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Inquiry Proposal Outline

The document outlines an inquiry proposal about how young people can positively contribute to the lives of others. It discusses how the author wanted to change themselves for the better and influence those around them. Some key points made include starting good habits like exercise and journaling, focusing on positive choices, and wondering if one person can change the world through determination. The author plans to research how to define and quantify the effects one person can have on others through various positive interactions and social experiments. The goal is to understand how to communicate life changes for others' benefits and potentially change the world.

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92 views5 pages

Inquiry Proposal Outline

The document outlines an inquiry proposal about how young people can positively contribute to the lives of others. It discusses how the author wanted to change themselves for the better and influence those around them. Some key points made include starting good habits like exercise and journaling, focusing on positive choices, and wondering if one person can change the world through determination. The author plans to research how to define and quantify the effects one person can have on others through various positive interactions and social experiments. The goal is to understand how to communicate life changes for others' benefits and potentially change the world.

Uploaded by

api-509657718
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Inquiry Proposal Outline

Ryan Tower UWRT-1104-026

How can young people contribute positively to the lives of those


around them?

A Descriptive Narrative
The original reason I thought about this question was years ago when I wanted to
change myself. I used to feel like I was growing as a person, but I wasn’t growing my
perspective and experiences. For some reason I felt I had a purpose bigger than myself,
and I had something more than a normal life. 

“When something is important enough, you do it against all odds.” -Elon Musk

So I started improving things that were important to me no matter the resistance. I


started challenging myself to make the smartest choices for myself no matter how hard
they were. 

By taking incremental steps such as;

 starting strong habits (working out every morning),


 building a healthy coping mechanism (journaling)
 Attitude adjustments & taking more joy in life made me feel happier. 

I made a year's worth of progress in six months by adjusting my lifestyle and


perspective. It got me wondering: if I can change myself by focusing on the right choices
and sticking to them, can I change the lives of people around me? 

If someone can change themselves with determination, Is it true one person can change
the world? ( how?)

This question of how to change the world is too broad for my inquiry proposal so I
focused on how one young person can change those around them positively.

A Brief History/Context of my Question


The history of “how to change the world” is as old as time. Personally I’ve addressed
this topic in presentations and previous speeches. Every change that has shaped the
world and the future has come from one person, or the effects of one (or nature).
There’s an innate history to being born in a family, growing up around adults, picking up
their lingo, developing traits and interests that shape you. The process of a person
being impacted by their environment is a precise science called epidemiology.
Every person exits the womb after birth with the same two things; a gender and a loud
cry. Think to yourself for a moment how extraordinary the process of growing from a
fertilized egg into the wonderful people we are today is. The act of growing up, settling
down, providing for a family and dying has become so normalized to us, it’s a habit.
When you look back at your life it’s overwhelming how we grow so fast. The process of
going through changes is progressive but becomes profound when you reflect on what
happened. Analyzing the results certain habits have on lifestyle is key to improving life.
When you analyze what growing up is childhood becomes easy to reflect on. The
environment, parents, siblings and friends are the influences we draw on to become
ourselves. At the center of each of us, our character is really just a simple combination
of values and observed characteristics from people we idolize. Although there are a
variety of views in the psychological world on what our character is amalgamated from.

What Did I Know About my Subject Before I Began


Before I began my inquiry project, I wasn’t knowledgeable about the psychology of
people’s behavior on each other. Although subconsciously all people are aware of their
effect on each other. The way you treat the people around you, creates a social “ripple”
by how it impacts them and how they choose to react.

I’m sure everyone reading this has felt guilty about what they said to a friend at some
point, or maybe you got into an argument with your parents where you felt sad after.
How we interact with our relationships impacts our social circle directly. Imagine how
sending a string message might be felt across an interconnected social network.

The connections we cultivate impact our everyday life, but more importantly stay with us
on a lifelong basis. The choices we make now will change the types of relationships
we’ll have forever. The way we act and react to stimulus will impact us and the other
relationships around us in a “butterfly effect”. 

To expand my background knowledge about people’s emotional response to differing


behaviors, I conducted an informal social experiment at high school;

Hypothesis: If I contribute positively to the lives of those around me, then they will
proportionally contribute positively back to mine.

Thesis: By treating fellow high-school students with more positive interactions, I


measured their reactions. Then I compared this to the “control” of their emotional
response to my normal attitude.

-I treated people better than before and gauged their reactions.

What Evidence Have I Gathered to Establish That is Researchable


“People with supportive friends and family have better mental and physical health than
those who lack these networks.”

https://esrc.ukri.org/news-events-and-publications/evidence-briefings/mental-health-and-social-
relationships/

“Young people are more likely to positively impact this planet we call home, ....[and] try to
encourage [young people] to take a look around their local [area]”

https://uncc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01UNCC_INST/p56k15/proquest211832848

What keywords/subject words can you generate related to your inquiry


·  Mental Health

·  Psychology

·  Social impact

·  Cultural environment/ environmental factors

·  Relationships

·  Values and ethics

- Epidemiology

- social interactions

- Social Web-Based Collaborative Learning Environment (SWBCLE)

- Psychological profiles

- Logotherapy: Viktor Frankl

- Purpose In life

- quality of life

Where Might I Look Next for More Perspectives on my Question


Local:

-Check out library articles, books and journals


-interview college students

-survey classmates

My question can also be enlarged to a state-level, country, or globally. Especially at


times like these the world needs people who know how to positively change it.

Can I Limit or Enlarge my Question in Terms of Geography, Time, or


Population
My question can be targeted down to a small community like a college campus.
Enlarged to a state size geography or can even be applied to the whole world. Your
effect on others within your friend group is easy to recognize and analyze. 

When your impact on others is elevated to a small community like a campus or a high
school, it becomes very complex to see the psychological effects on each individual,
and where they come from becomes more difficult to trace back. 

The ability to discern where your psychological influences are coming from is very
important. What’s more important is to define exactly how our actions affect those
around us. Once we know how we can change each other, we are within reach of
being able to change the whole world.

What Specific Questions are Occurring to me now that I’ve Begun to


Think on Paper
How can I define the effects from one person to another?

-tangibly (explain the specific situation)

-qualitatively (physically, spiritually, and emotionally)

-quantitatively, are there any numeric or quality data assessments 

Maybe by defining the effect as passive or active or positive and negative are some
ideas to start with.

What measurement do you use to quantify a personal or societal change? 

How can we communicate changes in life to others’ benefits?

How can we slow down or stop the negative influences from others onto us? How can
we tangibly change the world?
 

Why Might my Inquiry Question be Important to our classmates and


the larger UNCC community
My question is vital to changing the current trajectory of the environment and society.
The future for our generation, our children, and our children’s children are plagued by
poor climates, wilting political structure, a mental health and opioid epidemic. To
transform the dark future we’re looking towards, we need to analyze our effect on each
other, and help change the world for the betterment of humanity.

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