Ball State University\u2019s junior faculty research could have great impacts on countless lives. The 2014-15 junior faculty research competition awardees are working to improve fitness technology like Fitbits, studying consumers\u2019 trust and misperceptions of news based on their news source preferences, and helping architects and interior designers create classrooms that meet the needs of students with autism.<\/p>\n
The Aspire internal grant program\u2019s Junior Faculty Competition, administered by\u00a0Sponsored Projects Administration<\/a>, helps support such\u00a0research<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0creative endeavors<\/a>. The primary purpose of this competition is to give junior faculty seed money for research findings and projects that will lead to further support from external funders. Those in their first five years of a tenure-track appointment are eligible to apply.<\/p>\n Americans\u2019 idea of fitness is changing. Instead of simply counting hours at the gym or calories in the kitchen, we\u2019re using technology to measure the energy we use in our everyday activities\u2014at work, at the store, at home, everywhere. We\u2019re recognizing that every \u201cbit\u201d of activity counts toward a healthy lifestyle, and that has caught the attention of one Ball State researcher.<\/p>\n Fitbits<\/a>\u00a0are a popular tool for measuring calories burned during everyday activities, also known as free-living energy expenditure. \u201cFree-living energy expenditure is the amount of energy that a person uses as he or she undergoes normal, daily activities in the real world\u2014not in the laboratory,\u201d according to\u00a0Alex Montoye, assistant professor of\u00a0clinical exercise physiology<\/a>.<\/p>\n Montoye says wearable activity monitors like Fitbits are good for estimating activities like walking, but they\u2019re not so great at measuring the energy used during other activities of daily living. Preliminary results of Montoye\u2019s research show that consumer-based activity monitors tend to underestimate steps and the amount of calories burned, especially during higher-intensity activities and household activities, such as sweeping, vacuuming, and doing laundry.<\/p>\n \u201cMost research studies looking at the accuracy of activity monitors are conducted in the laboratory because it allows researchers to exert a high degree of control over activities that participants perform as well as allowing for use of high-quality criterion measures of energy expenditure,\u201d Montoye says. \u201cHowever, recent research has shown that activity monitors that work well in the laboratory may work very poorly in the real world, where there is no restriction on activities that people perform.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know that physical activity and exercise are good for health. However, actually measuring how active people are is surprisingly difficult, and the method we use to measure physical activity results in dramatic differences in how active we think people are,\u201d he says. \u201cFor example, almost 50 percent of U.S. adults claim to meet the national physical activity guidelines (150 minutes a week of moderate or vigorous physical activity) when asked via questionnaire, but less than 5 percent meet guidelines when assessed using a physical activity monitor.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to improve the ways we measure physical activity in order to understand how active people are and target interventions toward people who are achieving low levels of physical activity.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope that we can improve the accuracy of physical activity monitors so that we can have a better idea of how active people are and have valuable information to use to devise ways of getting people to be more physically active to improve health.\u201d<\/p>\n Montoye received an Aspire junior faculty award to assess how correct activity monitors are in the real world. \u201cMy current research is looking at the accuracy of several different kinds of accelerometer-based physical activity monitors for measuring energy expenditure while performing a wide variety of sedentary, household, ambulatory, and exercise activities in both the laboratory and in the real world,\u201d says Montoye.<\/p>\n From May 2015 through December 2016, Montoye will be working with thirty research participants. \u201cParticipants will be fitted with accelerometers on their hips, wrists, thigh, and ankle for two four-hour sessions while in their free-living environment,\u201d says Montoye. A research assistant will follow participants in their everyday settings to \u201cobserve and record the time-stamped order and sequence of activities performed by the participant,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n So far, Montoye has found that machine learning, a pattern recognition approach to modeling data that has applications in many areas, improves the accuracy of energy expenditure measurements from wearable physical activity monitors. \u201cHowever, machine learning is considerably more complex than other modeling techniques,\u201d he says, \u201cand its current complexity may preclude it from becoming a mainstream approach to modeling data from activity monitors. Therefore, my current work is focused on finding ways to simplify machine learning models enough that they can be used by people who don\u2019t specialize in activity monitor research.\u201d<\/p>\n Students who assist with Montoye\u2019s research gain experience beyond the classroom. \u201cIt\u2019s very rewarding getting to help students learn about the research process, and the students I\u2019ve worked with have been incredibly helpful in all the stages of data collection, analysis, and dissemination of findings. A few students have presented our work at regional conferences with plans to present at national conferences in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n Montoye is grateful for the campus research environment and resources. \u201cThe\u00a0Human Performance Laboratory<\/a>at Ball State is celebrating its 50th anniversary this fall, making it one of the oldest exercise physiology labs in the country. We have excellent support from both faculty and administrators within the school, college, and at the university level. Additionally, the Clinical Exercise Physiology Program in which I work runs the\u00a0Adult Physical Fitness Program, one of the oldest university-run exercise programs in the country. We have years of data available for use as well as many members who are willing to be involved in research studies. It\u2019s a wonderful environment that promotes high-quality scholarship. I am privileged to be able to contribute a small piece to the lab\u2019s outstanding reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n Fox News or CNN. Which one are you more likely to believe?<\/p>\n Why?<\/p>\n These kinds of questions intrigue\u00a0Robin Blom<\/a>, assistant professor of\u00a0journalism<\/a>. He received an Aspire junior faculty research award to support his work in bias perceptions toward news sources. This work will run from May to December 2015.<\/p>\n \u201cExpose two groups of people to the same truthful headline, but tell one group the headline is from CNN and tell the other group the headline is from Fox News. Even though the information is\u2014literally\u2014the same, the groups will consider the headline for one outlet more believable than when it\u2019s attributed to a competitor,\u201d Blom says.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m fascinated by people who believe things that aren\u2019t true and people who don\u2019t believe things that are true,\u201d he says. \u201cThere could be negative consequences for themselves or others when people make decisions based on misperceptions. That\u2019s why this is a fascinating research area. Lots of work to do!\u201d<\/p>\n For his current research, Blom is surveying a randomly-selected group of 1,000 U.S. adults online. Participants \u201cget exposed to one of two headlines about whether a majority or minority of citizens wants religious groups to be more involved in politics, attributed to either NBC or CBN (Christian Broadcast Network). The participants will indicate to what extent they believe the headline, as well as information about source trust,\u201d Blom says. They will also indicate their own political leaning, religious beliefs, and how surprised they were that the source provided the headline.<\/p>\n Based on preliminary results from two of Blom\u2019s previous studies, he expects that the participants\u2019 source trust and expectations about source messages will explain the differences in believability. If this is true, it could suggest that sources people distrust at first can actually become very believable, and trusted sources can become very unbelievable. \u201cThose findings could be the core of media literacy training modules to indicate the importance of accessing a variety of news sources to become educated about important issues in society for which there is no shared consensus on solutions,\u201d Blom says.<\/p>\n Blom hopes to teach young adults to rely on multiple news sources so they can make informed choices, especially about life-and-death matters. \u201cIn a swiftly changing society, in which all members are bombarded with news and gossip through numerous channels each day, it may be more than ever that citizens require fundamental information-literacy skills to decipher fact from fiction,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cOn some important political issues, such as \u2026 whether\u00a0vaccinations cause autism<\/a>, there is only one truth\u2014vaccinations cause autism or they do not. And political decisions should reflect that reality,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cAny decision based on misperceptions, or long delays (in decisions) based on discussions fed by those misperceptions, takes away valuable time and resources on fixing problems that communities deal with. And sometimes those decisions could literally mean the difference between life, illness, and death\u2014there can be severe consequences on refusing vaccinations\u2014regardless of whether some related concerns are valid or not.\u201d<\/p>\n Blom is especially intrigued in how people react to a news headline about a religious topic that is either attributed to secular or nonsecular sources. \u201cI\u2019m particularly interested in how the believability level of the headline is influenced by the level of news source trust and the prior expectancies of what news content individuals were expecting from a particular news source.\u201d<\/p>\n So far, Blom has discovered a double-edged sword\u2014people\u2019s own bias can lead them to misperceive the news, yet the news can cause misperceptions, intentionally or not.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the one hand, cognitive biases lead certain individuals to adopt misperceptions\u2014it\u2019s not necessarily the actual news coverage,\u201d he says. \u201cOn the other hand, news organizations must realize that the skepticism toward news coverage is largely caused by journalists distributing much misinformation\u2014which is caused by a mix of honest mistakes, flawed journalistic practices, and intentional distortion by certain reporters and commentators. That distrust needs to be restored to decrease misperceptions within societies.\u201d<\/p>\n Blom appreciates the support he\u2019s received from Ball State and\u00a0Sponsored Projects Administration<\/a>\u00a0(SPA). \u201cThe university has great programs to help junior faculty to develop their research ideas and grant-writing abilities. In particular, the folks at SPA have helped me to develop a research agenda for the next few years. The\u00a0SPA workshops<\/a>\u00a0have helped me to craft competitive grant narratives, which have led to receiving a\u00a0Hollis Award<\/a>\u00a0(for psychological research) and an Aspire junior faculty research award. That financial support allows me to collect valuable data to develop theories about why certain people believe things that aren\u2019t true and other people don\u2019t believe things that are true.\u201d<\/p>\n The results of Blom\u2019s research are taking him all over the world as he speaks to mass communication, political science, and social psychology audiences. He has presented in places such as the\u00a0Midwest Political Science Association<\/a>\u00a0annual conference in Chicago, the\u00a0Interamerican Congress of Psychology\u00a0in Lima, Peru, and the\u00a0Affect:\u00a0 Memory, Aesthetics, and Ethics Conference\u00a0in Winnipeg, Canada. In October, he traveled to Santiago, Chile, to present at the first international regional conference by the\u00a0Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication<\/a>.<\/p>\n Blom also shares his research in the classroom in hopes that his students will think critically about news sources and bias perceptions. \u201cI think it\u2019s important for student journalists to know that they will be challenged by some audiences even when they report neutrally and ethically. And, of course, they are news consumers as well. I hope to convince them that their own cognitive biases could influence how they perceive reality and how easily they could adopt misinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n Charley is a delightful 7-year-old boy. He giggles and plays, and he loves watching movies more than anything else. His favorite movie is Cars, like many other kids his age, but something is a little different about Charley\u2014he can quote the entire movie from beginning to end, and he\u2019ll repeat the same quote over and over all day long.<\/p>\n Charley has\u00a0autism<\/a>. He\u2019s high-functioning, but it still affects his social interactions and performance in school.<\/p>\n Many kids like Charley have a hard time in school. Some of them communicate more slowly than their peers without autism, and they find it difficult to interact with others. Some students with autism have repetitive behaviors similar to Charley\u2019s movie quotes.<\/p>\n One member of the\u00a0interior design<\/a>\u00a0faculty at Ball State hopes her research could help students like Charley perform better in school\u2014but how? What is the connection?<\/p>\nMeasuring calories burned in everyday life<\/h5>\n
News source trust and misperceptions<\/h5>\n
Autism and acoustics: sounds affect student behavior<\/h5>\n