This study examines the distinctions in participation styles of female students in classes where the majority of the students are male as compared to the participation styles of female students in female courses. I utilized metaphor analysis during qualitative interviews to unearth the motivations for female students’ reluctance to participate. Holding back from participating in class can negatively affect the understanding of students, resulting in lower grades and engendering anxiety in a classroom setting. By drawing upon the theories of communication accommodation theory, face threat, and muted group theory, this research was able to come to conclusions about what motivating factors lead female students to participate less than male students and distinguish which classroom behaviors enable them to share their thoughts.
The methodology for this study consisted of flexible strategies for collecting and analyzing data, primarily elite, semi-structured interviews with professional artists, attorneys, and others who engage with the cultural and legal norms of intellectual property regimes on a regular basis. Constant comparative analysis was used to maintain an emic perspective, prioritizing the subjective experience of individuals interviewed for this research project. Additional methods for qualitative analysis were also employed here to code and categorize gathered data, including the use of RQDA, a software package for Qualitative Data Analysis that runs within the R statistical software program. Various patterns and behaviors relevant to intellectual property reforms as they relate to artist practices were discussed in detail following the analysis of findings, in an effort to describe how cultural norms of copyright intersect with the creation of original works of authorship, and towards the development of the theory that the semiotic sign systems subject to intellectual property laws are not themselves forms of real property, as they do not meet the categorical requirements of scarce resources.