Lorenz AP Research Project
Blog #3-
FINAL RESULTS!!!
Hello everyone, since my last blog post my results have been finalized and I have presented by final presentation. This journey has been so amazing and I am so excited to share my results :)
RESULTS
My data collection process was through the usage of google forms for content analysis. I put all my coding requirements into a google form specifically for a conference, and additionally, I did a one overall google form for all the conferences gather all my data. To the left is a pie chart representing the subject for all the instagram posts in my research.
The table to the right displays the Power Five Conferences photo subject, displaying the image type and whether it is representing a male or female. As one may see, there is little association between whether a male or female is in the photo and whether the photo is taken during field of play or not.
On the left, table 3, represents the distribution of photos on the type of individual in the photo, and whether they represent male or female sports. Thus, as one may see there is also little association between the personal qualities of the individual and whether they are male or female.
Table 4 on the right displays whether the metacommunicative content was seen more in male or female posts. As you can see, the results display that female posts were more likely to have metacommunicative content rather than the male instagram posts.
Finally, the graph on the left represents the average mean of likes between male and female posts. Clearly, the graph displays that men's sports post received almost double the amount of likes rather than female sports photos. Additionally, even photos that contained no affiliation with male or female sports also had more likes than female instagram posts.
DISCUSSION
Overall, my results accept my hypothesis that men's sports will be overrepresented on the Power Five Conferences Instagram Accounts rather than female sports. However, my data also did disprove some of my smaller hypotheses such as that metacommunicative content will be used more for male sport posts rather than female sport posts. Additionally, there was not enough of an association to prove that male athletes were more seen in field of play photos and as current and alumni athletes. Therefore, overall my research adds to the scholarly conversation in better understanding how the NCAA conferences' represent their current athletes on one of the fastest growing social media networks in the world. However, my research should still be viewed with caution as there were some limitations when conducting my study. The main limitation I ran into was through the exclusion of video and live photo posts. This is a limitation because the conferences like the PAC-12 and even the ACC posted their athletes more through the usage of videos and live photos, therefore my data is unable to completely show the full representation of sports within the conferences' instagram. Finally, my other main limitation was personal bias, as I had to code for " call to action" posts and "metacommunicative content". This content has the possibility to be different in interpretation for each individual, thus my own personal bias could have created some posts to be classfied incorrectly.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, my research adds to the scholarly conversation by providing research on the current climate of collegiate athletics. The last study done on athletes representation on Instagram was conducted in April of 2021, before the passing of the NCAA " Name, Image, and Likeness" Policy. Additionally, understanding how athletes are specifically represented by NCAA conferences on Instagram has yet to be researched before my study was conducted, thus furthering any academic research currently in the field, and allowing future researchers to build off my study. The reason my research is so highly important is because it helps to display how important college' athletes representation on social media truly is, as with the current time of now college athletes compensating off of their name, social media recognition is highly important. Thus, my research helps to show that all athletes whether male or female deserve equal representation in order to profit off of their hard work and talent. College athletics are extremely popular and already the NCAA generates billions of dollars, thus now its 's time that college athletes earn money off of their own fame and their representation on the highly growing social media platforms.
REFLECTION
That's about all that has gone on since my last post, but I have decided to answer a few questions here about my process in order to reflect on my research over this last year.
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Think back to the initial curiosity that sparked your inquiry. What other curiosities do you have and how has this process prepared you to explore them?
My research has overall furthered my interest in better understanding the NIL Policy passed by the NCAA to understand if both male and female athletes are given the same endorsement chances to compensate off of their name. Previously, this was already a curiosity for me, however after understanding the differences currently within the representation of male and female collegiate athletes on Instagram, I want to dive deeper into how the " Name, Image, and Likeness" Policy plays a part.
2. What was the most important research skill you developed as a result of this process, and how might you apply it to your future endeavors?
​The most important skill I developed during this process was time-management, and being able to have an organized schedule. At the beginning of my research process I realized how long coding was going to take, and I had to quickly shift the way I conducted my research. Therefore, time-management was an extremely helpful skill that I needed throughout this process and that I will continue to implement in y future endeavors. ​