27.12.14 Writing in India

I am currently in India and have reached the 'relaxing' part of my trip, allowing me to focus on writing my EPQ. Whilst I was on the beach and talking about my EPQ I thought it could be interesting to do a quick experiment by asking the people around me at the time (opportunity sample) to write down what their definition of anorexia is:

I then debriefed everyone by giving them the definitions of Anorexia Nervosa, in order for them to know what the 'right' answer is, however I reassured them that whatever they wrote was fine. I will expand on my reasoning for this mini experiment in my EPQ

16.12.14 Lack of Posts #2

Once again my workload has increased due to the imminent Winter Break and so I will not be able to make much progress with my EPQ

30.11.14 Structure

Before I start writing up my EPQ I needed to think of how to structure it. After thinking about this I have come up with this structure:

1. Introduction 
2. Anorexia Nervosa
3. Bulimia Nervosa
4. Excessive Exercise Disorder
5. Obesity
6. Nature Argument
7. Nurture Argument
8. Primary Research 
9. Results from Primary Research
10. Conclusion from Primary Research
11. Overall Conclusion 

25.11.14 Starting the Write Up

I have started to collate all my research together and to determine which pages from each book will be useful with each part of the research. This process can be shown below:

Though this could be construed as disorganised and messy it seems to work for me and so I think that is the most important factor. These pages numbers are then highlighted in the book using Post-it notes and then the important section is either highlighted or underlined:

20.11.14 Lack of Posts

Apologies for the lack of posting, but I have been unable to make more progress with the project as my other subjects have been all-consuming however I hope to get back on track this week.

01.11.14 Journals

Although I feel as though the books I have read will adequately aid me with my EPQ I have also decided to look at some journals to see what other research has occurred in the field that I can include when writing up my EPQ.

These are ones I found of interest to me:

1. The Eating Disorder Examination: A semi-structured interview for the assessment of the Specific Psychopathology of Eating Disorders by Zafra Cooper, D
2.  The Attractive Female Body Weight And Female Body Dissatisfaction In 26 Countries Across 10 World Regions by Swami, V. et al. 
3. Exacting Beauty: Theory, Assessment, and Treatment of Body Image Disturbance by Thompson, J. Kevin et al.
4. Personality Variables and Disorders in Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa by Vitousek, Kelly and Manke, Frederic
5. Eating And Body Image Disturbances Across Cultures: A Review by Soh, Nerissa L., Stephen W. Touyz, and Lois J. Surgenor. 

I have yet to determine which I will actually refer to in my write-up

20.10.14 Psychology of the Media

After exploring some of the ways in which the media influences eating disorders I decided to research into this further, and so I read Psychology of the Media by David Giles.

Since reading this I have decided that it is probably unnecessary to the title of my project to include all of the information I found within it. However it truly intrigued me and made me think about the media and the ways in it can and does influence eating disorders.

What has further interested me in the subject is the campaign that Sophia Parvizik-Wayne and Amber Van Dam have started in regards to mental health awareness, which was triggered by Sophia's eating disorder.

14.10.14 The Media

In the books I have read in conjunction to my EPQ they have all touched on the subject of the media being a large influence. Having grown up within the time period that technology has truly thrived and excelled I am fascinated by the effect this has had on us mentally, more specifically with our eating habits. There is now a whole community of people encouraging eating disorders, more typically known as the 'pro-ana' and 'pro-mia' community, examples of which can be seen below:

Thin Intentions Forever

The ProAna Lifestyle Forever

Getting Thin Soon

Miss Ana Mia

Furthering on from this are the hashtags used on Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter to link all of these types of posts together:

08.10.14 The Psychology of Eating: From Healthy to Disordered Behaviour

I have now read The Psychology of Eating: From Healthy to Disordered Behaviour by Jane Ogden, and it has been another fascinating read, it has taught me about the different studies that have been conducted in the field, as well as adding to what I learnt from Suzanne Abraham's book. This book has raised some interesting points factors that affect eating disorders that I previously would not have thought of e.g. culture and social status. 

05.10.14 Thinking About Primary Research

As my want to do my EPQ on the subject of eating disorders has stemmed from my own family's struggles with the subject I feel as though part of my primary research should be interviewing some of their experiences. On one side of the spectrum I will have my grandmother, who has struggled with her weight and is currently on the obesity side of the spectrum. On the other side is my mother who has battled with anorexia when she was younger, but has overcome it. As I am related to them I would find someone else to conduct the interview but with questions I have already prepared to attempt to eliminate researcher bias. I will record their voices only to help with annonimity and their real names will not be used. On top of this I want to conduct a questionnaire on the subject to gain a wider view of people's feelings towards eating disorders.

26.09.14 Eating Disorders: The Facts

Annoyingly it has taken my longer than expected to read this book due to the heavy workloads from my other A Level subjects. However I have now finished it and I am so happy that I came across this book. It has given me factual information about the four eating disorders I am focussing on (Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Excessive Exercise Disorder and Obesity) as well as the psychological approaches behind them. I feel as though this will be the main source for my EPQ secondary research.

18.09.14 New Research Materials

Whilst reading Eating Disorders: The Facts by Suzanne Abraham I have ordered another book called  The Psychology of Eating: From Healthy to Disordered Behaviour by Jane Ogden

10.09.14 The Hungry Gene

I have just finished reading Ellen Ruppel Shell's book on the science of fat and the future of thin.

I found it a very interesting read, it looks at why people become obese, the industry created from it and what will happen in the future. Though it made some noteworthy points I do not think it has the right information I need for my EPQ.

I am now starting to read Eating Disorders: The Facts by Suzanne Abraham

04.09.14 Starting My Research

Over the summer holidays, I started to collect research materials and over the next month I will read them and extract information I deem to be useful for my project. So far I have found these two books:

1. ABRAHAM, S.
The facts
In-text: (Abraham)
Bibliography: Abraham, Suzanne. The Facts. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print 
2.  SHELL, E. R.
The hungry gene
In-text: (Shell)
Bibliography: Shell, Ellen Ruppel. The Hungry Gene. New York: Grove Press, 2003. Print.





  

19.08.14 Talking to my Supervisor

I have now gone and spoken to my supervisor about my topic and we have now decided on the name: Nature vs. Nurture; The Psychological Approaches to Eating Disorders

12.08.14 Deciding on a Title

Due to my family's history with eating disorders I knew that this was the going to be my field of interest for my EPQ. I am also hoping to study Psychology at university in September 2015 and so I want to incorporate this as well.

Following on from this I have decided that the title for my EPQ is: 

Nature vs. Nurture; The Psychology behind Eating Disorders

07.08.14 Planning

Today I made a Gantt Chart to plan out my time for researching and planning for my EPQ:

04.08.14 Introducing Me

I have created this blog to document my AQA Extended Project Qualification. This will include ll the planning and research I will conduct as well and the production stages when creating my presentation. This process will begin in August 2014 until March 2015.