Various Aspects of Beauty

Research Design

A survey (See Appendix One) was created to measure the views of participants on various aspects of beauty. The survey was designed to examine changing perceptions of beauty, the means by which perceptions of beauty have changed, and the negative consequences of any changes in the perception of beauty. The survey was created to reduce reliability and validity efforts and pilot tested. Interview questions were also created for the research effort (See Appendix Two). The interview questions were semi-structured in order to encourage interview participants to expand on concepts.

Research Sample

Respondents that participated in this study included men and women of two different age groups, eighteen to forty and forty-one to seventy years of age. A total of two hundred participants were surveyed, fifty women between the ages of eighteen and forty one, fifty women between the ages of forty-ne and seventy, fifty men between the ages of eighteen and forty and fifty men between the ages of forty-one and seventy. Of the two hundred participants eight men and twelve women participated in the subsequent interview research. Of the interviewees four men of the two age groups were interviewed while six women of the two age groups were interviews. The survey participants were chosen based on their age range and were surveyed using the mall intercept method. Participants were asked if they would be willing to take part in the survey research and were qualified based on their age to ensure an even number of participants for the four groups based on age and gender.

Results

Survey

Women Ages 18-40

The research results are divided into the four groups that participated in the research. Among women of the younger generation, between the ages of eighteen to forty all participants believe that the perception of beauty in Kuwait has changed over time. However, the participants differed in their responses related to the extent to which the perception of beauty has changed. Forty percent of the women agree that the perception of beauty has changed dramatically in the country over the years while sixty percent strongly agreed.

As for specific traits or characteristics of beauty, the sample also suggests changed perceptions of beauty with the previously discussed beauty traits of body type/physique, hair color and/or length, eyebrows and the nose. All respondents marked yes to the statements that they believe that there has been a change in the beauty ideal where culture and/or society believes that women should be thinner than in the past, that women are more beautiful with shorter and/or lighter hair, that women should groom their eyebrows, and that women should have thin noses.

Not all the young respondents believe that the changes in perception are a result of the Western media In fact, sixty percent responded that the changes in the beauty ideal are a result of the Western media while forty percent of the female, younger generation participants said that they do not believe that the changes in perception are a result of the Western ...