r e s e a r c h p r o j e c t s
These papers were written for classes or independent study projects.
Marketing Message Analysis
| Higher Education Admissions: What are they selling? |
I analyzed home pages and admissions pages from 25 random website samples from the NAIA league schools (private schools in the US and Canada) to discover what colleges are selling and what sort of student is portrayed in the materials.
The study found:
- White people appeared in college website images more than any other race (a 5:1 ratio), and other races were portrayed as playing a "role" - i.e., African-American students as gospel singers or athletes, Asian students as classical musicians or scientists, etc. No minority students were pictured in general social situations or in community service photos.
- The websites focused on promoting social activities over any other aspect of collegiate life. Only two websites mentioned academic programs in the main materials for prospective students, and none of the websites showed a photo of an academic activity.
The study found:
- White people appeared in college website images more than any other race (a 5:1 ratio), and other races were portrayed as playing a "role" - i.e., African-American students as gospel singers or athletes, Asian students as classical musicians or scientists, etc. No minority students were pictured in general social situations or in community service photos.
- The websites focused on promoting social activities over any other aspect of collegiate life. Only two websites mentioned academic programs in the main materials for prospective students, and none of the websites showed a photo of an academic activity.
Public Health Communication
| LGBT Students and Sexually Transmitted Infections: The Tragedy of 'Natural Sex' |
I wrote this paper for my Human Sexuality class. It includes journal research as well as three interviews with youth concerning their safe sex habits. The results were disturbing.