Week 10: Concluding Thoughts

Hi everyone! This is the one and only Joleen, and we are here at the last blog for my senior project! If you made it all the way here with me, give yourself a pat on the back. Today, we will be wrapping up my project by discussing qualitative data analysis, the significance of my work, and some future ideas I have. 

In week 8, I discussed how I analyzed data quantitatively using the SPSS software. While I got those data points from the questions with numbers as answers, I also used free-response questions to get some qualitative data points. These questions included “Were you able to understand the content of the video” and “What are the strengths and weaknesses of my project?” Many people answered that they understood the video and they thought my project allowed them to relax, get some exercise, and fall asleep quicker. Since many of my participants mentioned these positive results, I noted them and color-coded them. An example looks like this: 

In this case, we can infer a correlation between performing Qigong and getting a good night’s sleep. However, we cannot say it is causation because we are unsure what other options participants use to decrease their insomnia symptoms. We can only say that Qigong does, in some way, improve sleep quality. 

Many women resort to pills, melatonin, and antidepressants to fall asleep, which can disturb hormonal processes and cause more bodily problems. My project helps to raise awareness of using more natural ways for menopausal women to decrease insomnia symptoms and improve sleep quality. Exercise is effective, healthy, and less costly. In addition, exercise like Qigong may help with improving mental health by reducing anxiety or depression linked to insomnia. 

Readers! I hope that you enjoyed reading about the journey of my senior project. I will be writing a paper to discuss my findings which will be published in a journal this summer, so stay tuned. Remember: exercise has many positive impacts on physical and mental health! Thank you and this is the one and only Joleen signing out.