As a junior at the University of New Hampshire, Bridget Farmer does not shy away from a busy schedule. From pursuing a dual major in political science and international affairs to her membership in the University Honors Program and French Club, where she acted as president, to volunteering at a soup kitchen, she certainly has a lot on her plate. And her goals for the future are not any less lofty, from traveling around the world and experiencing different cultures to helping those in need. With a desire to work for a charity or non–profit organization, Farmer says she wants “to do more than provide a band–aid for an issue.” She also hopes to be involved in policy making at some level, most likely in the form of an advocate for various causes.
This interest in policy making and politics is what originally gave her the idea for her research project, which was to look at the way different forms of media affect the views of voters. “I did not want to spend my summer reading about the election and not taking part in it in some way,” Farmer said. “So I decided to turn my interest into a research project.” Through this project, which she performed in her hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts, she learned about the research process by making “new and exciting” mistakes, and was pleased with the way that she handled the various challenges that came up.
Farmer believes this learning experience will help her attain her goals of working in policy making and helping others because “being able to understand the research process is important, as are the critical thinking and problem solving skills” gained through this experience.
Dante Scala is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of New Hampshire, where he has taught for the past two years. Before coming to UNH, Dr. Scala was at St. Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire. His research focuses on American politics, and on political campaigns and elections in particular. While this was Dr. Scala’s first time being a mentor at UNH, he had supervised a number of senior theses at St. Anselm. Dr. Scala said that working on this project with Bridget allowed him to “gain more teaching experience,” and that he was glad to find an undergraduate so interested in research.
Read Bridget Farmer’s research article Research as a Learning Experience: Investigating Media Influence on Voters’ Opinions >>
