DOWNLOAD the Paper Posting HTML Formating HELP SHEET!
We also have a GUIDE for depositing articles, images, data, etc in your research folders.
|
|
Abstract:
Does the way we dress affect relationships between same sex friendships, opposite sex relationships, and employee to employer relations? We will be studying the importance of a nice clothing appearance vs. an untidy appearance. This study examines on reactions of people to the way a person dresses. The way a person dresses tends to influence others in various ways, we intend to research and analyze these reactions.
Introduction:
A. Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the better the appearance is will matter more in the work place compared to a relationship/friendship situation.
Question: Does physical appearance matter more in opposite sex relationships, same sex friendships, or in the work place?
Prediction: We predict that employers will consistently rank the most professional looking as the most suitable employee in upper level restaurants, hotels, and professional businesses. In relationships, we predict that there will be a variety of rankings, but they will be similar in a way that the dress casual and casual pictures will generally be ranked higher.
B. We decided that we wanted to study a subject that includes human behavior. As students, we deal with different relationships. We thought it would be interesting to research the affects clothing appearance has on relationships.
C. We plan to accomplish an understanding of the importance of appearance. We plan to discover in which scenario appearance matters most. Additionally we will learn more about relationships between people and what the majority of people at Miami University think of being nicely dressed as opposed to the more grungy look.
D. This is an interesting question because we deal with appearance issues everyday when we dress to go out with friends or to a job. We were curious whether dressing well or not has an affect on relationships, friendships, and getting a job.
Relevance:
In our world, appearance plays a great role in our lives. In both relationships and on the job we find ourselves judging others. It is natural, when looking for relationships, that we are attracted to the better looking people. ÒHumans are known to have a tendency to appreciate aesthetic beautyÓ (Johnson web). There is no great mystery that attractiveness is what first catches the eye. Relationships start with a general attraction to each otherÕs physical features. It is an instinct to start a relationship based on attraction (Griffen web). Physical attraction is a beginning block for relationships and especially one of the most important factors in getting a job. ÒYou want to look your professional best, but you also want to appear as if you Ôfit inÓ (ClothesÉ web). Most people realize that the better appearance you have, the better chance you have in getting the job. Yet once you have the job, you are required to look your best. As an employee, you will be representing the business you work for and therefore will reflect the business with your physical appearance. A good appearance is necessary in the work place, but just generally admired in relationships.
There are many different characteristics, whether they are physically or mentally that go into making a personÕs personality. When the word appearance comes into mind the physical is obviously the aspect that we are talking about. People can make a judgment about another without them even opening their mouths. For this reason, individuals are constantly concerned with the way they look and are bombarded with pressure to look a certain way. A focus on clothing appearance will narrow the variables that a complete appearance includes. A greater question might be answered because we will be interviewing Miami University students. The common description of the apparel of these students has been labeled ÒJcrew UÓ which means that Miami University students generally wear nice clothes. In our study, we might be able to prove or falsify this description depending on the results of how people are affected by clothing appearance.
Specific Research Designs:
In order to determine any results, we will be talking to three categories of people: males, females, and respectable employers (these will be defined as upper level restaurants, hotels, and professional businesses). We will be interviewing 20 of each category for a total of 60 respondents. Students will be selected randomly as to not bias one group of people and shown two series of five pictures. Each student will be taking two different tests, friendship and relationship.
One series of pictures will be a female dressed in professional dress, casual dress, casual, scrub, and club apparel. The other series of pictures will be of a male in a professional dress, casual dress, casual, scrub, and athletic apparel. Interviews will go like this:
Ex: a male will be asked to rank the 5 pictures of the girl on the subject, Òwhich would you most likely consider dating?Ó He will then be asked to rank the 5 pictures of a guy on the subject, Òwho would you most likely be found hanging out with as good friends?Ó
Ex: a female will be asked the same accordingly
Ex: an employer will be asked to rank the 5 female pictures and then separately rank the 5 male pictures (In this way, we will not have to notice any preference for males over females, or vice versa.)
These techniques will give us enough data to come to conclusion. After tallying up the records we will know which appearance is more favored in relationships, friendships, and in the work place.
Materials and Methods:
We will have 5 pictures of the same male and 5 pictures of the same female who will be dressed in different attire. Each picture will be lettered. Each person will be asked two questions and then rate the pictures from favorable preference to least favorable. When we tally the data into charts, a point system will be used to asses which appearance obtained the most votes, the second most, etc. We will involve the class by asking a male and female to rank the pictures with the aforementioned questioned thus including them in our study. We will compile our results into bar graphs in reference to each particular study (i.e. male friendship, male relationship, etc.) We will use Statview to produce statistical significance in our data.
Definitions of Apparel (taken from stereotypical apparel for each term):
Professional: male Ð button down nice shirt with tie and khaki pants and leather shoes
Female Ð dark skirt, button down shirt, scarf and heels
Dress Casual: male Ð polo shirt, khaki pants and leather shoes
Female Ð polo shirt, khakis, nice sandals
Casual: male Ð untucked polo and jeans
Female Ð black t-shirt and jeans
Scrub: male Ð sweatshirt and sweatpants
Female Ð sweatshirt and sweatpants
Alternate Popular Apparel sport male Ð basketball t-shirt, mesh shorts, and sneakers
Club female Ð frilly tank, blue jeans, strappy sandals
Examples of Tally Data Sheet
Friendship
#1 Male Professional Dress Casual Casual Scrub Alternative (Athletic)
1.
2É.
Relationship
#1 Male Professional Dress Casual Casual Scrub Alternative (Club)
1.
2É
Friendship
#1 Female Professional Dress Casual Casual Scrub Alternative (Club)
1.
2É
#1 Female Professional Dress Casual Casual Scrub Alternative (Athletic)
1.
2É
#1 Employer on Male Professional Dress Casual Casual Scrub Alternative
1.
2É
#1 Employer on Female Professional Dress Casual Casual Scrub Alternative
1.
2É
Research Timeline:
Week 7 10/7-10/9 Lab Proposal
Week 9 10/21-10/23 Lab Packets
Week 10-15 10/28-12/4 Post Progress Reports
Survey People
Compile Results
Week16 12/9-12/11 Lab Reports
Results:
a) Observations: Preliminary results: the only initial results that were researched was the idea that professional dress is found to be preferred over the casual and scrubby appearance in the professional workplace. (ClothesÉweb).
b) The best way to convey our findings is to express the data in six different bar graphs. These graphs will be separated in a male friendship, female friendship, male relationship, female relationship, employer male, and employer female graphs. The x axis is the types of appearances and the y axis is the number of votes tallied. Through these graphs we were able to conclude that businesses had a strong and consistent preference for the professional dress. In relationships, females preferred the business casual first and male preferred the casual appearance first. In friendships, females preferred the business casual and males preferred the casual appearance first. The other categories varied in their popularity. The type of statistics we used were the unpaired t-tests, because we can compare all five variables. We will be displaying our results in three different tables and the Statview forum. The stats concluded that some of the males and females disagreed in the business casual, scrub appearance in friendship and the business casual and casual appearances for relationships because the p-values were significant (less than .05) Therefore, we fail to reject our hypothesis.
c) See attached graphs and charts
Discussion/Conclusion
a) Though research, we presumed that businesses would prefer the professional appearance to any of the other four possibilities. Our results proved that businesses do prefer this appearance. In relationship/friendship situations, we hypothesized that the more professional appearance will not be as highly preferred. Our results proved this assumption to be true. We determined that professional businesses prefer the nicer appearance because eventually, as an employee, the appearance reflects the companiesÕ appearance. In relationship/friendships, professional appearance is not as important because the surveyed population (college-aged students) do not relate to a professional appearance every day. They relate to the way they dress most of the time, and the professional dress is not as common in every day attire. Professional dress seems to be associated with important events such as meetings, presentations, and special occasions. Although, in a relationship, females preferred the professional dress 3rd over the scrub and alternative appearance. We assume that the females like males who care about themselves. The scrub and sport attire convey a lazy attitude, that they did not take the time to look nice. In a relationship, males preferred the casual appearance and scrub attire is 3rd. We assume that males care more about comfort than looking nice, therefore, their preference in a female appearance tend to be the same. In friendships, males seem to relate to the casual and scrub appearance. Yet with females, they prefer the business casual and club wear to relate to a friend. We assume that if females put in work to look nice, then their friends should also.
b) Beyond the project: Our results contest and confirm the stereotype about Miami University. The Jcrew U stereotype is that students at this university tend to dress in business casual and casual attire. In the females surveyed, it is confirmed. In the male survey, it is contested. We assume that females universally care more about their appearance and the appearance of friends and relationships. Males on the other hand tend to be more laid back, as well as with their friends and relationships. A component that might influence the people we tested is the media. MTV, music, and movies all generally influence how a person dresses and even what that person prefers. Some of our references come directly from magazines such as Glamour and Cosmopolitan. These popular magazines target college aged students and influence the way they dress and live. An additional question we were curious about was the affect of media on how students dress. We were discussing how media, specifically songs and lyrics had references to peoplesÕ appearance. We included a CD with some songs that had references to appearance if another group was to do a project similar to ours. It would be interesting to see a project done based on music and the influence it has on appearance.
c) There might have been error in the diversity of respondents, therefore, we would have needed to make sure we had enough respondents that are different ages. It would be interesting to compare the preferences of age groups as well. There may be a difference in appearance as a student moves through college and into the professional world. Also, as mentioned previously, a study on the media affecting popular dress and what people like would be an intriguing study of college students.
Bibliography:
Rhodes, Gillian Leslie A. Zebrowitz, Facial Attractiveness: evolutionary, cognitive, and social perspectives.
Jones, Doug, Physical attractiveness and the theory of sexual selection: results from five populations
Buss, David M. The Evolution Of Desire: Strategies Of Human Mating
Botting, Kate and Douglas, Sex Appeal: The Art And Science Of Sexual Attraction
Survival Of The Prettiest : The Science Of Beauty by Nancy Etcoff
Kauth, Michael R. True nature : a theory of sexual attraction
Hendricks, Chris, Dawn Olson, Seth Hall, and Jonathan Batt, Physical Attraction: Attributions. http://www.units.muohio.edu/psybersite/attraction/attributions.shtml.
Attraction and Relationships: Who Wants What? http://psychology.about.com/cs/attraction/a/attract4.htm
Like a bear to honey. http://www.ivenus.com/relationships/personal/File
_72520001019110816.asp
Frayser, Suzanne G. and Thomas J. Whitby, Studies in Human Sexuality
Loyola University, Your Responsibility as an Employee. http://www.luc.edu/resources/hr
/responsibility.shtml#appearance
Clothes Make the Man (or Woman). http://careerplanning.about.com/cs/dressingforwork
/a/dress_success.htm
Inappropriate Dress and Conduct. http://career planning.about.com/cs/dressingforwork/
A/inapprop_dress.htm.
ÒHow can you become the object of his desire?Ó (pgs. 173-174); Cosmopolitan, 2003 October
ÒBeauty Report: Irresistible SkinÓ (pgs. 428-434); In Style, 2003 September
ÒShe lost weight, he got angryÓ (pgs. 42-44); Shape, 2003 November
Jeffes, Steve. Appearance is Everything: The Hidden Truth Regarding your Appearance Discrimination (pgs. 13-15);
ÒYouÕre A to Z Guide to MenÓ (pgs. 250-253); Hugh OÕNeill; Glamour, 2003 September
Next Article
Previous Article
Return to the Topic Menu
IMPORTANT: For each Response, make sure the title of the response is different than previous titles shown above!
DOWNLOAD the Paper Posting HTML Formating HELP SHEET!
We also have a GUIDE for depositing articles, images, data, etc in your research folders.
Article complete. Click HERE to return to the Pre-Course Presentation Outline and Paper Posting Menu.
WEATHER & EARTH SCIENCE RESOURCES |
|
OTHER ACADEMIC COURSES, STUDENT RESEARCH, OTHER STUFF
|
|
TEACHING TOOLS & OTHER STUFF
 |
DOWNLOAD the Paper Posting HTML Formating HELP SHEET!
We also have a GUIDE for depositing articles, images, data, etc in your research folders.
Listen to a "Voice Navigation" Intro!
(Quicktime or