Ideas Worth Spreading

Introduction

Research Question: Is TED contributing or detracting validity to the conversation of wellness?

Methods

Grounded Theory

• Pandit's Application
• Whithaus and Neff

Purposeful sampling

• Open and Axial Coding
• Followed the Data
• Coding Changed: Wellness-->Credibility 

Artifacts

• Amy Cuddy - Education
• Jane McGonigal - Work & Personal Experience
• Robert Gupta - Anecdote
• 20 million+ Views Combined

Results

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• 1 blog, 150 comments, 3 talks
• Paul: TED is Teaching
• Cuddy: most negative
• McGonigal: less negative, but negative
• Gupta: zero negative, all positive

Your body language shapes who you are

• On Amy Cuddy's presentation: 
• "I am distracted that her left eye is covered by her hair..."
• " She is not the strongest example of a strong, confident woman."

the game that could give you 10 extra years of life

• On Jane McGonigal's presentation:
• "No matter how well she presents, video games are just not that important."
• "A game designer explaining why playing video games is good is like a car
• salesman saying driving is better than walking."

Music is medicine, Music is sanity

• On Robert Gupta's presentation:
• "Amazing. Amazing. Thank you, Robert. Another lesson learned!"
• "This was a fantastic talk. Music is medicine and I'm so thrilled that 
• music as a treatment/having healing qualities is becoming more and more 
• accepted in the medical society. Thank you."

Discussion/Analysis

Quantifiable is not necessarily credible

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• Our findings contradicted original predictions
• Data qualifies the speaker, not vice versa
• Overall theme of positive responses in comments
• Some negative comments were gender-specific.

For Further Research

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• Continue to define wellness
• What is TED NOT talking about?
• BUST article