Content
Going into my research project, I expected that the films released more recently would reflect more avoidant confrontation styles, but this was not the case. The proportion of avoidant confrontation styles out of all styles reflected in all scenes was higher in the latter half of films; nevertheless, this wasn't enough to obtain statistical significance. Therefore, I learned that the plot of the films influenced the dominant confrontation style more than the year in which the film was released. Ultimately, I will use this content when I enter the workforce some day to recognize that if people are influenced by the confrontation styles reflected in films, then avoidant confrontation styles have remained dominant from Generation X to Generation Z, meaning that the methods with which people communicate have remained largely consistent.
In the future, I could conduct similar research on whether there is a correlation between hireability and the media that people consume. Additionally, I could research whether dominant confrontation styles differed between TV shows and movies released in the same decade.
Product
I learned from the final presentation and oral defense that spending more time on my data analysis would have helped my panelists better understand my final results. I quickly breezed past the data tables that I used to perform my chi square test, and while I was able to earn a score of a 30/30 on my final presentation, taking more time to explain my statistical inference test to my audience would have enabled them to better understand why I arrived at my conclusion and did not find convincing evidence for my initial hypothesis. From the academic paper, I learned that providing visuals and data tables provides additional details to the reader without cutting into my word count.
If I conduct research in the future, I will use the skills I gained from the final presentation and final research paper to focus on incorporating visuals to build audience engagement. Because of my Speech & Debate background, I feel as if I had the skills to succeed with the oral defense section of the presentation without preparing, so I will also hopefully carry this skillset into my undergraduate years and beyond.
Process
As a researcher, I learned that there are a lot of challenges that come with a content analysis research project due to its subjective nature, so while I enjoyed the learning of my project, I did not enjoy trying to classify individual scenes under one confrontation style because some were ambiguous in nature. As a student, I have always been more of a procrastinator than a personality who does my work weeks in advance, and while I should have planned ahead better to not carry these habits into my final presentation and paper, I was still able to deliver a successful presentation and write a cohesive paper. Even when I am under a time crunch with deadlines, this class reinforced my confidence that I thrive under pressure and will always get my work done. As a human being, I went into this research project with the preconceived notion that generational communication patterns have changed to become more avoidant, and after not obtaining statistically significant results, my mindset on communication patterns among Generation Z changed.
Going forward, I will carry these lessons regarding the three aforementioned aspects of my personality inside and outside of the classroom to develop better time management habits and continue to engage in civil debate regarding relevant topics.
Acknowledgements and Thank Yous
First and foremost, thank you to Ms. Dobos and Mr. McBride for selecting me to deliver my pitch presentation for our class at the beginning of the year and for remaining a constant source of support throughout the duration of this research project. Specifically, to Ms. Dobos, thank you for hosting research workshops to prepare each and every one of us for our final presentation.
To my mom, thank you for listening to run-throughs of my final presentation to help me feel confident before I presented to Ms. Dobos, Mr. McBride, and the panelists.
To Mr. Burridge, thank you for teaching me how to run a chi square test to ensure that I would feel confident in explaining my statistical analysis for my final presentation.
To my panelists, Mr. Sullivan, Ms. Chui, Ms. Kraft, and Ms. Kubina, thank you for taking time out of your day to listen to and score my final presentation.
Lastly, to my research table, Ella, Unnati, Cristi, Kayleigh, and Rebecca, thank you for making this class so much fun everyday and always creating a supportive and collaborative environment.
Abstract
The purpose of this research paper is to assess whether neotraditional romantic comedy films can be used to assess changes and/or continuities in confrontation patterns across generations and, if they can, whether there is any noticeable difference in how people communicate in different years. Currently, the educational potential of films has been recognized, and the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument has been used to assess confrontation patterns in the workplace. However, this model has never been applied to a film study on romantic comedies, thus creating the gap in existing research. My research hypothesizes that among a film study of 12 films spanning the years 1988-2018, films released after the year 2000 will reflect more avoidant confrontation styles than films released up to and including the year 2000. I will conduct this research as a content analysis that bases my film selection off of box office performance and audience ratings and then applying the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument as my method of analysis. Ultimately, this study produced the results that there is no apparent relationship between the year the film was released and the dominant confrontation style that it reflected. Overall, this opens the discussion on whether Generation Z is truly as avoidant as many scholars surmise and whether a lack of changing communication patterns has any impact on hireability.
Final Work
Final Presentation
Final Paper
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vIXwBdfBkP4Eq_AK3VGYNOu8oyHUJSaRodOfeHO2u-Q/edit?tab=t.0
Next Steps
After high school, I plan in double majoring in finance and accounting and pursuing a minor in French in the Leeds Honors Program and Leeds Scholars Program at the University of Colorado Boulder. I hope to remain heavily involved like I was in high school and can't wait for this next chapter!