Research Project 2 Archival Research

Throughout Life-Span Development 5/e, there are several references to the importance of understanding cohort effects on the results of research studies. To learn about the power of the socioeconomic, religious, and political climate on attitudes, go to the library to do a little archival research.

First find out what popular magazines (e.g., Reader's Digest, Women's Day, etc.) have been around since at least 1950, even earlier if possible. Choose five of these magazines and count the number of articles about sex that appeared in each in 1950,1960, 1970, 1980, and 1990 (or some similar set of decades). Also keep a list of the titles of the articles you find.

Construct a table in which you list the names of the magazines in the far left column and the years of publication across the top row. Then enter the number of articles you found for each magazine for each year. Compute averages for the rows and columns of numbers and enter these at the far right side of your table and at the bottom of your table.

Use the number of articles for each magazine in each year to come to a conclusion about how attitudes toward sex and dissemination of information about sex have changed over the years. You should first generalize using the data for all magazines (i.e., column averages). Then compare averages for each magazine (row averages). Finally, plot the individual article counts for each magazine over the years on a graph (use years as the horizontal or x-axis).

Summarize your results in a brief paper in which you answer at least the following questions:

1. How did the number of articles change over the years?

2. How did the number of articles vary from one magazine to the next?

3. Were the changes over the years the same or different for each magazine?

4. What did you learn from the titles of the articles?

5. Interpret your findings in terms of what you have learned in your text about changing attitudes toward sex and sexuality, and in terms of what you know about the intended audience of each magazine.

6. What is your evaluation of this method of finding out about attitudes toward sex and dissemination of information about sex?

Chapter 17

Research Project 1 Adult Stage Theories in Biographies

Chapter 17 presents three major adult stage theories, each of which attempts to capture the focal points of adult life-span development. An intriguing aspect of these theories is that they essentially are based on biographies, whether they be biographies of famous people or biographies of people the theorists knew as clients or participants in life-span developmental research. For example, both Erikson and Gould based their theories on their clients, and both Erikson and Levinson applied their theories to the lives of famous people.

Your task for this research project is to find out how well one of the theories applies to specific biography. In other words, you will (a) locate and read the biography of any person who interests you; (b) determine whether or not the events of that person's life illustrate the adult stages specified in either Erikson's, Gould's, or Levinson's theory (do not do all three theories—choose the one that appeals most to you).

Present your findings in a table. On the left side of your table indicate the stages of adult life for the theory you are applying (see Tables in Life-Span Development 5/e for these entries). On the right side of your table indicate whether or not you found evidence that the person you are studying passed through the stage or experienced the specified crisis. If the person did pass through the stage or experience the crisis, enter a brief note about the events of his or her life that support your claim.

Finally, write a brief report in which you summarize how well the theory you are applying captures the life of the person you learn about. If you believe the theory applies, be sure to describe the facts of the person's life that you think accord with the theory. If you believe the theory does not apply, be sure to explain how you reached that conclusion. For example, show why the events of the person's life do not fit the stages of the theory.