ANTHMETHGRP4-2425-SOFIA-ANDINO

[Last modified: December, 9 2024 11:52 AM]

During the course of this class, I have learned so many things in regards to the elements that make up a research project. At first, my main research question was “How do cultural factors influence the behavior of individuals with dementia?”. As the course progressed, I realized that this would be an impossible research project to conduct, especially as a Masters student. There are so many things wrong with this initial plan that it would never be approved to actually be carried out. My main takeaway from this course is the aspect of ethics and how important it really is. Ethics is the main reason that this initial research plan would never work. Through the ethics lesson, I have learned what a more reasonable approach to this general topic would be while keeping everything low risk. I also really enjoyed learning about positionality, which is something that I have never really considered before. Through this theme, I was able to really take a step back and think about my project in a different lens. Since I do have a personal connection to the disease of dementia, I think this project would get quite personal for me and would cause me to have an extreme bias entering the project. Through this lens, I am about to identify my bias and work not to apply them to the research. My methodological approach has also changed in regards to this project through the course of this class. I learned that there are other research methods other than simply interviewing people. While I think that interviewing is the best way to collect research, sometimes it is not always the best approach. I think I would start off the research for this project by conducting a survey to really let me see what is out there, then conduct interviews from there. All of these elements have come together to form my new research question which is “How do cultural beliefs shape the understanding of Alzheimer’s disease?”. This question has a low risk profile, focusing on all people in order to understand how this disease is perceived in the general public. At the beginning of this course, when I was first explained the concept of this project, I was pursuing this research idea as a possibility for my own real dissertation topic. If this course has taught me one thing it’s that I have no plans of doing my dissertation about a similar topic and it has caused me to shift my interest.

[Last modified: December, 2 2024 10:41 AM]

For my written assignment this week, I am going to focus on the “Women survivors of domestic abuse in Pakistan” example. I think there are two main ethical issues with this project. The first being that survivors of domestic abuse are a very vulnerable community and that the student has no document form of consent from the woman. These issues should be addressed by talking to the authoritative leaders from the NGO and people at UCL to make sure that this project will not cause harm to any participants and that they are not taken advantage of. The student should also make sure to get some sort of documented consent from the woman she wants to publish her name. I think the main data protection issue is that this is a very vulnerable group and some people might not want their name published. So it is crucial that the student tries to anonymise their work if specified by the participants. Since the student is also going to the local press, she should try and keep all of the participant’s personal importance out of the story. I think there are a lot of power and coercion problems with this project. Since the student is working at a NGO with these domestic abuse survivors, the student is in a place of power above these survivors, which can put them in an awkward position when participating in the research. Also, since the student is coming from a place of higher academia in the UK, they are also coming from a place of privilege when interacting with these participants as well. There are highly vulnerable individuals involved in this project. I think domestic abuse survivors fall under the highly sensitive topic, especially because the example states that the woman was “seriously attacked”. I think that this study would be very closely examined by the Anthropology Ethics Committee to make sure that these participants are kept safe. I think that the student should talk to the NGO first to gain their approval, then go to the ethics committee. Also the student should make sure to get some sort of documented form of consent in order to write and go to the press about that one woman. Without any form of written consent, the project should not be approved. I think that this project would be high risk given the circumstances of the vulnerable population. If the student goes about this project the right way and gets all the consent needed, I think their project should be approved. 

 

[Last modified: November, 25 2024 11:58 AM]

When walking down Oxford Street, there is nothing but non-verbal and non-textual observations to pay attention to. I live super close to this street and nothing brings me more stress and anxiety than having to walk down it. You can tell that you are getting close because of the flocks of people that start to accumulate on the sidewalk. You can also always tell who is a tourist and who is not based on a couple non-verbal things they are doing. Tourists always walk as slow as possible and always manage to take up as much room as possible on the sidewalk, making it impossible to walk around them. If you look closely, you can see London locals with a frustrated look on their face as they try to get around these people. Tourists also love to take in the sites looking all around them causing them to be totally oblivious as to where they are walking. A non-textual observation that is very apparent when walking down Oxford street are the colorful shoppings bags that people have. Some of these shopping bags are extremely easy to identify just based on the color of the bag. For example, the Zara paper bag, the Selfridges neon yellow, and the Primark blue. For me, the main observation when walking down this street is the soundscape. The mix between honking cars and buses, people chattering, and music coming from store fronts as you walk past them creates the most sensory overload experience when mixed with these insane crowds. There will also always be the distant sound of construction going on somewhere off Oxford Street. Another non-verbal observation that can quickly tell how someone is enjoying their time on Oxford Street is their facial expression. I feel as though many locals focus on the sidewalk and try to fight their way through the crowd with a very serious yet angry look on their face. This contrasts the look of awe on tourists’ faces as they glance up at the large storefronts or the Christmas light displays. I have also noticed mothers with cranky babies looking extremely annoyed, frustrated, and overwhelmed as they try to make it through this street. My last observation is the occasional street performer that might be entertaining to some, but for me is just annoying. Large crowds of tourists always form around whoever is performing, making it impossible to navigate around them. If you ever see me on this street, you will observe that I look quite annoyed and overwhelmed. 

[Last modified: November, 18 2024 11:52 AM]

As I step out the front door of my building on my way to class, the first thing that I notice is how gray the sky is. I then mentally add another tick to how many days it’s been since its last been sunny outside. I take my first step down the stairs towards the sidewalk and feel the coldness hit my face, as I was unprepared for it. I live right across from a major museum, so the sidewalks surrounding my building are always filled with people. When I leave early for class, I feel a sense of calmness though when I see the sidewalks practically empty since they are never like this. I start to walk down the street with my headphones on, blasting some kind of music. I feel as though the music definitely helps to make my walk more enjoyable, since it blocks out the chaos that is London. It doesn’t take long until I get stuck behind a tourist family that could not be walking any slower if possible. This always makes me feel angry in the morning when I encounter slow walkers that take up the entire sidewalk and make it impossible for me to pass them. As I step into the street to go around them, I lengthen the strides I’m taking to make them realize how slow they were actually walking. I intentionally always leave my flat a little early because I hate to be late to class and never know how many slow walkers I’m going to encounter that day. This day in particular, as I quickly walked down Gower Street, I could feel a tightness in my legs which was a result of going to yoga yesterday. When I finally get out of the busy block that surrounds the British Museum, I find myself just looking down at the sidewalk as I continue my walk to class. I notice different objects on the footpath, such as garbage on the sidewalk or a mountain of leaves on the ground. As I finally turn and walk through the main gates of campus, I always take out my id and am prepared to do an awkward dance of not knowing if I have to show my id in order to enter or not. I think as soon as I step out my front door, my body is on a type of autopilot mode because I feel like I could close my eyes and still be able to walk to class. My body is very in tune with the environment as I finally make it onto campus.

[Last modified: November, 4 2024 12:00 PM]

I do not think that there is a political angle in my research project, and am not really sure how politics would come up when conducting the research for this project. My project has to do with culture and chronic illness, which does not have any correlation to politics. When the research is conducted, I will keep an unbiased, nonpolitical mind frame to make sure the data remains as true to the participants as possible. I think that the findings for this research project would be connected to politics in a way. Since I am comparing cultures and chronic illness, a connection can be made with cultural and socioeconomic status of the participants to the accessibility of healthcare. In turn, connecting certain groups with greater or lesser access to care could lead to reforms in political policy. For me personally, I am not interested in politics so I do not think that my positions and views will get in the way. As an American, I have found that people always like to discuss politics with me, so this is a way my positionality could influence the research conducted. Another way political orientations could be brought into this research project is through the role that the economy plays. Treating chronic illness can be extremely expensive, especially depending on the governmental healthcare policies. People usually tend to need specialist doctors, extensive testing, and expensive medications. Things would get political due to the state of the economy, which can influence the pricing of these elements. Global differences in healthcare access create a more complex position, which links to social policies. Cultural beliefs around illness, insurance and drug costs, and environmental risks, also bring up political questions. These issues touch on the role of pharmaceutical companies, insurance coverage, and government regulations, all of which impact patients with chronic conditions. Research on culture and chronic illness can become political because it involves issues like healthcare access, economic impact, and social inequality. When managing chronic illness, there can be a range in care provided based on income, race, or location, which correlate to healthcare fairness and policy. I think when conducting this research it is obviously best to leave my opinion out of this, but to hear out the participants and what they have to say. When collecting data it is best to have everything out on the table and make connections based off common factors collected from the participants.

[Last modified: October, 28 2024 11:59 AM]

During the participant observation this week, I started off in Gordon Square Park. This, however, did not last very long for me. As I was sitting on a park bench trying to take notes on my phone, I did not feel as though my phone was the correct medium to be using during this participant observation. I walked to Waterstone as soon as I realized I would need a proper notebook to feel like a true ethnographer. So once I had the notebook, I sat in Woburn Square Park and observed for around 30 minutes. As this park is much smaller compared to its more popular counterpart across the street, Gordon Square Park, I only observed a handful of people in the park or even walking through it. There was a young man sitting on a bench that was on his phone the entire time, a man laying on a bench fully asleep, and 2 guys who appeared to be very deep in conversation. At the end of this park, there was also a small playground that a baby was playing at, with what I assumed to be its dad. This lack of human interaction forced me to mainly focus on myself and how I felt about taking these fieldnotes. I purposely sat at an isolated bench so no one could see what I was writing in my notebook. I felt very conscious that I was writing in a notebook and became embarrassed whenever someone would walk past me. I would hold my notebook close to my chest whenever someone passed by, in hopes that they wouldn’t see what I was doing. This was my first time taking field notes like this and I think it is just going to take some getting used to for me, as I was very in my head the entire time. I was more occupied with myself and my own presence in the park that after a certain point, I had forgotten about the people around me. After I was done writing, I thought I would draw a map of the park, since I observed the park more than I did people. I enjoyed sketching in my notebook way more than I did physically writing and felt more comfortable doing so. The tags I would use for my field notes would be “human interaction with nature”, “tranquility”, and “hyperawareness”. Although I did not observe much during this participant observation session, I feel as though I learned about the skills it takes to conduct this method and gained an insightful experience.

[Last modified: October, 21 2024 11:39 AM]

For my research topic, I have decided to go back to my original idea on how different cultural elements influence the behavior of someone with Alzheimer’s disease. I will be comparing two different ethnic groups, one being Latino and one Asian. In relation to positionality, I am Latina, so I believe that will provide me with an opportunity to really connect with some of my research participants. Since we share the same culture, I will be able to heavily relate to the interlocutors, thus making them more comfortable to share with me. In class Friday, we had a very insightful discussion which led me to see my positionality from another point of view. Even though I am Latina, I was born in the United States and might be viewed as “Americanized”. This point of view that some interlocutors might have will cause a bit of hesitancy when building an initial relationship with them. I could be viewed as “not Latin enough” to some, hindering the ability for interlocutors to trust me. I also do speak Spanish though and I think that this will be a key element in forming a bond and creating a comfortable environment for people to share. Since I will also be interviewing people with an Asian background, I will have to come at it from a different angle due to my positionality. I, culturally, do not have much in common with someone with an Asian background, so this could hinder them initially opening up and trusting me. I think the most important thing is to create a comfortable environment for the interlocutor where they feel respected and listened to.

The primary reason that I have chosen to focus on Alzheimer’s disease is due to my personal ties to the illness, given that my grandmother suffered from it. I believe that sharing this information with interlocutors will cause them to trust in me, as I come from a place of total understanding. My grandmother suffered with the disease for many years, so I know the strain it can place on caregivers and the family as a whole. I also understand the sensitive nature of the disease and it can be very hard for people to see their loved ones in such a state. So due to my exposure, I will be able to take all these elements under consideration and create tailored research questions to ask the interlocutors.

[Last modified: October, 14 2024 11:46 AM]

As I began to pack up my things at the end of the lecture, I was totally unsure as to where I would go to conduct participant observation for my project. I was trying to look at my project from a creative point of view, hoping that that would lead me somewhere, but I still wasn’t able to come up with anything. On my way out of the building, I ran into some of my classmates, who were congregating on the sidewalk, also racking their brains trying to think of something. I started speaking with a few people, hoping that their participant observation ideas would distract me from my own. As we shared research proposals and observation methods, I soon came to realize that I should change my research topic for this project. My original research proposal explored how culture influences the behavior of individuals with dementia. However, after further reflection, I realized that this question may be too complex to address within the scope of this class. When I shared my research topic with my classmates, they were very helpful and tried to help guide me towards some solutions. One suggested that I do some digital research and see what people have posted online about their loved ones with dementia. Another suggested walking around some local hospitals and observing the behavior of people with chronic illness. After about 10 minutes, we each split ways and headed towards our prospective locations. I had decided that I would sit on a bench in the UCL main quad and just conduct some general participant observation of the people on campus while doing some self reflection about my own project. I started thinking of a way to still keep the central focus of this research project, while refining the questions to make the research more attainable and manageable. As I was brainstorming, I was easily distracted by all of the things going on in the main quad. There was a group of students filming a movie, a cute little white fluffy dog that had walked onto campus to parade around, and most entertaining of all, a large group of 7 year old students on a field trip visiting the UCL campus, all wearing matching neon green vests. Amid all the amazing people watching on campus, I decided that my new research topic would be about how someone’s culture influences their stigma associated with chronic disease. Through this new topic, I will be able to conduct research by interviewing people of different cultures and asking them their thoughts on chronic illness. Although my time conducting participant observation started off with some uncertainty, it ultimately helped me reflect on my project and make realistic adjustments.

[Last modified: October, 7 2024 10:27 AM]

For the central theme of this research project, I am going to focus on the question “How do cultural factors influence the behavior of individuals with dementia?”. Within this theme, I am able to explore central elements of certain cultures like religion, nutrition, rituals, and values. By selecting two specific cultures to focus on, I am able to deeper analyze and find reasons for specific behavioral traits. I find this topic extremely interesting as it shows how someone’s cultural background influences their behavior, specifically focusing on those with dementia. Since dementia is a neurological condition that affects various aspects like memory, emotions, and behavior, I thought it would be super interesting to explore whether culture plays a role in influencing these things. There continues to be a knowledge gap in the field of dementia, so this project could generate insightful research to contribute to the understanding of the illness. I believe that this topic is very ethnographically driven, as it is centered on the interpretation of culture. Understanding the elements that shape a culture makes it easier to explain why people behave the way they do and analyze their actions. This topic also focuses on creating an interpretation of two groups of people, further connecting it to ethnography.

I believe that the central question can be answered through ethnographic research and lead to some tangible results. By conducting more qualitative based research, I could identify common themes within each prospective culture, leading me to discover if certain cultural elements contribute to the behavior of those with dementia. For this project, I think the best method for obtaining data would be to interview people. Through this process, I would have the opportunity to talk and connect with people, ensuring that they feel as comfortable as possible to open up and share. When conducting the interviews, I feel as though it would be best to talk with the main caregiver of the person with dementia, since they would be able to describe what the patient’s behavior was really like before and after the diagnosis. This research will reveal patterns of behaviors that could lead to better understanding the illness. By exploring different cultures, we can cultivate an understanding of different cultural routines and rituals, which may correlate to specific behaviors. This research project could be very useful as there is not a lot known about dementia or the causes and this could shed light onto the illness. Gathering insight into cultural factors that influence behavior could also aid in the understanding of the progression of the illness.

[Last modified: October, 1 2024 06:28 PM]

Welcome to your brand new blog at Reflect – University College London.

To get started, simply log in, edit or delete this post and check out all the other options available to you.

Please see the Reflect Blogging Resource for more information, policies, and how to guides:
https://wiki.ucl.ac.uk/x/KYODBQ