Ryan Tower Inquiry Research Summaries UWRT-1104

2/23/2020

Research Summary #1
1. IvyWise. “Making an Impact Inside and Outside of the Classroom.” IvyWise,
IvyWise, 5      Oct. 2018, 
www.ivywise.com/ivywise-knowledgebase/newsletter/article/making-an-
impact-inside-and-outside-of-the-classroom/.

2. This source is more credible than most normal google search results. The
IvyWise Knowledge Base website is an online newsletter that many students
subscribe to for information on lifelong learning, college admissions, and overall
tips and tricks for school. Some parts of the online organization that validate it’s
credibility are it’s sponsors Women’s Business Enterprise, NACAC, and other
community based nonprofits. Not only the sponsors are credible but the founder
of IvyWise is Dr. Kat Cohen one of the world’s leading independent college
admissions counselors with expertise in admissions counseling, college and high
school student counseling, tutoring and test preparation, and school research—
that works with students globally in over 40 countries to help them get into the
schools of their choice.

3. This article is titled “Making an Impact Inside and Outside of the Classroom”.
IvyWise wrote this article to demonstrate how students are driven to be more
impactful in the 21st century. An impact is defined as to have an effect on. The
article focuses on what examples of impacts are and how you can make more
meaningful impacts. 
The article proves that acceptance statistics, competitive admissions, and
challenging scholarships have driven students to become more impactful in their
local communities for personal resume reasons or in response to the severe
competitiveness of college admissions nowadays. (the article’s main stance is
students are making impacts for their own personal gain).
They say while academics, majors, and extracurriculars are important
elements of college applications. The best way to stand out in the modern day is
to demonstrate to the admission boards how you’ve made an impact with your
passions. This impact can be inside or outside of the classroom. The author
claims an impact is to make a difference in areas around you. Because of the
increasing competition for admittance into higher education students are now
striving to positively influence the things they’re involved in (and you should too). 
Later in the article ways of making an impact are demonstrated such as
taking initiative, becoming a leader, being present in classes and many more.
(Although it doesn’t elaborate on how you’ll make an impact you’re passionate
about.)

4. This source’s main argument agrees with my other sources that the youth is
becoming more involved in making impacts. The disagreement in this article
arises when the motivating force for young people to make an impact is
academic standing or personal gain. My take on the source’s perspective is, I
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believe making impacts in your life is important but must be more than benefitting
only yourself.
My other sources are more psychologically unbiased and delve deeper into how
people are taking more purpose in their life and why. For reference my other
sources include people outside of only students.

5. “Making an impact can be a simple as being a thoughtful classmate, or as grand

as making positive changes within the surrounding community”

“Take the initiative to get involved and use that opportunity and your skills to help
the others involved achieve their end goal.”

“...finding other ways to get involved with your interests is the first step toward
eventually making an impact.”

6. I will use this source in my proposal for background into why students are more
likely to strive towards a more impactful life than not. This source isn’t very deep
or knowledgable about how students are making impacts and why, but it’s a
necessary foundation for me to build my whole argument on.

Research Summary #2

1. Battista, John, and Richard Almond. “Life Regard Index.” Science Direct, vol. 14,
no. 2, 2002. Personality and Individual Differences, doi:10.1037/t05886-000.

(https://www.rug.nl/research/portal/files/10223323/c4.pdf Full lab Report)

2. This journal is of paramount credibility because it’s a clinical academic journal

called Science Direct. This journal is not only very credible because of where it
was published. The information and data was re-tested and examined by
scientists from it’s original experiment date in 1973 for more than 20 years when
in 1996 when the full lab report was published and it was republished to the
online medical journal in 2002 where I found it.

3. This lab report encompasses over 25 years of scientific research and clinical
data that was designed to test and validate Almond and Battista’s original
experiment. The original two scientists created the LRI or life regard index as a
quantitative approach to defining the meaning a patient/participant assigns to
their life and how that impacts their well-being and health. Years prior to their
design of the LRI were filled turmoil in the scientific community. Psychology was
a science that was always based on emotional and physical. For once meaning
in life/spirituality correlated to overall well-being and health. As scientists began
to analyze purpose in life outside of philosophy and literature it was recognized
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as an essential dimension of psychological health and a precise tool for

measuring meaning in life became necessary to psychologists. Some other
assessments at the time to define someone’s meaning in life were the Meaning
in Life questionnaire, Purpose In Life PIL and Sense of Coherence SOC scales. 

Almond and Battista created their life regard index in hopes to create a
scaled assessment that could define any person's meaning in life with a degree
of accuracy and validity in different groups. Their original took place in a group of
5000 Dutch citizens. After their original experiment in a Dutch population
including three different groups of people their results proved their original thesis
of; people’s view of their purpose/meaning in life is directly correlated to their
overall well-being. Over the next 25 years scientists re-tested and validated their
life regard index with all types of people in different areas through small changes
and redoing the experiment.

4. This source is the most influential to my inquiry proposal so far as it lays out the
foundation of my argument, agreeing with my proposal but telling me how to start
to answer it. A clearly defined meaning in life will deeply impact your
psychological well-being and physical health. This source concretely shows the
association of a positive life with a positive life regard. My next sources will
hopefully connect a positive individual's life to those around them.

5. “FR & FU; were the two subscales used in the LRI which stand for framework
and fulfillment”

“The perspective of this study is based on emphasizing the process of

individual’s believing rather than the content of their beliefs”

“Feelings of meaningless belong to human existence and aren’t considered

abnormal”

6. This source is one of the best clinical and evidence-based articles I’ve found on
my proposal so far. The only problem is I now must find a source that leads this
great argument to my inquiry proposal.

Research Summary #3

1. Cuncic, Arlin. “How Logotherapy Can Help You Find Meaning in Life.” Verywell
Mind, Verywell Mind, 6 Oct. 2019,
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www.verywellmind.com/an-overview-of-victor-frankl-s-logotherapy-
4159308.

2. The credibility of this source is more than that of most websites. The article is on
a medically-based website about therapy types and clinical research. The most
credible part of this article is that fact it was medically reviewed by MD Steven
Gans. Steven Gans, is an assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical
School and is passionately involved in the practice and teaching of
psychotherapy.

3. This article explains what psychology in the 40’s looked like at an early stage of
development by use of Freud’s psychoanalysis and Alfred Adler’s individual
psychology. Viktor Frankl who was a director of the Neurological Department of
the Rothschild Hospital when WWII started, little did he know his experience
through the war would profoundly impact the fields of psychology. After Viktor
Frankl survived the horrific concentration camps through sheer willpower he left
with one key belief in his heart, “everything can be taken from a man but one
thing: the last human freedom to choose one’s attitude in any given set of
circumstances.” 

The reason he survived the most miserable of conditions, he found that

motivation for living comes from finding that meaning in an individual’s life. After
surviving a World War by himself he remained silent about the horrors he saw.
Eventually from the mind of a psychologist he questioned how he survived. He
developed a theory called logotherapy; it was an experimental therapy that
involved helping a patient heal by finding meaning in life. Logos is derived from
Greek which meant thought or meaning, therapy was his plan to help victims of
mental trauma or major sadness in life. Frankl wrote a brief overview for his
theory in the published book called “Man’s Search for Meaning”. Viktor Frankl’s
therapy paved the way for advancements in psychological counseling for the next
20-30 years. The basic theory put forth by Frankl was a revolutionary idea and
over time more than 59 instruments have been developed on this topic. 

This source told readers all about Viktor Frankl’s life and how his life
created the circumstances for a revolution in the field of psychology. Many works,
advancements, and techniques in use today are derived from Frankl’s thesis of
logotherapy.

4. This source agrees and disagrees with my other sources in how it outlines what
the purpose of life is. Individuals are drawn to find meaning in their life to feel
purposeful but it’s restricted to the original statements Frankl made in his
excerpt. 
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“Life offers purpose and meaning but does not promise fulfillment or
happiness. Each person has a healthy core. One’s primary focus is to enlighten
others with their own internal resources and provid[ing] them tools to use their
inner core.”

The last statement is the start of answering my proposal questions

because when people enlighten others with their own tools it impacts and comes
from their inner-core. Finding purpose in your life (whether or not you’re
successful) will improve your mental and physical well-being, quality of life, and
the lives of people  around you.

5. “Methods of Finding meaning;

-by creating work or doing a deed, 

-by experiencing something or encountering someone,

-by the attitude that we take toward unavoidable suffering”

“Humans have a will to find meaning: our primary motivation for living and acting,
and allows us to endure pain and suffering. This is viewed as differing from the
will to achieve power and pleasure.”

“Review of research: lower meaning in life among patients with mental disorders,
increased effectiveness of logotherapy with diseased individuals.”

6. This source is a great answer to my original inquiry question of “How can young
people contribute positively to the lives of those around them?” It still feels like it
will take more than just this article to answer my question fully.  Rather than the
excuse of personal gain or fulfillment, making the lives of people around you
better is about having an impactful life and improving your life. I think it must
have something to do with the purpose of others’ lives too.

Research Summary #4

1. Debats, Dominique Louis. “The Life Regard Index: Reliability And Validity.”
Psychological Reports, vol. 67, no. 5, 1990, p. 27., doi:10.2466/pr0.67.5.27-34.  

https://www.rug.nl/research/portal/files/10223322/c3.pdf

2. This source’s credibility is superior to most other sources. Not only is this article
published in a medical journal meaning it has been reviewed and double-
checked by medical professionals. Also this abstracted lab report is being
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republished by D. L. Debats to further analyze the reliability and validity of the

original LRI index created by Almond and Battista. 

3. This source does a great job displaying the start of Almond and Battista’s work
into social psychology by how they began their experiment and what questions
they started with. By demonstrating how scientists went through the scientific
process it brings the reader along for the journey. Instead of just summarizing
results and cross-referencing other studies, this source does an excellent job
concisely showing how 2 scientists landed at their results. While accurately
defining what they had access to and how they created a quantitative instrument
to measure meaning in life. This source also includes all the quantitative data
from their previous experiments in clear tables to make it easy on the reader.

In conclusion this article shows how by retesting multiple instruments in

different groups of people, the LRI is the most efficient way of measuring
someone’s meaning in life and how it associates the psyche.

4. This source 100% agrees with others as it proves the Life Regard Index as the
superior meaning in life assessment. Logos is used in this article as the other
side is argued by comparing the LRI to the Purpose in Life (PIL) or Sense of
Coherence (SOC) which are the other two most common meanings in life
assessments at the time. The statistics, data, and tables of all the purposes in life
assessments show dramatically the LRI was the best tool to tell people’s
meaning in life and assess their psychological well-being.

5. Hypotheses; 

1) The index will show negative correlations with anxiety, hostility, and
depression and a positive correlation with elation

2) The index will distinguish people who regard themselves as happy and find
high satisfaction in living from persons who are unhappy and are dissatisfied with
their lives

3) Persons with a clear philosophy of life will show higher scores on the
framework subscale than people who lack such clear life orientation.

6. This lab report confirming the validity of the LRI is hitting the clinical aspect of my
inquiry proposal on the head of the nail. As I now have the ultimate and most
accurate tool for measuring meaning in life. The next step of my inquiry is to
connect meaning in life to the impact your life regard has on the people around
you. 
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Research Summary #5

1. Steger, Michael, and Patricia Frazier. “The Meaning in Life Questionnaire:

Assessing the Presence of and Search for Meaning in Life.” Michaelfsteger.com,
University of Minnesota, 23 Dec. 2004,

www.michaelfsteger.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Steger-Frazier-
Oishi-Kaler-JCP-2006.pdf.

2. The credibility of this source is great because this article belongs to the medical
Journal of Counseling Psychology where it was published by two University of
Minnesota graduate students. Not only is this journal just an abstract of an
experiment using the meaning in life questionnaire but the other instruments
used and experiments conducted around the same time are included.

3. In summary this is not a good source. The lengthiness of the lab report isn’t an
indicator of it’s quality, as this journal is chock-full of clinical jargon, medical data
that’s hard to interpret, and illegible tables without legends. In the overall view of
this journal this small font, two-column structure, and hefty overuse of information
makes it difficult for readers to read and understand. 

To make matters worse in the final part of the report both the scientists
failed to come to a conclusion that validates their use of the Meaning in Life
Questionnaire (MLQ). The whole abstract of the experiment fails to make any
important or unknown discoveries and was likely invalidated along the duration of
the experiment due to many different reasons.

4. This article agrees with my other medical journals in that the scientists who
conducted the experiments admitted the MLQ had many disparities and
problems with invalidity. The shallowness of the MLQ compared to other
instruments for defining meaning in life was demonstrated. The inaccuracy of
defining a meaning in life and inability to prove or disprove hypotheses was
central to the lack of success in this report. 

5. “Alternatively, the search for meaning could be a desire for a deeper or more
gratifying understanding of what makes one’s life meaningful.”
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“measures of life satisfaction, self-esteem, and optimism, which overlap

theoretically with meaning in life, were [tested for]”

6. My opinion of this article is it’s practically useless because it fails to make a

central argument at all, fails to capture the readers’ attention and understanding,
and has no definite conclusion to answer the argument.

Research Summary #6

1. Neill, Michael, director. Can a TEDx Talk Really Change the World? TED, Ted
Talks, 2019,

www.ted.com/talks/michael_neill_can_a_tedx_talk_really_change_the_wo
rld/up-next.

2. The credibility of this source is variable because it’s a speech given by a public
speaker. Parts of the speech that were more credible are areas with data figures,
clinical evidence, or quotes of influential people. Although parts of the speech
that are less credible are statements made by the speaker because although
appearing unbiased, are backed by an opinion.

3. This Ted Talk is about; can a speech really change the world?
The speaker approaches this question by being blunt at first and describing how
people would act if changing the world was their job. He reminisces about an
interesting dinner conversation with his family about the question, how would you
change the world if it was your job? The main argument the speaker makes is
how everyone can change the world individually and what’s your perspective on
the world.

The speaker states our perspective of the world doesn’t come from world
events or social culture. Instead our view of the world comes from our experience
in the world. By defining our perspective on the world as coming from within, this
correlates to how we change the world from the inside to outside. Instead of
feeling like your pain and suffering are caused by the world, learn that your
feelings of the world shape how you see your life. Don’t let your perspective of
the world make you feel like a victim.

Our experience of life is always created from how we feel inside as it

pertains to the world around us. We’re all the same type of people with different
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experiences so enlighten those around us and the byproduct will be a world

changed for the better.

4. This source agrees with my other sources because it emphasizes not only
people’s feelings about the world, but more importantly demonstrates how your
feelings impact your own life in context to the world. This video doesn’t exactly
align with my medical sources but it does result in the same conclusion, positive
meaning in life and change in the world comes from within not from what you
experience from the outside. 

5. “ Who are you? without thought, without a story, without thinking who you are.”

“A problem can’t be solved with the same thinking that created it.”-Albert Einstein

“Without thought can you feel your skin tone? without thinking can you feel your
ethnicity? who are you once you remove thought?”

6. This source is very motivational and true. Although I’m always one for positivity
and self-improvement the speaker emphasized you shouldn’t strive to do better,
or become a better person, strive to complete one small act. That doesn’t align
with my idea of the proposal but it opens up an interesting concept. Without
thinking who you are, what you can do to make a difference in those around you?
In my opinion this Ted Talk was a little too theoretical and esoteric for my liking.

Research Summary #7

1. Wade, Cleo, director. Want to Change the World? Start by Being Brave Enough
to Care. TED, Ted Talks, 19 Jan. 2018, 

www.ted.com/talks/cleo_wade_want_to_change_the_world_start_by_bein
g_brave_enough_to_care/up-next?language=en.

2. The credibility of this speaker is variable but I believe more valid than the last
Ted Talk. Although this speech included no data or quantitative figures the
speaker’s poise, passion, and authentic tone proved her credibility. It’s interesting
to see how the actions of a speaker impact credibility more than the factual truth.
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3. This video's main argument is we all have the power and ability to change the
world by changing ourselves and those around us. I really enjoyed this video
because the speaker not only exposes all the audience for not trying their
hardest but also provides the tools we can use to make a positive impact around
us.

The perspective she starts the speech with is a newborn baby coming into
her life, her friend’s life, and the world. She states that we should all strive to do
better as we enter and grow up in the world. The middle of her speech is
encompassed by they say, I say statements like the world will say “I am violent”
but you should say “ I am not with my words or my actions.” This structure
challenges the audience to stand in the speaker’s shoes and agree with her
statements. This speech is riddled with expertly-used rhetoric and the impact it
has leaves the audience grasping at how they can make an individual difference.

4. This source agrees with my other sources by the inferences made against the
culture of the world and the collective thoughts of the audience. By challenging
listeners to strive for righteous acts it begs them to find the underlying meaning in
their life. Without telling the audience their searching for their purpose in life, the
speaker incites sparks of inspiration in each person listening. Then after a call to
action, “start by doing what you can, with what you got, where you are, in your
own way.” The speaker demands not only to find meaning in your life but that you
take action to change the world for the better, simply “by being brave enough to
care” the title of the speech. 

5. “When you help one person become more secure, a nation is more secure”

“There can’t be liberation for one of us if the other is not free’

“When the world asks us big questions that require big answers we have two
choices; we feel so overwhelmed or underqualified we do nothing, or start with
one small act and qualify yourself.”

6. This was without a doubt my favorite source as it perfectly combined the

background knowledge I found in clinical research with the tangible steps to
make a change in the world or impact those around you in a positive way. This
source will most likely fuel the answer to my inquiry proposal.