature. I figured it would be the most interesting out of all of the choices, and it sounded like something i would like to learn more about. There were few people who attended a couple grad students with some undergrads as well. The presentation itself was not exactly what i had expected, a little unorganized and nothing very formal about it, seemingly just thrown together. But luckily there were two people there who were there to bring their own views upon the situation. Initially i didnt follow anything the presenter was saying, but when they got into conversations about it there were very interesting views brought about. For instance transcedental meditation is just taking yourself away from this sometimes stressful anxiety filled life. What is the difference between that and going onto the internet and looking something up, and then following links, and before you know it you've been on the internet for 3 hours. They compared this to a form of meditation, because in a way it takes you out of reality in a sense.

chapter 2 blog

In chapter 2 Gladwell talked about the Law of the Few and talks about the few people that have the ability to communicate superior to others. I think that the most interesting argument he presented was when he was talking about 6 degrees of separaration and how the did the study that they sent out letters and told the people to send them to people who they thought would know the stockbroker. Well it turned out that half of the letters were recieved by 3 people. And in this being shown changes the definition that we all know about the six degrees of separation, i used to think it was everyone was linked together in 6 steps but it changes that definition to "it means that a very small number of people are linked to everyone else in a few steps , and the rest of us are linked to the world through those special few", i thought that was a very interesting twist on what i thought i knew.

working with your reading

The type of reading i am normally used to doing is just science textbook straight facts mostly. And Gladwells book is similar in that they both contain very factual information, but they are both presented in different ways. The text book is just straightforward information while gladwell has some flow to it, and makes the facts more interesting by using things we already know a lot about and expanding upon them with his research. He also involves personal observations.

Malcom Gladwell raises the issue of the tipping point in society of trends/ epidemics, he does this in order to shed light upon things we do not normally see. For instance the hushpuppy trend, i knew of this, but not the origin of it, and how it started with only a few kids in New York trying to be different. Gladwell argues that something small can have a big effect on society. By observing specific instances that actually happend and researching possible factors supporting his claim. Gladwell concludes that there are many instances of this "tipping point" such as stated above the hush puppys, others including, the syphilis epidemic in Baltimore showing how the small reduction in physicians turned into a large increase in the disease, and the reduction in crime of New York City.

Social Diversity

I believe that there will always be social diversity, and i think that it is a good thing. There will always be people who choose to be ignorant and not learn from each other, but i feel that with diversity it makes life interesting, and there will always be something to learn from one another. Just think if everyone were the same, the world would be so bland of a place to live in. Certain things do need to be worked on of course like the discrimination, and prejudice that comes along with social diversity, and like i said before there probably will always be those people that choose not to understand other people. But i am proud and glad to live in America where it is the mixing pot of social diversity, and i think if everyone opens their mind a little they will be too.

Since i screwed up earlier and didnt post this i will post it now.
I am Michael Barbato I am from Greensburg Pa, I am in the pre chiropractic/ Natural science major, and i am currently a junior here at IUP.

Brainstorming about social research

I would like to research the social acceptance of chiropractic care, in being a pre chiropractic/ natural science major, i feel it would be a very interesting topic to see how different groups in society view chiropractic as a form of health care. Maybe interviewing groups of people being in the older grandparent/ babyboomer age, the parents, and the young adult or age group of around 18-25. I would like to see how these different social groups view chiropractic care and maybe learn different angles on how to educate them on the topic. This is important to me being a prospective chiropractic student, and feeling that chiropractic care has been important in my life so far, and in wanting to "share the wealth" so to say with others in a way to help better peoples health, and perhaps their life in general.

Thinking back to when i was a child i only remember writing as a means to answer short essay questions at the end of a test, there was not much use other than that in elementary school. As i got older into middle school there were other reasons to write, maybe a paper or something of that sort. But it wasn't until high school that i felt i needed to know how to write, we were tested in our ability to write in different ways, like persuasive, imperative, and a couple other types of writing of which i forget. Later in high school there was a big research paper called the senior project that i had to complete, and other than that i didn't write much because i always avoided writing because i didn't enjoy doing it and had struggled doing it. I have always been fairly good at answering short essays for questions, but when it came to writing longer papers, i have always fell short, not being able to make the length of them what teachers have wanted, and when i did make them the correct length they were normally just filled with bs. I rarely use writing in my daily life, i rarely email, text or write letters unless i absolutely have to.