Course Assistant

Hey everyone!  It’s Mark, the tall course assistant with the facial piercing.  I worked with Marlen last semester in 202 as a student and it was such a positive experience that I took his offer to come back as a resource for students this semester.  I conducted qualitative research that I presented last November at the World Congress for the Scientific Study of Sexuality in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

I’m very excited to be a course assistant.  I am a strong writer, a solid peer editor and now a semi-experienced researcher.  Please get to know me and use me as a resource.  See you in class!

Course assistant introduction

Hello everyone!  I’m Mark Wolfe, one of your course assistants.  I am a senior at IUP this semester, getting ready to graduate with my bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in dance.  I plan on going to grad school to become a clinical sexologist, so last semester in Marlen’s class I researched oral sex beliefs and practices in college students.  I even got to present my work at the World Congress for the Scientific Study of Sexuality!  It was a a really rewarding experience, and one of the better academic ones of my career as a student.

Final English 202 Blog

I warned you, right? This was pretty intense and unbelievably time-consuming, right? Reflect back on the beginning of this course – your fears, anxieties, worries, etc – and discuss how you turned these into strengths throughout this course this semester. What are your future goals as researchers? As writers? What was your proudest moment in this course? What do you think will most stick with you long after this course?

I can’t say that I was terribly intimidated by this class.  In terms of volume, the workload was comparable to some of the more demanding undergraduate courses that I have had, but it was all relevant, interesting and important to me.  I did have to use my time management and research skills to their fullest in order to thrive, but this class was exactly what I needed as a student this semester, and I knew that.  Having constant encouragement to grow and explore as a researcher helped me to thrive academically and even got me in to an international research conference, a big step in preparing me for graduate school on both a psychological and an academic level.  My research on oral sex belief and habit patterns is relevent and important, and something that I can take pride in.  I fully intend to carry this research further as my education progresses, and my goal is to continue to work on this research until it is ready for publication and then submit it.  This is also a research genre that I can continue to build on, and I have discovered and began exploring my passion for qualitative research methods.

Blog # 16

Reflect on the process of creating your research paper and answer the following questions. You will later expand on these in your portfolio cover letter: 1) What assignment/document was most useful to you during this proces? Explain your answer.  2) What was the most helpful feedback you received at any stage – why was it helpful? 3) What was most difficult for you during the drafting process? Easiest? WHY? 4) Where does your final essay best show your ability as a writer?

The most helpful assignment to me during the writing process was the shitty first drafts assignment.  We were assigned to read an article about shitty first drafts and soon after write a first draft of our introduction.  This benefitted me because I am something of a perfectionist, and always underestimate my own abilities as a writer.  The idea that I just needed to get something, anything, down on paper was a big one for me.

My most helpful feedback was from Andrew, who told me about how my opening helped him to immerse himself in my paper.  This told me that my writing style and voice was doing its job pulling in my readers and putting them at ease with my subject matter.

The easiest thing for me in the writing process was to just sit and write my paper.  I have so many ideas concerning my subject that the act of writing itself was natural and easy for me.  The hardest part is yet to come: reducing my final paper to fifteen pages or less.

My final paper shows my ability to create a scientific research document in my chosen field (human sexuality).  It showcases my creativity in its ability to appeal to a wide readership and generate interest in my topic as well as my ability to present evidence in a compelling way that supports my thesis.

Oral sex presentation handout

Taking One in the Mouth for Science:

A Study of Undergraduate Oral Sex

Beliefs and Practices

Mark Wolfe

nckn@iup.edu

visit wolfemarknckn.wordpress.com for

the full bibliography and the writeup of this research,

Bersamin, M and Walker, S.  2006.  Correlates of Oral Sex and Vaginal Intercourse In Early and Middle Adolescence.  Journal of Research on Adolescence, 16 (1), 59-68.

This survey study examined various factors that predicted oral sex in teens ages 12-16.  Many of the factors found to predict oral and vaginal sex would logically extend to a college population (such as drinking).  It also cites that adolescents are more likely to engage in oral sex than vaginal sex, and that adolescent’s oral sex behaviors are more susceptible to peer influence than their vaginal sex behaviors.  Adolescents who engaged in risk taking behaviors such as heavy drinking were most likely to have both oral and vaginal sex.  perceived peer attitudes and behaviors were the second strongest predicting factor for both oral and vaginal sex behaviors.

 

Kaestle, C., and Halpern, C. (2007).  Whats Love Got to do with it?  Sexual Behaviors of Opposite Sex Couples Through Emerging Adulthood.  Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 39(3): 134-140.

This study looked at heterosexual couples (age 18-26) who were in sexual relationships for at least 3 months.  Researchers measured the self-reported love in relationships and how love correlated with various sexual behaviors.  Their finding that couples who reported mutual feelings of love had significantly higher probability of having given oral sex in their relationships has major ramifications in terms of understanding what factors make individuals more likely to engage in giving oral sex.  Asking respondents if feelings of trust, emotional attachment and longevity of relationship should provide useful insight into understanding what conditions people have for feeling comfortable administering oral sex.

Richters, J., Visser, R., Rissel, C and Smith, A. (2006).  Sexual Practices at Last Heterosexual Encounter and Occurrence of Orgasm in a National Survey.  The Journal of Sex Research 43(3): 217-226.

This study looked at national telephone survey information in Australia on over 19,000 people aged 16 to 59.  Respondents were asked whether at their last heterosexual encounter they gave or received manual stimulation and oral sex, had vaginal intercourse or anal intercourse, and whether they had an orgasm.  Their most significant finding for my research was that while 95% of men experienced an orgasm in their last sexual encounter, only 69% of women did and that they were more likely to reach orgasm if cunnilingus was involved in the sexual encounter.  This finding, coupled with information from Kaestle (2007)’s finding that partners are more likely to give oral sex if there is a shared feeling of love, leads me to expect my results to indicate that women are more likely to be orgasmic in loving relationships due to increased likelihood of cunnilingus.

 

 

The purpose of this study was to gather current information from college students on their beliefs and practices concerning oral sex. Participants were eight currently enrolled undergraduate students at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, comprised of both male and female respondents from both heteronormative and gender activist categories. The researcher will administered an interview to each of the participants comprised of ten questions designed to uncover accurate information about their oral sex beliefs and practices. At the end of the data gathering process, the qualitative information was analyzed by the researcher, specifically looking for commonalities, disparities and patterns both within and between sexual demographic groups. Results of this analysis indicated significantly more similarities within groups, supporting the idea that peer influence is a strong component of creating and maintaining sexual scripts. This research also revealed some important deviations between beliefs and practices regarding oral sex, most notably belief in the importance of barrier protection for STI prevention in individuals who reported knowing how to use barrier protection during oral sex but never using it, even with partners that respondents reported they would never have unprotected sex with.

 

“One of the biggest factors about giving oral sex (to a partner) in the traditional sense is that its all about them in that moment.  It can be a really intimate, sensual and exotic feeling to.  When your the one receiving its very humbling in a sense almost that you can just sit there and enjoy, and its just all about someone else making you happy for that time.  I engage in oral sex because I enjoy administering some form of pleasure to my partner.” (Male activist)

 

“Women are more likely to give oral sex, that’s just the mentality of our culture. The men I date and sleep with though, they best be giving me some oral sex, but in a generalized sense of our population, I do feel like women give more.” (mainstream female)

 

“I know of multiple methods of prophylactics (for oral sex), but can’t say I’ve ever used any.  Dental dams, flavored condoms… I know that its possible to spread and contract STIs via oral sex, but I guess it just doesn’t have as much constancy in my mind, it’s not as concrete of a concept.  Yeah, that’s actually an interesting concept.  people that I would not have unprotected intercourse with I have had unprotected oral sex with.  So…. huh.  That’s an interesting thought.” (activist male)

 

“I get drunk and give head sometimes, but with my beliefs I try to keep it (giving fellatio) to people that I legitimately care about.  On occasion I have gotten drunk and gone down on people that I don’t really know that well or don’t really care about.” (mainstream female)

 

“I’m a lot more inclined to receive oral sex from any body than I would be inclined to give it to anybody, uh, generally I would probably associate it in the same context that I would be willing to have a sexual partner with somebody.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that I would be willing to date them.  Sometimes its okay if you don’t really know the person, in which case… I would only give oral sex to someone that I know and am comfortable with, but I would be comfortable receiving it from, uh, whatever I guess.” (mainstream male)

 

“Before I had ever given head, I was planning on doing so, so I watched a video with Jenna Jaimeson in it, and it was her giving a blow job and I watched her technique.  Obviously i missed the whole porn voice and stuff, but her technique was what I tried to go off of.” (mainstream female)

Blog #14

The full text of my article can be found at

http://www.parint.org/isajewebsite/bookimages/isaje_2nd_edition_chapter6.pdf

I chose this page because it dealt specifically with presentation of results in qualitative research such as my own.

This article focuses on the importance of clear, thorough and logical presentation of qualitative research results in order to address the commonly raised concern that qualitative research is in some way less scientific or valid than quantitative research is to the scientific community.  It is also of great importance for qualitative researchers to make the connections between their methods and results sections painstakingly clear.  How was the data gathered in an accurate and meaningful way, what was the information gleaned from the process, what precautions were taken to ensure that as little bias as possible ended up in the results, and how was the information gathered interperted in a scientifically valid and meaningful manner?

A good discussion section should include a recap of the research question and a breif summary of the most significant of a researcher’s results.  This should be followed by a discussion of  the meaning and interpertation of the results, particularly in reference to previously reviewed and referenced quanititative studies.  Focus should be around how the current qualitative research adds meaningful understanding to the topic that previous quantitative research approached but was unable to grasp due to its inherent limitations.  Shortcomings of the current study should also be clearly addressed, as well as suggestions as to what the data means and where future research should go based on the gathered information of the current study.

Blog # 13

Not much to report this blog.  I have been writing this paper as one cohesive document, and have had my peer editors and profreaders approach it as such throughout the writing process.  Therefore, “making it all one document” was a past event for me, particularly in terms of effective structure and transitioning.   The section of my paper that needs the most work at this point is my methods, as it is the transistory item for the rest of the paper and it will also dictate the accuracy and effectiveness of my research from this point forward.

Blog #12

My participants will be 30 undergraduate students from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, taken on a volunteer basis.  I as the primary researcher will be soliciting volunteers for this project, and will attempt to do so based on several different demographics which I will identify, such as: male (straight, typical) male (gay/bisexual) male (straight, atypical/gender activist) female (straight/typical) female (bisexual/gay) female (straight, atypical/gender activist).  There is no potential danger to my participants, and as such I need to take no precautions in protecting them aside from ensuring confidentiality.  My primary question about my data collection method is how to conduct an effective interview, and so I am talking to professors that conduct qualitative research to train myself to be an effective interviewer.

Blog #11

The full text of my article can be found @:

http://psychology.about.com/od/psychologywriting/ht/method.htm

This article addressed writing a method section specifically for the type of paper that I am doing, an APA formatted research paper.  For this, my methods section needs to be thorough enough that a reader could fully replicate my study based only on reading this section.  It explains who the participants were, what they did, what the researchers did, and details how all data were gathered.  my methods section will include how I chose my participants as well as how many and from what population, will explain my interview process including all of my questions and all of the controls i used to make the interviews effective as well as a description of how they were conducted.  At the end of my methods section, a reader should have a clear sense of the strengths and limitations of my methodology, and should be capable of replicating my work if they desire to do so.

“positive sandwich” for Why are killing sprees increasing

Dear Pete,

We thought that  you did an excellent job connecting to the audience.   Your clear thesis and easy to follow writing style facilitated our understanding of your standpoints on the presented issue.

In order to improve the validity of your argument, it would be helpful to include other sources in your argument.  You used only yourself and the New York Times as sources, and this comes across as you trying to overgeneralize a narrow source of information rather than trying to prove a point.  More credible sources would strengthen your argument considerably.

Great job using rhetoric in your argument.  Both your presentation of yourself as an authority and your appeal to the audience’s emotions helped to pull in readers.