Scientific Enquiry for Social Sciences

Term Project

PGP/25/065 Akansha Anand

PGP/25/071 Ayush Rana

PGP/25/077 Chirayu Vijaywargiya

PGP/25/083 Koyyada Sumaja Priyadarshini

PGP/25/089 Nambigari R Nishanth

PGP/25/095 Priyanka Rajesh Lalwani

PGP/25/101 Rishabh Gard

PGP/25/107 Saransh Goel

PGP/25/113 Sishil Sushanth

PGP/25/119 Suviksha Sharma

Series: Family Man
Question: Social impact of including the gender "Man" in
a series title?

-Perception Based
-Subjective answers, not quantifiable
-Experience and perception based
-Non-statistical (as it cannot be generalized to a large population)
-Will have to ask several questions to define “gender” and the title of
“Man”?

Therefore, Qualitative in nature

-Type of interview: Semi-structured , Individual & anonymous, interview

experts
Research Question: Social Impact of including the gender “Man” in the series title.

Web Series Chosen: The Family Man

Objective

By conducting the study titled “Social Impact of including the gender “Man” in the
series title?” we would like to address the following objectives:
1. Define and understand the word “gender” and its consequence of categorization on
humans and society with the help of experts and literature
2. To understand the impact on viewers about gender, gender based roles and titles by
taking an Indian series, and other cultural icons as an example
3. Does the perception about gender, gender based roles and its impact vary among
viewers of the show vs non-viewers
4. Understanding the gender-based stereotype prevailing in the modern Indian society
5. Draw insights on how the age, education and other socio-geographical background
of viewers affect the perceptions about gender and the roles
6. The relevance and consequence of such gender-based titles in a VUCA world

Methodology:

Our study would be an exploratory study where we plan to question the subjects and
collect their responses by personnel and impersonal means about the study titled “
Social Impact of including the gender “Man” in the series title?”. We would initiate
our study by consulting experts and literature to understand and define the word
“gender”. We would then conduct semi structured interviews either as individual or
focus groups to gather the respondents idea, thoughts, prejudices and stereotypes if
any about gender. The choice of interview (individual or focus group) style will depend
upon the number and availability of the respondents.

Once the exploratory study followed by the interviews is concluded, we will also be
circulating a Google form to gauge the response of a wider response. The Google
Form will mainly have options for the users (the options will be finalized after
exploratory study), and a very few open ended questions will be included.
Focus Group Discussion - Classification of investigative Questions:

1. Understanding the term “gender”, preferably from experts and literature.

2. If the shows are of same genre and same story line, which show are you more
likely to watch purely based on title:

a. “Family Man” vs “Family Woman”

b. “Family” vs “Family Woman”
c. “Family” vs “Family Man”
d. (Superhero) Woman vs (Superhero) Man
e. (Superhero) Woman vs General title
f. (Superhero) Man vs General title

3. a. As per you, what would be the genre of the series if it had the word “Woman” in
the title?

b. As per you, what would be the genre of the series if it had the word “Man” in the
title?
A. Action
B. Fantasy
C. Thriller
D. Comedy
E. Romance
F. Sci-Fi

4. a. What would be the color palette of a series poster if it had the gender
“Woman” in the title?

b. What would be the color palette of a series poster if it had the gender “Man” in
the title?

5. a. What are the character attributes that come to your mind when you hear the
gender “Man” in the title?
a. Dominant
b. Empathetic
c. Explorer
d. Fighter
e. Caring
f. Responsible
b. What are the character attributes that come to your mind when you hear the gender
“Woman” in the title? (same options as Q5.)

6. Before watching the series, did you draw any conclusion/prejudice from the title
of the series?

a. If yes, what were your conclusions?

b. Did the conclusions/opinions change after watching the series?
7. Do gender-specific series have a negative impact and widen the existing gender
disparity or help raise awareness on the existing situation in society?

8. As a man/woman, do titles suggesting a male centric story like “Family Man” or a

female centric story like “Family Women” reduce/increase your interest in the
series?

9. a. After hearing the title of the show as The Family Man, do you expect/think the
protagonist to be a homemaker or of a certain profession?

b. After hearing the title of the show as The Family Woman, do you expect/think
the protagonist to be a homemaker or of a certain profession?
HYPOTHESIS:

1. How does including gender-based titles have a role in shaping the perceptions of the
viewer
2. Such perceptions and experiences at an early age lead to bias and prejudices
among the participants of the society

VARIABLES:

● Perceptions of Viewers on gender-related roles and stereotypes (dependent

(DV))
● Color Associations with respect to gender (dependent(DV))
● Experience (independent variable as a proxy for age (IV))
● Sex (Independent (IV))

STUDY DESIGN:

Pretest - Posttest Design

● Conduct a Likert scale (Psychometric test) on a group of people before and after
exposing them to
A. Gender skewed titles and series
B. Color Palettes
● Including a group of kids (Age 3-5) or below to get their perceptions (through
interactions

PARTICIPANT CATEGORIES:

Age Group:

● 03 - 05 years (Reference)
● 13 - 15years
● 23 - 25 years
● 45 - 45 years
● 60+ years

Gender:

● Male
● Female
EXPECTED OUTCOME:

● Map gender perception of participants

● Assess the shift in perception after watching the series and titles

In this experiment, we will try to understand the relation between the

series, titles and color schemes on individual perception