Opened With a Description of the Extended

¶ … opened with a description of the extended discussions and expressions of sentiment following Princess Diana's death.

Researchers noted that journalists noted most people affected by her death were women and assumed that Diana was a feminist role model whom many women identified with because of the difficulties of her life: bulemia, depression, a troubled marriage, difficulty living within a royal family, etc. However, they noted that the journalists had no real evidence.

Their hypothesis was that through research they could identify some reasons making Diana important to some women as a person and as a symbol.

PREDICTION

They predicted that women would identify with Diana through her biography and life history.

METHODOLOGY

The issue was time sensitive, so they use age-sorted focus groups, and an informal discussion format with one person leading all groups who worked from a list of topics for discussion. The group leader was careful to remain neutral on all issues. They decided that homogeneity based on age would provide the best opportunity to detect contrasting responses. They held each session for about 1 hour on three consecutive days between the time of Diana's death and her funeral.

CONCLUSION