Arnold

=﻿= Journal Entry = =

= = = = This week is the beginning of my Year 12 Research Project. We've just been busy taking notes down this week and deciding which topic to undertake for our research project. I'm still currently undecided on what my topic will be for this year; hopefully I will figure it out soon.
 * Week 1 - **

= = = = Mr Tengdahl, our teacher, has released a bunch of URLs to websites on the wikispace's homepage. I've found that all of these websites will be useful to my research project on some way. The one that I particularly found to be useful is: = = = = [] = = = = This website has told me how to properly reference sites that I have collected information from. = = = = I've finally decided on which topic I'll be conducting my research on, 'Performance Enhancing Drugs'. I'll have to pick a specific area in the topic to narrow down what I'm going to conduct my research on. We've also been told about our next assessment task we had to complete, a 500 word research proposal. In this research proposal we have to write about a number of things like ethical considerations, our capabilities, reason why we chose our particular topic and our researching methods for our research project.
 * Week 2 - **

= = = = This week the class just worked on our research proposal, Mr Tengdahl told us that the deadline for our research proposal will be at Friday, this week. But I've already completed my draft and now editing it; hopefully my entire proposal will be done and handed up by the end of this week.
 * Week 3 - **

Research Proposal

My research project for this year is ‘Performance enhancing drugs’. There are many reasons why I chose this particular topic for my research project this year. These are just a sample of reasons. I’ve always wondered why people would bother using such drugs in sporting events – drugs which a damaging to their health as well; I know this to be true since my dad has suffered from the hands of PEDs. After a long period of using PEDs, he suddenly became very ill. His overall health deteriorated, but luckily after that terrible ordeal, he managed to stabilize his own health condition. I’m really curious to find out how these PEDs work, and why they had such a strong effect on my dad’s health. These questions have eluded me for quite some time, and now I’ll be able to find answers.

The question that I first created that would determine which area of my topic I would focus my research on was “What are performance enhancing drugs?” However I felt that I needed to expand my question somehow, because I am worried that “What are performance enhancing drugs” is a too simple question, and it might not require in-depth research, therefore it would hamper the quality of my essay’s conclusion and my final grades would suffer from that. So I’ve decided to focus mostly on one main question, and that question will be ‘What are performance enhancing drugs and why do people decide to use them?’ Mostly researching upon this question will help simplify the topic for me, because I will be able to acquire information concerning the question “What are performance enhancing drugs”, purely from the internet, and “Why people take performance enhancing drugs”; I can easily obtain information about that from interviews, surveys, and maybe including the internet.

 My previous knowledge with this topic is quite limited. I’ve only seen some stories relating to performance enhancing drugs on the news, and did a bit of research on it in Year 9 or 10 PE. So I am relatively new to this topic – or nearly completely oblivious, but I might have to adapt my research plan and question in the future, according to the information that I will acquire during this investigation. By doing this I will be able to make the most out of my researching skills, and overall create an easy way to complete this research project, as efficiently and effectively as possible.


 * Research Process **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">My research plan for this year will be drastically different from my last year research plan. This time I’ll actually take advantage of all the resources available to me. Firstly, I’ll collect all information relating to performance enhancing drugs from books, newspapers, and the internet. After collecting a sufficient amount of information I will start to interview people that might know a fair bit about this topic, like a professional sportsman, a high-level coach, and maybe even PE teachers from my school. The reason why I will be setting up interviews is so I can get more insight into this topic and their expert opinion on the matter. I believe this research plan will be appropriate for my topic; because the positive points in my research plan are that for my interviews/surveys, I’ll be able to set up questions more easily since I have a base of knowledge around the topic already. In addition I’ll have a better understanding of what the interviewee is talking about since I did some research first.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Before I was thinking about setting up surveys around my school to gather people's opinions on this matter, but then I realised that a lot of my fellow Year 12 students would be doing the exact same thing as I, so I decided to actually not create school surveys. On my wikipage my teacher has set out information on how to make online surveys, so I might consider creating online surveys since the internet is full of responses.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">I'm hoping to collect enough relevant information on my topic, and collect the results of my survey that I will create, before the end of term 1, so I can set up a few interviews during the holidays and hopefully start my draft sometime before or the beginning of term 2. I’m going to follow these researching methods that I have chosen to obtain more detailed information and also to further enhance my researching skills. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">I think I only have a few ethical considerations for my topic. I’ll need to ask permission and set up appropriate times first before I start to interview the people that I’ve chosen to interview, and of course asking permission to record the interview as well. I’ll have to consider taking care of the books that I’ve borrowed for my research project.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> **Chosen Capability**

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">I believe that communication would be one of my capabilities, since I’ll be constantly be in contact with large number of people through interviews and surveys. I’ll be also socially interacting with other random people over the internet, for the main reason to collect results for my survey. No doubt my communication skills will be tested and developed during this investigation to obtain information relevant to my topic. So I believe communication will fit well as one of my capabilities.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> I’m not very comfortable preparing speeches, so the format of my research project will be in written form, a 1500 word report.

= Good work.. Just make sure you come up with some more potential interview candidates. I guarantee that as the research project develops.. every second year 12 student is going to be passing surveys around the school... you don't want to rely on school-based surveys. Try to snag an interview with a professional sportsman or some kind of high-level coach. Cycling is one sport that has big troubles with drugs, maybe someone in that field? =

**EDITED**
= = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">I managed to hand up my research proposal at the end of last week and posted it right above this journal entry. Since I completed my research proposal I can finally begin working on my research project. I'll begin by collecting information relating to my topic on the internet for this week. I might even visit the school or local library and borrow a few books that have good information on my topic. = = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> I've already found great information on why people would want to use performance enhancing drugs. = = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[] = = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> Mr Tengdahl has told us that we have to prepare for an interview with him, sometime at week 6. But I'll have to collect some relevant information on my topic before the interview.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Week 4 - **

= = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">This week the class had to miss its double lesson because of sports day. While searching on the net I found this website []. The information I've collected on this website will help me figure out what type of performance enhancing drug I'll be focusing on. I've found on this website I've recently gathered a lot of information from various websites this week. But I still don't feel prepared for the interview that I'll be participating in at some time in week 6. I've decided to research a bit more on the weekend for my interview. = = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> Mr Tengdahl set up a document on the wikispace's homepage. This document has vital information about the upcoming interview in week 6. I have taken a quick glance at it, and found out what type of questions will be asked by the teacher during the interview. This information will help me become better prepared for the upcoming interview. I've also finally decided to set up a few online surveys. I've found two websites that I will be able to set up polls in, these were recommended by the teacher on the wikispace's home page. I have not checked them out yet. But first, I'll need to work out the survey questions that I will be submitting.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Week 5 - **

= “Just looking back at your question, it doesn't quite make sense… you might want to rephrase it to something like "what are performance enhancing drugs and why do people decide to use them?" or something like that. The wording is just a bit awkward. –JT” =

= =

= = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">I've finally wrote out what questions I will be submitting on Zoomerang (the survey website). This week I've been quite busy with other subjects, so I really didn't have the time to put more work in preparing my discussion. = = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> While searching for more information on the net, I decided to look in Wikipedia a bit, and found an interesting page. = = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[] = = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> There is good amount of info here on the different types of performance enhancing drugs. = = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> Mr Tengdahl told us that we have an extra week to work on our discussion on our topic. So at week 7, my fellow classmates and I will begin our discussion on our topic.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Week 6 - **

= = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[] = = = = <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">While browsing the web I found a very informative site on each type of performance enhancing drugs and their main uses for competitive sporting events. = = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">[] = = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> This website has told me why athletics use performance enhancing drugs, and there's some additional information on how performance enhancing drugs actually works.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Week 7 - **

= = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">My discussion was a little bit belated, because of events that occurred on Friday, week 7. However, I eventually did do my discussion with Mr. Tengdahl on Wednesday, week 8. I believe I done alright with my discussion, Mr. Tengdahl even said that it was a pass. In the discussion Mr. Tengdahl gave me some vital information on how to improve my researching skills and how to set up my interview questions. = = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> My next step of research will be on ‘Why do people use performance enhancing drugs’.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Week 8 - **

= = = = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">I’m experiencing a little bit of difficulty acquiring additional information on the question ‘why do people take performance enhancing drugs’. I’m going to really have to focus my interview questions on ‘why do people take performance enhancing drugs’. Hopefully, I will learn quite bit through these interviews. = = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> I’m finally going to set up a few interviews this week. I’m hoping everything will go smoothly, and I will get a few interviews underway. = =
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Week 9 - **

= = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Unfortunately I was unable to set up any interviews last week, because of the workload from other subjects I’m studying in. I should be able to set up at least one interview this week. = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> I’m sifting through all the information that I’ve collect through the internet, and I’m trying to determine what information is relevant to my research topic, and what is not. = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> I’m also refining my work plan a bit this week. I will try to complete my 1500 word essay by the end of this school holiday.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Week 10 - **

= = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The school holidays are beginning very shortly, and I'm preparing to begin my draft and hopefully hand it up to my teacher via email before the end of the holidays. I'm still continuing to sift through all the information I've collect during this term.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Week 11 – **

= = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">During the holidays I managed to make great progress on my research project. In those two weeks of hiatus from school I managed to work on and complete my draft of my outcome, which is a 1500 word report. I had difficulties setting up interview during the holidays so I had to improvise by searching on the internet about interviews relating to performance enhancing drugs in hopes that the particular interview would contain questions similar to my own. But now that I’ve completed that, I will be waiting for feedback about my draft outcome.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Term 2, Week 1 – **

= = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">I have received feedback from my teacher about my draft outcome. The feedback I’ve collected is quite better than I expected. I need to work on the sentence structure of my outcome, according to the feedback.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Term 2, Week 2 – **

= = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Nothing much has happened in this week - but I’ve just started editing my outcome, and I hope to have to final copy finished before the end of next week. However, I just received word about completing a folio for my research project. In this folio I’ll have to include a portion of my key findings during my investigation of my topic. The folio will have to be at least 10 pages long. Those pages could be pages that I have analysis, my research proposal, discussion, or my general progress throughout my research; this could include this journal, and interview/survey questions and answers I received during the interview.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Term 2, Week 3 – **

= = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">This week I haven’t been making much progress since my other subject are causing me to lag behind a bit in research project. I also really need to start working on my folio, and figure out and garner all the information that is relevant to my folio.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Term 2, Week 4 – **

= = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">This is the last week that I can hand up my drafts; this includes my outcome and folio. I’ll have to also collect a recording on my discussion from my teacher, so I’ll be able to include it within my folio. Through a transcript of my discussion I’ll be able to include in writing the valuable information I obtained from it, and the key points of the discussion which has helped better my researching skills. The teacher has also been going through the performance standards needed for the evaluation of our topic.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Term 2, Week 5 – **

= = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">I’ve nearly completed my final outcome and started work on my folio. I just need to finish up with some referencing, then I’ll be able to hand my final copy of my outcome up. Luckily, I don’t have any mid-year exams either, and I’ll be able to focus more time and effort into my research project subject. But I have a big workload from the other subjects as well, I’ll have to probably dedicate most of my weekend on homework from other subjects, and hopefully complete it by then.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Term 2, Week 6 – **

= = = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">This week the class are working on their evaluations, and finishing off their folio. I’m in the group that is still working on their folio. However, my folio is nearly completed, and I just need to include the transcript of my discussion and analysis it. I also have started work on my evaluation, and hopefully I will be able to complete by the end of this week. = = <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">. = =
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Term 2, Week 7 – **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 18.6667px;">Performance Enhancing Drugs Outcome **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">Illicit performance enhancing drugs has greatly affected the professional sporting community, by creating an unfair competitive environment within the community. Because of this, the professional sporting community shows much disdain towards any illicit performance enhancing drug user that participates in professional sports. So you might ask yourself ‘what are performance enhancing drugs?’ “Performance-enhancing drugs are substances used by athletes to improve their performances in the sports in which they engage.”[1]

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">People have speculated that performance enhancing drugs has been around for more than a century. [2] During the 1886 Bordeaux to Paris race, a Welsh competitor of the race, Arthur Linton, suddenly fainted and died. People speculated his death was caused from typhoid fever by the use of these drugs.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">Accusations have been made to a lot of athletes within the professional sporting community about using these illicit performance enhancing drugs and this results to a lot of vilification towards the athlete. Many athletes were and still are affected by performance enhancing drugs. [3] The temptation of these drugs can be very high for professional sportsmen and women, since those particular athletes believe they have enormous stress on to them to excel in the professional sporting community.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">[4] Performance enhancing drugs helps enhances particular types of functions within the human body. They contain some specific type of hormones and chemicals that help improve the certain functions within the body. These drugs are set in several different types of categories, each of these different types of performance enhancing drugs have a unique function from one another. There have also been reports about users of performance enhancing drugs feeling completely reinvigorating them both physically, and mentally, and [16] makes the user feel more control in their life. [5] Kevin Hart, a 53 year old man, and his wife, Peggy, a 52 year old woman, have a daily injection of these drugs. Their rationale behind these daily injections was made clear from this statement by Kevin Hart, “I feel better, my life is better, and I might live longer.”

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">[6] Simulants are one of the more common types of performance enhancing drugs used in the society today. These performance enhancing drugs are very similar or practically the same as caffeine, this is used to [4] increase the [7] alertness, strength and agility of the user, and makes the user practically immune to fatigue for a short period of time and helps the person go beyond their own physical limits.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">[6] Painkillers are another type of performance enhancing drugs used in professional sports today. Basically, the reason why people take painkillers for professional sports is to reduce the amount of pain they experience, while they are active, and help them go beyond their own pain threshold. And therefore help the drug user stay active for longer in highly physical demanding sports or professions.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">[6] Diuretics are a very unique type of drug, and are used for certain types of sport that has in place a weight restriction. The nature behind this drug is that it removes a significant amount of fluids from the body, by changing the balance of fluids within the body. People would use this to reduce an excessive amount of weight in a short period of time.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">[6] Anabolic steroids are well-known, and prevalent within sporting community. Anabolic steroids contain the same chemical properties as the male sex hormone ‘testosterone’. This hormone helps improve muscle mass, helps fasten the recovery time for the muscle, strengthens bones, and reduces body fat. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">However there are some side effects when using steroids; [8] this is especially noticeable within women since this drug does contain a high amount of chemical properties similar to testosterone. Women will practically lose a lot of their feminine features, and they will experience a deeper voice, a wider jaw; basically they will receive more masculine features. The reason behind this is that the testosterone will begin to change women’s feminine features into more masculine features. Steroids could also change the woman physiologically, and they might receive more aggressive traits.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">[9] People in the workforce take performance enhancing drugs, because their job demands high physical strength, such as in law enforcement, security, construction work, etc. Since some people are under constant physical strain from their highly physical demanding jobs, performance enhancing drugs can be very tempting to their eyes, and their rationale behind this would be that performance enhancing drugs would be a simple way to create an easier working environment for them. [10] There are mass suppliers for these drugs to law enforcement agencies, such as the Dr Joseph Colao story, he garnered and supplied over 248 police officers, and fire-fighters that were from 53 different agencies with performance enhancing drugs.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">[4] Other people, who take performance enhancing drugs for non-professional use, will be mainly using it for cosmetic reasons. They’ll be aiming to increase their body mass by reducing a lot of body fat, and replace it with muscle. The type of performance enhancing drug that they would use to achieve these goals would be steroids.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">Other reasons such as the difficulty of obtaining these performance enhancing drugs does also affect the user’s rationale on this issue. [11] These drugs are surprisingly easy to obtain, especially steroids, and will be most likely purchased in the black market, since it has been reported; there is an abundant of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs within the black market.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">[3] One of the main motivations behind the use of these illicit drugs is that athletes believe that they have a short amount of time to perform their best and they willingly to take these performance enhancing drugs, because they believe it’s very time efficient and is the only effective way to promote their sporting career.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">There have been a few famous athletes that have influenced by these performance enhancing drugs. A few of these famous athletes have been introduced to illicit performance enhancing drugs through their personal sporting coach, and some of these famous athletes unknowingly take these illicit drugs from their coaches. [12] This has happened in some cases, such as the famous, Marion Jones drug scandal. Her personal coach, Trevor Graham, gave her some performance enhancing substance telling her that the substance was nutritional supplement flaxseed oil, this habit started in around 2000. Marion Jones was unaware she’d had been taking illicit drugs until late 2002. [13] But later on in 2003, she lied to a federal investigator about consuming illicit performance enhancing drugs. Many people have speculated that her rationale for lying is because she was too far within the professional sporting community, and the consequences would be disastrous if she did in fact admit to it.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">[14] Alex Rodriguez, who is a professional baseball player, has been tested positive to a banned performance enhancing substance in 2003. He later admitted he was in fact taking steroids between 2001 and 2003. His rationale behind taking these steroids was because he was strongly compelled to perform his best. Alex stated that “he was naïve, selfish, and felt enormous pressure to excel in professional baseball, he wanted to prove to the world that he was worthy of being a top competitor for the best baseball player in the world.” His other reasons for taking steroids would be the culture of the professional sporting community at the time, and he felt like everyone was taking these illicit drugs, so he couldn’t understand why he shouldn’t experiment with some of those drugs as well.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">In conclusion, the reasons why people take performance enhancing drugs can vary, but most of the top athletes feel that they need to become one of the most talented best players of all time, and enormous pressure has been put upon them to succeed. It would be very believable that these athletes believe that their goal can only achieved through the means of illicit performance enhancing drugs.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">But, the fact that these illicit drugs does simulate the brain sensors, and makes the user feel more better and more in control of their life is probably one of the main reasons why athletes, and even non-professional drug users take these illicit drugs. [15] People who have suffered from a lot of mental stress might find performance enhancing drugs very appealing to their eyes. Addictive behaviour might be caused by the reinvigoration of these drugs, and people might not be able to resist the urge to continue taking these performance enhancing drugs since they are practically addicted to the reinvigorating feeling they give, or the user might suffer from withdrawal symptoms, because the body has slowly adapted and become dependent from the chemical properties of these drugs.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">In my opinion, I believe it’s not worth taking these illicit drugs since they are considered illegal, especially within professional sporting community, and you could be serving a jail sentence if caught. Performance enhancing drug addictions should be halted immediately, if possible, to avoid further damage from potential side effects. Not only that, but these potential irreversible physical and mental side effects are too great of a cost for the diminutive benefits. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">Word Count: 1488

<span style="font-family: 'Berlin Sans FB','sans-serif'; font-size: 26.6667px;">Bibliography and References <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[1] Google, 2007, //Wikipedia//. [ONLINE] Available at: <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[]. [Accessed 15 May 11]. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[2] eHow Health, By Paul Cartmell, eHow Contributor. 2011. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">eHow Health //. [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 24 March 11]. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[3] by Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D. and Kevin P. Allen. 2011. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">How Performance-enhancing Drugs Work //. [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 01 May 11]. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[4] eHow Health, By Paul Cartmell, eHow Contributor. 2011. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Why Do People Take Performance-Enhancing Drugs? //. [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 01 May 11]. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[5] SI Vault JACK MCCALLUM. 2008. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Youth Movement Aging Boomers like the Harts are using PEDs to reinvigorate their lives //. [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 18 May 11]. [6] Buzzle.com. 2011. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Performance Enhancing Drugs //. [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 16 March 11]. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[7] eHow Health, By Paul Cartmell, eHow Contributor. 2011. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Why do people take performance enhancing drugs? //. [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 01 May 11]. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[8] Mayo Clinic. 2010. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Performance-enhancing drugs: Know the risks //. [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 18 May 11]. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[9] eHow Health, By Paul Cartmell, eHow Contributor. 2011. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">What are performance enhancing drugs? //. [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 01 May 11]. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[10] Concen. 2010. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">N.J. doctor supplied steroids to hundreds of law enforcement officers, firefighters //. [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 01 May 11]. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[11] Steroids - Where To Buy. 2006. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Where to buy steroids? //. [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 30 April 11]. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[12] Muscular Development. 2007. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Did Marion Jones Lie Again? //. [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 30 April 11]. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> [13] the Telegraph.com.au. 2007. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">I took drugs - Marion Jones //. [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 30 April 11]. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[14] ESPN.com news services. 2009. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">A-Rod admits, regrets use of PEDs //. [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 30 April 11]. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[15] Your Performance, Author: Jo Johnson. 2010. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Becoming Addicted to Performance Enhancing Drugs //. [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 18 May 11]. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">[16] Wikipedia. 2009. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport //. [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 18 May 11]

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= = <span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif';">Assessment Type 1: Folio =

<span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif';">Topic: Performance Enhancing Drugs <span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Question: What are performance enhancing drugs and why do people decide to use them? <span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif';">Research Proposal

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">My research project for this year is ‘Performance enhancing drugs’. There are many reasons why I chose this particular topic for my research project this year. These are just a sample of reasons. I’ve always wondered why people would bother using such drugs in sporting events – drugs which a damaging to their health as well; I know this to be true since my dad has suffered from the hands of PEDs. After a long period of using PEDs, he suddenly became very ill. His overall health deteriorated, but luckily after that terrible ordeal, he managed to stabilize his own health condition. I’m really curious to find out how these PEDs work, and why they had such a strong effect on my dad’s health. These questions have eluded me for quite some time, and now I’ll be able to find answers.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The question that I first created that would determine which area of my topic I would focus my research on was “What are performance enhancing drugs?” However I felt that I needed to expand my question somehow, because I am worried that “What are performance enhancing drugs” is a too simple question, and it might not require in-depth research, therefore it would hamper the quality of my essay’s conclusion and my final grades would suffer from that. So I’ve decided to focus mostly on one main question, and that question will be ‘What are performance enhancing drugs and why do people decide to use them?’ Mostly researching upon this question will help simplify the topic for me, because I will be able to acquire information concerning the question “What are performance enhancing drugs”, purely from the internet, and “Why people take performance enhancing drugs”; I can easily obtain information about that from interviews, surveys, and maybe including the internet.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> My previous knowledge with this topic is quite limited. I’ve only seen some stories relating to performance enhancing drugs on the news, and did a bit of research on it in Year 9 or 10 PE. So I am relatively new to this topic – or nearly completely oblivious, but I might have to adapt my research plan and question in the future, according to the information that I will acquire during this investigation. By doing this I will be able to make the most out of my researching skills, and overall create an easy way to complete this research project, as efficiently and effectively as possible. (Shows <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">consideration and refinement of a research topic)


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Research Process **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">My research plan for this year will be drastically different from my last year research plan. This time I’ll actually take advantage of all the resources available to me. Firstly, I’ll collect all information relating to performance enhancing drugs from books, newspapers, and the internet. After collecting a sufficient amount of information I will start to interview people that might know a fair bit about this topic, like a professional sportsman, a high-level coach, and maybe even PE teachers from my school. The reason why I will be setting up interviews is so I can get more insight into this topic and their expert opinion on the matter. I believe this research plan will be appropriate for my topic; because the positive points in my research plan are that for my interviews/surveys, I’ll be able to set up questions more easily since I have a base of knowledge around the topic already. In addition I’ll have a better understanding of what the interviewee is talking about since I did some research first.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Before I was thinking about setting up surveys around my school to gather people's opinions on this matter, but then I realised that a lot of my fellow Year 12 students would be doing the exact same thing as I, so I decided to actually not create school surveys. On my wikipage my teacher has set out information on how to make online surveys, so I might consider creating online surveys since the internet is full of responses.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">I'm hoping to collect enough relevant information on my topic, and collect the results of my survey that I will create, before the end of term 1, so I can set up a few interviews during the holidays and hopefully start my draft sometime before or the beginning of term 2. I’m going to follow these researching methods that I have chosen to obtain more detailed information and also to further enhance my researching skills. (Shows <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">planning of research processes) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">I think I only have a few ethical considerations for my topic. I’ll need to ask permission and set up appropriate times first before I start to interview the people that I’ve chosen to interview, and of course asking permission to record the interview as well. I’ll have to consider taking care of the books that I’ve borrowed for my research project.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> **Chosen Capability**

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">I believe that communication would be one of my capabilities, since I’ll be constantly be in contact with large number of people through interviews and surveys. I’ll be also socially interacting with other random people over the internet, for the main reason to collect results for my survey. No doubt my communication skills will be tested and developed during this investigation to obtain information relevant to my topic. So I believe communication will fit well as one of my capabilities. (Shows <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">application of knowledge and skills specific to the research topic)

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> I’m not very comfortable preparing speeches, so the format of my research project will be in written form, a 1500 word report.

Before my final hand-in of my research proposal, I received feedback about the raw draft form of my proposal. The feedback proved to be invaluable to my research plan, and proposal.

Here is the feedback I received about my research proposal from my RP teacher: = “Good work.. Just make sure you come up with some more potential interview candidates. I guarantee that as the research project develops.. every second year 12 student is going to be passing surveys around the school... you don't want to rely on school-based surveys. Try to snag an interview with a professional sportsman or some kind of high-level coach. Cycling is one sport that has big troubles with drugs, maybe someone in that field?” = = “Just looking back at your question, it doesn't quite make sense… you might want to rephrase it to something like "what are performance enhancing drugs and why do people decide to use them?" or something like that. The wording is just a bit awkward. –JT” (Shows evidence of refinement of plan) =

= =

= = = = = = <span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif';">Survey Questions/Results: <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">For this survey I’m just getting a base for my research so I can determine with support whether certain dot points that I have made from information I have researched would be valid on not, and collecting different people’s opinions on this matter.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Out of the 43 random online surveyors – these are the results: <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Yes: 6 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">No: 37 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Yes: 39 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">No: 4 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Yes: 31 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">No: 12 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">To prove to the world they’re the best: 20 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Under enormous pressure to excel: 16 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Most of them are just unaware that they’re taking PEDs: 7
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Should performance enhancing drugs be deemed legal in all sporting events?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">How do you think performance enhancing drugs affects the user’s health?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Do you believe there are any benefits when consuming performance enhancing drugs?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Why do you think people use performance enhancing drugs?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Most people agree that athletes willingly and knowingly take performance enhancing drugs in the intent to perform at a higher level; therefore their determination is not affected by their judgment. (This has also helped validate this claim to some degree). This is a big find, since it gives me more insight into the PED user’s rationale on this issue. (Shows <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">analysis of information and exploration of ideas to develop the research)

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Yes: 5 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">No: 38 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Yes: 25 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">No: 18 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Fellow athletes: 19 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Friends: 17 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Personal coach: 7 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Family: 0 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Yes: 34 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">No: 9 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Yes: 18 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">No: 25 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Yes: 29 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">No: 19
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Do you support performance enhancing drugs?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Do you know of anyone that has used performance enhancing drugs before?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">How do you think performance enhancing drugs are introduced to an athlete?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Should performance enhancing drugs be banned from the country entirely?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Do you know of anyone that has had their health decline dramatically or died when using performance enhancing drugs?
 * 1) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Do you believe the benefits of performance enhancing drugs outweigh the negatives?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">This survey has helped me validate a lot of information that I’ve collected. This survey has also given me insight on how the general populace views PEDs. I might even include some of the results within my outcome. This might affect my outcome’s conclusion, since I also have to unbiased and consider other people’s views on how they see PED user’s rationale.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The big key finding is the ”determination is not affected by their judgment”, this could mean various different things, such as, naïve behavior, desperation to increase their performance, cracked under pressure to achieve their best which was suggested by other people; all of these are reasons why people take performance enhancing drugs. (This is also backed-up with valid internet evidence, references found on outcome). <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">(Shows <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">analysis of information and exploration of ideas to develop the research) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Through-out the semester, I’ve been keeping up to date with “my electronic journal”. On a regularly basis I’ve posted information on my class’ Wikispace group about my findings on information relevant to my topic, certain problems I’ve encountered along that week, new upcoming events regarding to my research project etc.

**<span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Journal Entry **

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Mr Tengdahl, our teacher, has released a bunch of URLs to websites on the wikispace's homepage. I've found that all of these websites will be useful to my research project on some way. The one that I particularly found to be useful is:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Week 2 - **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">[]

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">This website has told me how to properly reference sites that I have collected information from.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">I've finally decided on which topic I'll be conducting my research on, 'Performance Enhancing Drugs'. I'll have to pick a specific area in the topic to narrow down what I'm going to conduct my research on. We've also been told about our next assessment task we had to complete, a 500 word research proposal. In this research proposal we have to write about a number of things like ethical considerations, our capabilities, reason why we chose our particular topic and our researching methods for our research project. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">A good find here - Since I have discovered a proper referencing site, I will be able to reference websites that I have found relevant information on concerning my topic, immediately after acquiring the information, therefore this will fasten my research plan’s timetable. (Show <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">development of the research) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">I managed to hand up my research proposal at the end of last week and posted it right above this journal entry. Since I completed my research proposal I can finally begin working on my research project. I'll begin by collecting information relating to my topic on the internet for this week. I might even visit the school or local library and borrow a few books that have good information on my topic.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Week 4 - **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;"> I've already found great information on why people would want to use performance enhancing drugs.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">[]

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;"> Mr Tengdahl has told us that we have to prepare for an interview with him, sometime at week 6. But I'll have to collect some relevant information on my topic before the interview.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">For this week I am refining my plan by gathering information from books in hopes to get a lucky find. In addition, a great informative website found here. I’ve garnered a surprisingly large amount of useful information from this website. I discovered the uses for PEDs in athletics, professionals, and non – professionals; law enforcement and firefighters take PEDs for their profession, mostly any high physical demanding job. Non - professionals are purely for cosmetic reasons, and athletics use it to gain a competitive advantage. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">This upcoming interview will help me immensely, since I will be getting informative help from my teacher, about my progress and current research methods. (Shows <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">refinement of a research topic and development of the research)

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">This week the class had to miss its double lesson because of sports day. While searching on the net I found this website <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">. The information I've collected on this website will help me figure out what type of performance enhancing drug I'll be focusing on. I've found on this website I've recently gathered a lot of information from various websites this week. But I still don't feel prepared for the interview that I'll be participating in at some time in week 6. I've decided to research a bit more on the weekend for my interview.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Week 5 - **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;"> Mr Tengdahl set up a document on the wikispace's homepage. This document has vital information about the upcoming interview in week 6. I have taken a quick glance at it, and found out what type of questions will be asked by the teacher during the interview. This information will help me become better prepared for the upcoming interview. I've also finally decided to set up a few online surveys. I've found two websites that I will be able to set up polls in, these were recommended by the teacher on the wikispace's home page. I have not checked them out yet. But first, I'll need to work out the survey questions that I will be submitting. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Unbelievable good find here, this website pretty much answers about ¼ to ½ of the question of “what are performance enhancing drugs?” The nature and their functions behind common PEDs such as, stimulants, diuretics, steroids, and painkillers were all answered within this website. However, I know I will need to validate the information I have obtained from here with other sources. (Shows <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">development of the research) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Unfortunately I was unable to set up any interviews last week, because of the workload from other subjects I’m studying in. I should be able to set up at least one interview this week.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Week 10 - **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;"> I’m sifting through all the information that I’ve collect through the internet, and I’m trying to determine what information is relevant to my research topic, and what is not.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;"> I’m also refining my work plan a bit this week. I will try to complete my 1500 word essay by the end of this school holiday. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Refining my research plan’s timetable according to the new information I’ve obtained, which is “it’s recommended that you have your outcome of your draft complete by the end of the holidays”. (Shows <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">refinement of a research topic) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">During the holidays I managed to make great progress on my research project. In those two weeks of hiatus from school I managed to work on and complete my draft of my outcome, which is a 1500 word report. I had difficulties setting up interview during the holidays so I had to improvise by searching on the internet about interviews relating to performance enhancing drugs in hopes that the particular interview would contain questions similar to my own. But now that I’ve completed that, I will be waiting for feedback about my draft outcome. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">I have received feedback from my teacher about my draft outcome. The feedback I’ve collected is quite better than I expected. I need to work on the structure of my outcome, according to the feedback. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The feedback I received here has made me drastically change around my outcome’s structure, and made me increase the depth of information I have been writing within the outcome – so I can say the feedback I received about my outcome was incredibly informative.(Shows <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">development of the research) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Nothing much has happened in this week - but I’ve just started editing my outcome, and I hope to have to final copy finished before the end of next week. However, I just received word about completing a folio for my research project. In this folio I’ll have to include a portion of my key findings during my investigation of my topic. The folio will have to be at least 10 pages long. Those pages could be pages that I have analysis, my research proposal, discussion, or my general progress throughout my research; this could include this journal, and interview/survey questions and answers I received during the interview. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">I’ll have to also collect a recording on my discussion from my teacher, so I’ll be able to include it within my folio. Through a transcript of my discussion I’ll be able to include in writing the valuable information I obtained from it, and the key points of the discussion which has helped better my researching skills. The teacher has also been going through the performance standards needed for the evaluation of our topic. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The discussion will be a great addition to my folio, because it will show my progress and adaptive behavior to newly found information during this investigation, and with this adaptive behavior I can successfully add an easier method to obtain information to my research plan. (Shows <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">development of the research) <span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif'; font-size: 18.6667px;">Assessment Type 1: Folio
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Term 2, Week 1 – **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Term 2, Week 2 – **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Term 2, Week 3 – **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Term 2, Week 5 – **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">During my investigation I had a discussion with my teacher on my progress and research plan on my topic. Through-out this discussion my teacher gave me useful tips on how to improve my research plan, different methods I could employ into my plan, and gave me some feedback about my overall progression on my research. <span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif';">Transcript of the discussion <span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif';">Key points within the interview:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">DISCUSSION **

<span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif';">Process
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Teacher: What have you decided to do, and in what order?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Student: Well first I decided to… look up the information on the internet; so I can be better prepared to make survey questions, and interview questions in the future.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Teacher: So you started off with a web base research, and that’s a good idea because you didn’t have much prior knowledge, and this will give you that prior knowledge and that will inform you for your survey questions.

//<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">Information garnered: The current researching method seems to be good. My teacher informed me why it’s good, and it’s because of my lack of prior knowledge and my starting internet base research will help me write out my survey/interview questions. No doubt I will add more to my research plan during my investigation. //<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';"> (Shows <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">consideration and refinement of a research topic)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif';">Interview **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Teacher: Are you going to do interviews after that?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Student: Yeah, I’ll do it over the holidays.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Teacher: Okay, have you got someone lined up, any ideas?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Student: I’ll probably interview some PE teachers, or someone from the Australian Institute of Sport.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Teacher: Have you set up an interview yet?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Student: Not yet.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Teacher: Okay, that is something you really need to get a wriggly on, because it will take time to organize time tables.

//<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">Information garnered: What I learnt from this was that I really needed to set up some interviews A.S.A.P, since it does take a considerable amount of time to set up these interviews – and not only that but I have to also consider the declines I might have to face when setting up interviews. ////<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';"> (Shows //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">refinement of a research topic) <span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif';">Progression <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">(Talking about my overall progression during this interview; this was in week 8, Term 1).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Teacher: The problem I think at this stage is that you have not done enough for what I would’ve expected - at this rate - at this time. So it’s not your method that is the problem, your method fine, your proposal is fine. The issue is you’re not executing that plan, as efficiently as I would hope at this point.

//<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">Information garnered: This really gave me the notion that I was behind, and now I know I really need to get work done for my research topic, and I will also need to prioritize this subject more, than from my others. I will be planning to refine my research plan because of this – not by changing the plan itself – but to change my plan’s timetable around, and I’ll probably see myself working intensively on my research project outcome during the holidays. ////<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';"> (Shows //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">refinement of a research topic)

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">(I talked about the progress I’ve made answering that my research topic’s question)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Teacher: Now, it sounds like you made some progress on “what are performance enhancing drugs”, but have you made any progress on why people use them?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Student: That’s pretty much it; really I just barely scratched the surface of it.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Teacher: That is something that you have to get a move on, because you design the question, with the “why people use them”. I feel when I read that question, the biggest emphasis is on the “why” part.

//<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">Information garnered: This made me realize that I am further behind than I thought, and I really needed to figure out a way of creating a method to make the investigation of my research about this question easier. I am thinking about basing my interview questions mostly around the question “Why people decide to take performance enhancing drugs”. Hopefully, through this I will manage to get more insight and valuable information to this topic. ////<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';"> (Shows //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">refinement of a research topic)

<span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif';">Survey
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Teacher: Where to from here? (My next step of my research plan)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Student: I’m planning to get more surveys out, because I only have one at the moment – and I have to advertise a bit more. I have the results here.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Teacher: Excellent. Looks like your set up, and you might find some good information from that.

//<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">Information garnered: I’ve learnt that my current method of distributing the online surveys is good, and the teacher couldn’t find anything wrong with it. My survey questions seemed to be appropriate for my topic question. I might even consider creating a survey catered towards professional athletes of certain sports; I might create a survey for several different sports, in hopes that I will gain more insight into this topic. //<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">(Shows <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">consideration and refinement of a research topic) <span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Analyzed Articles - Key findings: <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">I have included a few articles that I have analyzed during this investigation. I have uncovered a lot of useful information I’ve collected during the process of analyzing these articles. Here is a list of key findings I’ve found analyzed from these articles. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">(Shows <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">analysis of information and exploration of ideas to develop the research) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> Author of website: Indrajit Deshmukh / Published: 11/23/2010 <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">(Shows <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">analysis of information and exploration of ideas to develop the research) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">(Shows <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">analysis of information and exploration of ideas to develop the research) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">(Shows <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">analysis of information and exploration of ideas to develop the research) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">(Shows <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">analysis of information and exploration of ideas to develop the research) <span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif'; font-size: 21.3333px;">Concept Map: <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">For my research plan I created a concept map that would guide me through –out the investigation. It lists all the topic and sub-topics – sub-topics, etc; that I am conducting my research on. It has been an invaluable guide to my research, as it has told me basically what I need to research on. (Shows <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">consideration and refinement of a research topic)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Title: Performance Enhancing Drugs: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Identified a lot of different types of PEDs, stimulants, diuretics, painkillers and steroids.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Learnt PEDs basic functions and what sports they’re used in.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Steroids and stimulants are the most prevalent PEDs in professional sporting.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">In addition drugs which helps mask the effect of PEDs exist.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Title: The History of Performance Enhancing Drugs: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">PEDs are more than a century year old
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">First impressions of PEDs aren’t good, since it caused a death
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Testosterone is one of the main chemicals within steroids
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Steroids are consumed orally, injected or absorbed into the skin
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Title: A-Rod admits, regrets use of PEDs (part 1 of article): **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Potential PED user’s rationale can be affected by several different factor; the culture of the sport (how people perceive PEDs at the time), age, pressure are all factors.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">A surprisingly large amount of professional athletes take PEDs on a regular basis; 104 athletes tested positive to using PEDs in 2003.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Athletes can be desperate to become the best and increase their performance, because it has be proven that some athletes take PEDs; and they’re not even aware of what the PED contains.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Title: A-Rod admits, regrets use of PEDs (part 2 of article): **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The fear of frailness when engaging in sports is a big factor on why people take PEDs
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> Hasty decisions can cause irrational behaviour, and this might cause the starting use of PED; pressure and stress can also contribute to hasty decisions.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Poor performance in their sport might cause the athletes to believe PEDs are the only way to keep their career
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The fear of being caught is also a huge factor, because this cause a huge amount of stress, and these athletes might take PEDs just as a replacement for pain reliefs, since PEDs are proven to reinvigorate the user’s mind and body
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Title: N.J. doctor supplied steroids to hundreds of law enforcement officers, firefighters: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">PEDs are quite prevalent within law enforcement, building construction etc, because 248 officers and fire-fighters from 53 different agencies have been revealed to have been taking PEDs
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">These people who use PEDs for profession purposes are trying to create an easier working environment with the help of PEDs. The nature behind this is that PEDs help build-up muscles and increase endurance; this therefore reduce the amount of physical stress they’ll endure during their working hours


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">Information derived from: **
 * Buzzle.com. 2011. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Performance Enhancing Drugs // . [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 16 March 11].
 * eHow Health, By Paul Cartmell, eHow Contributor. 2011. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">eHow Health // . [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 24 March 11].
 * Mayo Clinic. 2010. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Performance-enhancing drugs: Know the risks //<span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif';">. [ONLINE] Available at: []

**<span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif'; font-size: 18.6667px;">Assessment Type 3: Evaluation ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">“What are PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) and why do people decide to use them?” is the question that I’ve conducted research on for this past semester. The reason why I chose this particular topic is from an event that is personally related. My dad’s health suffered from these drugs in a dramatically fast manner. Thought-out the investigation I had to divide my plan into two different sections. The interviews / surveys I’ve set up during this investigation was mostly focused on the question “Why people take PEDs”, while “What are PEDs” was more internet based research. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">I chose communication as my capability because I believe that this investigation has tested and improved my communication in my researching repertoire. To obtain relevant detailed information on “Why do people take PEDs”, I had to think a step further than ordinarily researching on internet. My research outcome is separated into 2 different sections, one of them describes what PEDs actually are, different types of PEDs; their function, chemical properties, history, and side-effects. The other section includes various different reasons why people would take PEDs and their rationale behind it, but also including other factors, such as the difficulty of obtaining PEDs, benefits, etc. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">(Word Count: 200)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif';">Written Summary **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">My research process proved to be quite effective plan for my overall research outcome. This process consisted of two different sections, each section of my research process was assigned to a part of my main question; “What are PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) and why do people decide to use them?” I decided to dedicate most of my internet research time to the question “What are performance enhancing drugs”. This was my rationale - this particular question could be answered with simple factual answers, and it doesn’t require in-depth insight to write up a conclusion of what PEDs actually are. While I dedicated most of my internet resources to “What are PEDs”, my interviews and surveys were more focused on the “Why” part of my investigation. I believe this was an incredibly effective method to obtain detailed in-depth information on “Why people decide to take PEDs”; because I interviewed people who are very familiar to the topic and took advantage of that and asked some real in-depth questions on “Why would a professional athlete take PEDs”. The responses I received were very informative, and wouldn’t be found a regular article on the internet. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">My first attempt to create a solid question for my investigation was “What are performance enhancing drugs”. However, I felt that I needed to expand my question somehow. Thankfully, during my research proposal I managed to receive informative feedback, which helped me finalize my question for my topic “What are performance enhancing drugs and why do people decide to use them. I knew the “Why” part of my research would greatly expand my investigation in terms of garnering information. Because of the alteration of my question I never starved out of information to include in my final research outcome; in fact the maximum word count didn’t allow me to include some of my other key findings. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">My first priority of my research plan was just to set up some sort of base knowledge related to PEDs. I designed my research plan in this way, because prior to this investigation – I was nearly oblivious to the topic; my prior knowledge barely held any value in the final outcome. Once I learnt some basic information that is relating to PEDs, I could easily understand the more in-depth information, and be able to realize the nature of how PEDs work, and the mindset of PED user’s. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">At the beginning of my investigation, I realized I needed some sort of guide to help me garner information. I decided to design and create a concept map; I’ve complied all of the potential sub-topics of my question on this concept map. This has proven to be an incredible helpful guide for me, because I just had to research each sub-topic. Through that I would get a reasonably good informative outcome, and after that I just added more in-depth information to my current knowledge about PEDs. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">During the start of my investigation, I gathered any information that was related to my topic, so I could properly create interview and survey questions that would result into informative answers. This method really worked well for me, as I did create some interview and survey questions based around my current knowledge of PEDs at the time. The answers I received during my interviews and surveys were crucial to my final outcome. Another informative source that gave good insight and allowed me to accumulate a lot of information is actually PED cases that I found while browsing the internet. “The Marion Jones Drug Scandal and A-Rod Drug Scandal”; these cases show professional athlete’s rationale and mindset on why they took PEDs; and what factors influenced their decisions to take PEDs that are considered illegal in a sporting community which shows a great deal of disdain towards any PED user. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">Now that I realize it, there are a few other methods I could’ve employed within my research plan. More primary resources would’ve expanded my outcome’s conclusion; primary resources such as interviews with highly educated people familiar with this topic. I seriously had a lack of primary resources at the end of my investigation - because of this I believe my outcome is hampered by the lack of insight. Although I did manage to improvise by browsing the web for cases that are related to PEDs, but unfortunately they didn’t answer all of my question related to this topic. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">There have been a few aspects of my investigation which has hampered my overall research outcome. A number of ethical considerations to my process had me refine my research plan a couple of times. One example is when I tried to set up an interview; however I wasn’t allowed to record our interview, because the interviewee didn’t give their consent to it. I had to improvise by taking down notes, but I did miss out on some answers given to me during the interview; simply because there wasn’t a recording I could’ve found reference from. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">My capability that I’ve chosen for my investigation is “Communication”. My communication skills prior to my investigation weren’t exactly great, since I had very little to no experience setting up interviews and surveys with complete strangers, but my communicational skills have developed for the better, over the course of this investigation. Communication did play a huge role in my research plan, since most of the insightful information that I have obtained, has required some sort of communication to acquire. I had to set up interviews and surveys to garner this insightful information. These aspects of the capability has no doubt tested and improved my communication skills and my overall researching repertoire, because I usually don’t communication at this sort of level every day; where I set up interviews and cooperation together with stranger to figure out a suitable time for the interview to commence. The discussion I had with my teacher concerning my progress and overall method did enhance my communication skills as well. I was able to reflect and analysis my discussion through a recording. The information gained from my discussion was invaluable in my research, since the teacher did say I need to prioritize my interview and survey questions on the “Why” part of my topic. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">However, I feel somehow that my communication skills aren’t top notch and could have room for improvement. I did lack primary resources within my outcome is concerning to my researching skills, and therefore this means my communication does need to improve, so in the future I will be able to create informative outcomes through the information I obtained with interviews and surveys. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">My research outcome is proving to be a great addition to my current knowledge, and researching repertoire. I now know about the nature of PEDs and what side-effects they can unleash. My knowledge about PEDs could not only prove useful to myself, but to other people who are having addiction problems with them. After this investigation I would never use PEDs having known about the permanent side-effects. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">The context of the outcome is value enough, but I’ve also gained and improved other attributes to my researching repertoire. Through try and error I managed to create a reasonably solid outcome, and during that process I have tested the limitations of some of my skills in order to enhance them. My analyzing skills has developed over the course of this investigation, I have analyzed a lot of articles that are relating to PEDs in order to garner the most insightful information possible. I feel that I can analysis articles more efficiently and effectively than before, and can pick up key details within the article when otherwise I couldn’t before. This will no doubt help me collect information in future research, as I will always aim to garner the best insightful information available. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">The idea of expressing my opinion has improved, as I did after all need to write in-depth reasons why people would take PEDs and their rationale on the issue. This will prove to be useful in many various different things, such as, arguments where I express my opinion thoroughly on general things, essay writing, etc. The feedback that I have received from my teacher throughout the process of developing my outcome has helped enhance my written side of in-depth essays. One case is where the sentence structure of my outcome was somewhat placed haphazardly, and I didn’t consider placing my information in an organized manner - but now I know where and how to place certain information with each other. Most sentence structures follow a rule “information related to each other should not be separated with non-related information”; I missed that key rule for creating essays. But the most grateful thing I have learnt is how properly reference. This has eluded me for quite a while now, and I finally know the method of creating a proper regulation reference of a website. This will no doubt prove to be invaluable information for my research skills, as references are required in all essays. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">(Word Count: 1500)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Rockwell Extra Bold','serif'; font-size: 18.6667px;">Evaluation **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">Research Process **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">Capability **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">Research Outcome **


 * Muscular Development. 2007. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Did Marion Jones Lie Again? // . [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 30 April 11].
 * the Telegraph.com.au. 2007. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">I took drugs - Marion Jones // . [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 30 April 11].
 * ESPN.com news services. 2009. //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">A-Rod admits, regrets use of PEDs // . [ONLINE] Available at: []. [Accessed 30 April 11].