Last Friday, the Sarazen Student Union was packed with students displaying their research projects from the past academic year. Students from Siena’s schools of liberal arts, business and science presented on topics ranging from “The Effects of Pinterest on the Self Esteem of Young Women” to “Siena Sports Trivia Web Application.”
The students worked with a full-time faculty member on a research topic of their choice and presented their findings to a public audience that included their peers and professors.
“It was a great experience and as a result I now look at ads completely different,” Ali Bullis ’15 said. Her project titled, “Consumer Behavior Theoretical and Conceptual Review of Print Advertisements” was completed under the supervision of Cheryl Buff, Ph.D., professor of marketing and director of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity.
Bullis collected a set of award-winning ads and evaluated them based on theories and concepts that included motivation, sensation and perception, attitude creation and change, learning, personality, cultural and subcultural influences, reference group and opinion leadership.
Francessca Romano ’14 presented her honors thesis titled “Teach Less, Learn More.” Her research examined the differences in cultural perspectives towards education between the United States and Confucian- influence regions.
“My research indicated that our country values personally gratifying experiences while the Confucian culture believes in working hard at one’s education to improve their socioeconomic status,” Romano said.
After a semester or, in some cases, a year of research, Siena students may side with their Confucian-culture counterparts and argue that hard work is more valuable, because as evidenced by the results of their work, it has already paid off.
