A Study on Passion

BACKGROUND

When I was initially considering what I might want to do for my senior project, nothing sounded more appealing than a research project. I loved the freedom that came with choosing who I interview, what questions I ask them, and what question I want to answer for myself. Then it hit me, the perfect project! A Study on Passion. I could combine my love of scientific research with my curiosity about what makes people tick.

I chose to research passion for my project because I see it as the driving force behind everything and I know that wherever life takes me, I want to feel the same passion in my everyday life as my project participants.

This is why I decided to center my research specifically around women. I feel as though highly passionate and motivated women are grossly underrepresented in the media and sometimes maligned as being "too much" or taking more than they deserve. A highly successful and passionate woman is still almost a fearful combination in our society and throughout history have often been misunderstood or even thought to be "hysterical" in times like the Victorian era.

But I admire people who have this type of passion and certainty of purpose in life and I want nothing more than to become one of these highly passionate women in the future.

Furthermore, nothing fascinates me more than the inner workings of the human mind and why some people can feel such a strong passion for hobbies and careers that carry absolutely no strong feelings for others.

And more so, what do passionate politicians and poets have in common?

What unites these passionate individuals?

Why are people drawn to such a diverse pool of interests?

Does it come down to personality, or is it so much deeper than that?

Is passion a choice?

Do these people wake up every morning and choose to be passionate?

Or are they just simply passionate every morning because of what they chose to do?

This project is my small quest to understand people better through the lens of five video interviews.

METHODS

For my project, I used Grounded Theory, a form of data collection 'grounded' in physical data where analysis and theory development happens after the collection of data.

This allowed me to be fully present during each of the interviews and ensure that all the data was collected, and then watch it back with an analytical eye.

Although, I did have to put my own spin on Grounded Theory because all the interviews had to be conducted, and then watch it back with an analytical eye.

After a significant amount of research into the use of Grounded Theory and how I could apply it to my project, I began by making a list of open-ended questions that were almost entirely open to interpretation in order to aid my analysis.

If you'd like to look into Grounded Theory a little further, researcher Brene Brown is a prime example of using the Theory professionally.

• The difference between a passionate activity and the opposite for these participants was described as feeling engaged vs. disengaged.

• They also related the engaged vs. disengaged attitude to being an indicator of time, whether it flew by or stood still. Half of the participants described a non-passionate activity as taking 10x longer.

• When describing what their mental state would appear to be when engaged in a passionate activity, answers were all over the board.

• While some described words, ideas, and deadlines floating all around them, others described more colorful concepts such as flourishing gardens and fireworks.

• In my analysis, I noticed that the descriptors participants used for their mental state corresponded directly to their careers.

• Participants with more analytical jobs described the flowing of ideas and deadlines, while participants with more creative jobs described more colorful scenes.

• This was true for all participants but one, who works a more artistic job but describes a combination of the two - sees the project fully laid out but with colorful catagories.