Primary Artifact 2

For my second primary artifact pertaining to sorority life at the University of Kentucky, I decided to conduct a survey asking general questions about sororities and their stereotypes. I created this survey on SurveyMonkey and analyzed the results from 100 participants on campus. The participants were both male and female and varied in age. The questions that were on the survey are as followed along with the percentages of survey takers who selected each answer choice. 

1. Are you a member of a sorority

- Yes- 73%

- No- 27%

2. Which NEGATIVE stereotypes have you heard about sororities? (check all that apply)

- Pay for their friends- 71%

- Don't benefit the community- 13%

- Over-party- 76%

- Dumb- 62%

- Snobby- 78%

- Slutty- 86%

- None of the above- 3%

3. Which POSITIVE stereotypes have you heard about sororities? (check all that apply)

- Philanthropy benefits the community - 65%

- Leaders- 47%

- Strong sisterhood- 85%

- Socially active- 78%

- Friendly- 55%

- None of the above- 1%

4. BEFORE joining a sorority did you AGREE with the NEGATIVE stereotypes mentioned in question 2?

- Yes- 42%

- No- 34%

- I am not in a sorority- 24%

5. AFTER joining a sorority how did your views change or stay the same in regards to the negative stereotypes you selected in question 2?

- I no longer agree with the stereotypes- 37%

- I never agreed with the stereotypes- 30%

- I still agree with the stereotypes- 7%

- I am not in a sorority- 26%

6. When selecting your sorority did you let stereotypes (positive or negative) affect your decision on what sorority to join?

- Yes- 28%

- No- 44%

- I am not in a sorority- 27%

RESULTS

The results of this survey lead to many observations about stereotypes in sororities. The top NEGATIVE stereotype is that sorority women are "slutty" whereas the lowest ranked negative stereotype is that sorority women "don't benefit the community". From this information, we can recognize that sorority women may be perceived in a certain way- say slutty- based on the actions of select individuals. Of course, not all sorority women are "sluts" but  rumors spread fast and this is a common misconception. By recognizing that the lowest ranked negative stereotype is that sororities don't benefit the community, we can understand that most of the survey takers believe that sorority women do in fact benefit their community. The top ranked POSITIVE stereotype about sororities is that they have a "strong sisterhood". Sorority women are always talking about how much they love their sisters and this love is witnessed by so many people. 42% of survey takers that are in a sorority admitted to agreeing with the negative stereotypes associated with sororities BEFORE they actually joined their sorority. AFTER joining, only 7% said that they still believed in these stereotypes. This information goes to show that misconceptions can be made from people who are not actually in sororities. Once introduced into greek life, many members soon realize the "true colors" of sorority women. 

How this information will be used 

I will use the evidence that I obtained from this survey to show that although many people have misconceptions about sororities, their views can change after recognizing what sorority women are really about. Evidence from this survey shows that before joining a sorority many women believed in the stereotypes associated with sororities. After joining a sorority, this number significantly dropped. I believe that this has a lot to do with people believing every negative thing that they hear about sororities and not taking the time to find out if the information is actually true. I now have statistical information to back up my claim that although there are many negative stereotypes associated with sororities, people should not be so quick as to agree with them.