After deciding to look at language change within fashion
advertisements from the 1950’s and 2013, the question of reliability quickly
became apparent. Sourcing data from the internet would not be completely reliable,
so, instead, I purchased a copy of ‘Harpers Bazaar,’ published in 1959, and by
using this to collect my data pool, I could be more certain of its reliability.
I then gathered my second set of advertisements from a 2013 edition of ‘Harpers
Bazaar.’ I took the first 30 written advertisements from each magazine, as this
was inclusive of all full page, and half page adverts, as well as the great
majority of smaller advertisements. I had considered including all written advertisements within the magazine but the final page of small advertisements were not relevant to the focus on fashion advertising. I feel that a data pool of 30
advertisements from each time period is sufficient to be representative of the
language change of high end fashion advertising from the 1950’s to 2013.
By obtaining my data from the same magazine, I reduced
variables, therefore increasing the validity of my investigation as the data
was more comparable. As ‘Harpers Bazaar’ has remained a popular, high end
fashion magazine, the audience it appeals to has seen little change despite the
passing of fifty four years. This enabled me to be able to draw comparisons
without having to consider the social class of those the advertisements
targeted, further increasing the comparability of my investigation. However, I
did have to consider social reformation that had occurred during the time
difference, these included:
·
The changing status of women in society
· Technological advances that may cause 21st
century advertisements to be more dependent on graphology rather than language
As the data I have been collecting had been published and
available to the public, I did not have to take any ethical considerations.
Very good start. Reliability issues with only one magazine? Evaluate please :)
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