Research Methods of Jean Kilbourne, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Jean kilbourne , ed.d. Has gained an international reputation as a feminist and researcher in the areas of women and advertising. One element of this work relates to the video series “ killing us softly”.  The premise of her research was expository research in order to highlight the sexual exploitation of women in advertising. This examined from the lens of sociology and psychology considering the impact that the media has on young women in terms of self-esteem and health.

Research

The research was mainly that of empirical research based upon the observation of images produced by the media in advertising, journals and photography.  Empirical research is a branch of qualitative research methodology. Qualitative research has a number of different focal points but in essence attempts to address a perspective of the attitude of people towards their behavioural traits, their value systems, their lifestyle and culture and their needs or desires.  The diagram to the right illustrates how these concepts inter-relate with one another.   The idea of this research method is to add shape or abstraction to unstructured states.  Qualitative research seeks to answer questions by the collection of evidence and accompanying research in an orderly and systematic way.  Such finding not having a pre-determined result and may cover research that extends beyond the immediate bounds of the study.  There are a number of different components in terms of how qualitative research studies are conducted but they include: (i) participant observation – this is the collection of data or information that occurs from a behavioural context (ii) interviewing – normally in depth interviews that collect or gather personal data and provide such information as personal experiences, viewpoints or historical data (iii) focus groups – essentially study groups that tend to elicit data on a broad overview of cultural norm topics.

Validity

Based upon the points made in the research her arguments are extremely valid. Advertising is a $180 billion industry and women are indeed exploited in order to sell products.  The video provides ample evidence of the dehumanising impact on women and how computer animation and photo imaging can be air brushed to depict examples of the perfect women. Women are personified as objects which in turn is a contributory factor towards violence towards women. Her research has made a positive contribution towards highlighting the issues resulting from this industries approach to selling products. (Media Education Foundation, 2012)

References

media education foundation. (2012, 11 1). Killing us softly 4. Retrieved from media education foundation: http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=241