February Extra Post: Backup Interview

Recently for my interview, I talked to my homeroom teacher Mr. Rivas due t his status as a teacher. Just a few days ago, my original interview candidate my former political science teacher Mr. Coson, emailed me back with his response to my interview questions. While he couldn't make an in person interview, his  answers proved insightful. They proved rather pressing to my answer, and I very much appreciated it. Also big shout out to Rivas for agreeing to help me out when he cancelled. Really saved my grade. Attached is the interview transcript for Professor Coson.

Blog 16:

1.  What is your EQ?
What is the best way to encourage youth voter participation in local government systems.

2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)
To resolve the issue of diminished voter participation, schools should more closely integrate their curriculum with active involvement in politics through classrooms.

3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)
To go along with the second point, legislation reducing the voting age from 18 to 17 in state or local elections would be another solution due to allowing young students the experience of voting at a tie when tehy should be politically involved

4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.
1. Research has indicated that a person who has voted before is more likely to be engaged with the system in the future, and

2.Expanding the voting age would create new voters and allow for classes to integrate participation in the political system with their classes

3.More active engagement with the political system has been proven to result in increased confidence in it which hs been noted as a significant factor in voting.

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?

6.  What other source supports your answer?


The Dynamics of Political Participation
7.  Tie this together with a  concluding thought.

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.
     As detailed in my last independent component, my research had several flaws and methodological problems. To compensate for this, I intend to do much more research on the subject. My goal is to acquire 200 surveys minimum utilizing the newly revised survey I created that can be seen below. This amount should be a sufficient amount to account for an expected number of discrepancies and is 4x what I acquired last time. To go beyond what I did last time, I also intend to write several letters asking for professional opinions on my subject matter. The surveying should take up the most of my hours, and I also intend to do a more extensive writeup than last time.


Proposed Survey

Are you between the ages of 17-24?      Y/N

Do you consider yourself Politically involved? Y/N

Do you consider yourself Politically Informed? Y/N

Do you find yourself concerned with politics? Y/N

Have you attended any events that are political in nature? Y/N

Have You Voted in a Local, State, or National Election? Y/N

If Not, Please list why. Mark any and all that apply.

It doesn’t Matter

I Don’t Have the Time

It Hasn’t come Up

Other_____________________________________

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.
     Much as before, documenting my hours will be accomplished by photographic evidence of y surveying materials linked to dates, and also the physical proof of my intended 200 surveys along with the research paper.

3.  Explain how this component will help you explore your topic in more depth.
    This component will more directly follow me to figure out why people don't participate in politics due to the revised survey.

4.  Post a log in your Senior Project Hours link and label it "Independent Component 2" log.

    Will do. (Will Update when accomplished)

Blog 14: Independent Component

• LITERAL
  (a) Write: “I Roman Gutierrez affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 38 hours of work.”
• “I Roman Gutierrez affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 38 hours of work.” 
•  (b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component.
• The primary sources that have helped me out in this endeavor would primarily be the following:
• 
  
• Wendel, Stephen. "The Dynamics of Political Participation: An Analysis 
  of the Dynamic Interaction between Individuals and their Political 
  Micro-Environment." Order No. 3517713 University of Maryland, College 
  Park, 2012. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Web. 26 Sep. 2014.
  Nelson, Andrew B. "Young People and Political Engagement." Pew Research Center RSS. Pew Research Center, 16 July 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.
   
  
  K., D. "Why Young People Don't Vote." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 29 Oct. 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
  
  as they directly link to my essential Question and provided me with a strong model to follow in regards to actually accomplishing this project. I, of course, credit my mentor with setting me on this path, but it was mostly these sources and their methods that provided me with the path to follow.
• (c) Update your hours in your Senior Project Hours link. Make sure it is clearly labeled with hours for individual sessions as well as total hours.
•  I just accomplished this.
• (d) Explain what you completed.    
• This independent component is  a long term research project predicated around answering the question of why young people don't get involved in politics. To accomplish this, I surveyed people over a two week period to find the best answer to that question and determine the root of voter inaction. I compiled the results into a research paper that goes into depth on my subject while discussing the layout of my experiment. 

 

• INTERPRETIVE 
  Defend your work and explain its significance to your project and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.  
• My independent component is essential to my overall senior project as it involves me directly applying what I have learned to gather more information on a subject integral to my field of study. It also involved a great deal of involvement as I went to campus to talk to people about their involvement. The actual writing process was also involved as it took me greatly expanding n several key sections and summarizing the raw data in an easily palatable way. This also references how a real political scientist may go about their job and serves as good training for it.
• Evidence 
• The following is a huge amount of pictures I took regarding this process.

  

  This picture shows my workstation for the first days. While this location was convenient, I also realized that by situating myself in an area with three exits that everyone who entered was rushed and had little time for a survey. If you notice the little cue cards, they advertise free candy. This was added later, but I found that it was much less of a draw on a college campus. It wasn't until I later rebranded as a 30 second survey that I found much better success.

  
  
  
  

  

  This shows the workstation I eventually shifted too. While it was empty then, I realized tht the location still had a decent amount of traffic at a more relaxed pace. I placed my supplies here and advertised the survey. This was where I had the best results as documented in my hours.

  
  

  

  It can be hard to make out, but this paper features sections of what would later be my introduction. It is included  here to showcase that I have been thinking about this project in between classes. The genuine article is also available for review.

  
  

  

  In the same vein as the last photo, this shows how I began plotting the research article structure in the margins of other papers during my breaks. Also of note, it is easy to confirm that I tied my lesson 2 activity into my independent component because of the multiple people involved. Mrs. Yelverton can confirm if you ask, but other students in her advisory house can also confirm that I distributed a survey along with my activity. Sorry, I  didn't take a picture for that, but I forgot to take a picture  of my lesson.

  
  

  

  This is my works station again. i had this configuration for two days before realizing it was inefficient. I also set up my lap top in the chair directly next to the window which drove away testers in my opinion.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  This was a later form of my survey workspace. It actually was more convenient this way due to the wind scattering my other surveys when they were distributed in the above way.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• APPLIED
  How did the component help you understand the foundation of your topic better?  Please include specific examples to illustrate this. 
• 
  
• Given that my essential question asks how to address voter non-participation, the survey results indicate that voter non-participation has multiple root sources further provides me with avenues for how to best respond. For instance, the current voting age is a huge impediment to fostering voter interest as civics and government courses often take place in senior year when most people are at the age of 17. This prohibits them from participating at a time in their life when they are potentially their most active politically. A lowered voting age could allow schools to tie in more lessons on how to participate in government systems effectively In addition, the roughly even split shows that focusing solely on apathy is a flawed approach as it ignores that many people have been disillusioned with the current system. While it is statistically likely that they will get involved when politics impacts their personal lives, overcoming this distaste for politics early would allow for more opportunity for participation in their communities.