New Researcher in need!

[HeartofJuyoMk2]

Hey everybody, my name is Ethan, and I am currently a high school student in New York. I have begun research for the INTEL ISEF competition, a rather prestigious competition for research students and specialists alike.

My research topic is whether there is an effect on either the participation in martial arts (or duration of training) on the maturity of adolescents.

I'm looking for a specialist or professor who would be interested in my project, and willing to serve as both an advisor and mentor.

If anybody out there is interested in my topic, or would like to know more, I would certainly respond to questions. Thank you, and happy holidays!

 

[sjansen]

I live in Michigan, but I'll help you any way that I can. I am a teacher and an instructor in the martial arts. I have a masters in education with an emphasis on research.

Let me know if I can help in any way,

 

[IcemanSK]

Welcome to MT. I hope you are able to find help for your project.

 

[14 Kempo]

Hello and welcome to MartialTalk ... good luck with your request!

 

[arnisador]

Good luck!

 

[GBlues]

Are you talking about things like anger management? Or confidence things of that nature? I would love to see what you find on that subject of the maturity levels.

 

[Kacey]

Welcome, and good luck with your project. How are you defining your terms (e.g. "maturity")? How are you planning to measure "maturity"? Or are these (and other questions) something you're planning to work out with your advisor/mentor? What time frame are you looking at to complete your project?

 

[morph4me]

Hello Ethan, welcome to MT

 

[Sukerkin]

Hi Ethan. Welcome aboard the good ship Martial talk .


Are you looking for a specific person to assist you in your project or will the communal input from several serve your purposes?

Regardless, Kacey's post above was also my first thought i.e. deciding on what yardstick you're going to use to measure 'maturity'. Without that goal well defined, putting a paper together will much harder.

If you need any help with crunching figures then I could probably lend a hand having had quite a lot of experience with statistical modelling in my time as an economist.

As to how to go about researching, well, that's more of an art than a science but at it's base it's a way of learning how to follow broken trails of breadcrumbs until they lead you to your goal . When I was a museum curator, that was what I did every day (dream job but low pay ) but I'm not sure that it's something that can be 'taught' - it's one of those 'riding a bike' skills in that someone can tell you how to do it but skill only comes through experimentation and practise.

Best of luck, young sir :rei:.

 

[seasoned]

Welcome aboard.
I can only help in the way of encouragement, good luck on your endeavor.

 

[MA-Caver]

Welcome to MT.

Your choice of subject for your project is IMO an admirable one, definitely worth pursuing. Hope that even if you're unable to find what you need in time to complete the project that you will continue to pursue it and find the mentor that you're looking for.
I for one would enjoy reading the findings as I've a interest in the subject myself but have none of qualifications you're looking for to be of any assistance.

Good luck, sincerely.
:asian:


oh, and keep us posted on how this is going eh?

 

[KempoGuy06]

welcome to MT. I have first hand experience in how the MA's can affect maturity (ME). If you want to PM and ask me question please feel free.

B

 

[HeartofJuyoMk2]

Thank you all for the kind words!

A few of you have had some very valid questions. This project is due in early next year (school year) around this time next year. Most of the work I will be doing will likely be over this coming summer as an intern, if I get lucky.

A few of you have talked about defining maturity, which is turning out to be a daunting task, but when it comes to the factors involved in maturity, I have a basic outline, namely responsibility, temperence, and perspective, each with subcategories, and so on and so forth. The difficulty is in finding an existing index for maturity (or a combination of surveys) which can fit my purposes, because I am not the most qualified to determine who is mature and who is not.

I plan to develop a survey to hand out to at least two separate martial arts schools near me, and compare the results of adolescent students of varying durations of training.

In addition, there is difficulty in determining causation as opposed with correlation, meaning that it could be very difficult to determine if the martial training is the causing factor of changes in maturity, among other variables.

I don't expect the task to be easy. Even if I do form an adequate research plan and have a survey which can accurately display results, I expect many many hours of statistical calculation, in which I have a fair amount of experience, for a high school junior.

Whether or not it is diifficult, this project is close to my heart because I see that martial artists are among the most sound-minded people I know, and are the most non-violent, and well tempered, despite popular belief that MAs make people more aggressive, and I believe it is worth the effort to statistically prove it, and get a scholarship in the process.