2759

RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Cosmetic Confidence?
A study on the effects of makeup on the self-esteem of female college
students
John Paul N. Ada
BA Psychology
A. Introduction
Makeup is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as cosmetics
or color used to beautify the face (Merriam-Webster, 2014). Why do people
usually wear makeup? By definition, we can say that they want to beautify
their face, obviously to achieve some sort of effect. But what effect might
this be? People usually present themselves to people in various ways in
order to achieve various effects, but at the end of the day, they want
influence the behavior of people, most especially their responses to the
particular situation and the individuals presentation of himself (Goffman,
1959). Being able to do so might be particularly reinforcing to the
individual, and thus the behavior continues. Inasmuch as it is reinforcing,
we can see that it boosts his or her confidence or self-esteem, which is a
part of a persons identity. But, just by entering into a room, we already
exert, even if it is very slight, an influence in the people in our environment
(Goffman, 1959). So then, we would like to know the effect of makeup on
the baseline self-esteem.
Everything must be taken into context. We have to study this in context
since all knowledge exists inside contexts, just as Foucault said (Agger,
1991). We cannot be sure that in the Philippine context, these premises
actually hold, and so we want to study the effects of makeup on people in
order to bring people into the light, and given the report on the apparent
state of affairs produced by this study, they may be able to act accordingly.
We will study its effect on self-esteem in the Philippine context, since it is
one of those factors that allows the perpetuation of the vicious cycle of
consumerism crafted by the media. Therefore, the study will seek to
determine the state of affairs regarding the effects of makeup on the selfesteem of consumers, as they present themselves in everyday life,
specifically among female college students (see rationale).
B. Rationale

The study will target female college students, the ones who use make
up, and determine its effects on their self-esteem, and how this, in effect,
affects their sense of self. This population has been chosen because most of
the beauty products target the younger generation as their market.
Considering that these students are preparing to venture out in the real
world, we want to know if they are wearing makeup to boost their selfesteem, to prepare themselves for their future jobs, or for other reasons.
In a more sociological light, we want to know if, makeup is really a
necessity in order to reach working consensus (Goffman, 1959). We would
like to know how this affects our presentation of ourselves to others, and
therefore, we would like to know if it is necessary in everyday interaction. Is
it really protocol when you present yourself to the world, or even just your
smaller social circles? What does wearing makeup demand from yourself
and the people you interact with (Goffman, 1959)? These are questions that
could be answered if this project comes into fruition.
The study is also important because we want to bust the myths
regarding makeup. If we are able to determine the effect of makeup on selfesteem, people will act depending on the information presented. If it
actually has an effect, maybe people in the same population will continue to
buy them and if it does not have an effect, maybe those people will stop
buying them, or will gradually buy them in smaller amounts. We do not want
to be held by constructed realities and waste resources on efforts that will
all be in vain. People sometimes lie to themselves because they observe that
people become happy and confident when wearing makeup, as the media
portrays them to be, even when the truth is, they are not happy. This is only
one possible scenario. This study needs to be conducted in order to
ascertain the current state of affairs experienced by the target market of
the makeup industry, the younger female generation.
The study is not only important to the target population but to their
parents as well. If makeup does not necessarily increase self-esteem, they
can advise their children not to spend too much on such products, since
they are not that beneficial. Instead they can tell them to focus on
alternative activities that can actually contribute to the increase in selfesteem and guiding them throughout the process.
Going to the other side of the spectrum, this study might also be
important to the producers of these products by giving them an idea of what
benefits, aside from the superficial beauty, their consumers experience from
the use of their products. From this knowledge, they may be able to think

up new strategies in advertising their products, tricking the minds of the

target market into feeling satisfied and increasing their self-esteem, they
can create a market for new products that actually contribute to the selfesteem of the consumers, or they can publish this study to show the masses
that what they are selling in the market is beneficial to the consumers,
thereby increasing their profits, if it is proven that it actually has a real
positive effect on self-esteem.
This study is also important to the educators. Liberating students by
dispelling the myths and fortifying the truths are the educators
responsibilities, and so they must do what is necessary to accomplish this.
With this study, educators can correct misconceptions about the effects of
makeup on self-esteem, and tell them to focus on studying and selfimprovement instead of relying on artificial and temporary beautification if
the result of the study is negative, if it is positive, they can encourage
students to at least make some effort to present themselves well in front of
the world, the university and their future workplaces. This speaks of the
pedagogical value of this study.
Initial Research Questions
This research will seek to determine the answers to the following
questions:
How does makeup augment ones identity in enhancing
self-esteem?
How does make-up affect the level of self-esteem?
Why does it affect their self-esteem?
Do female college students who wear make-up regularly lose a
considerable amount of confidence when they do not wear
make-up?
With these questions in mind, the objectives of this research will be:
1. to determine the how makeup affects an individuals
augmentation of his or her identity to enhance selfesteem;
2. to learn the processes or mechanisms that that exist between
the use of makeup and self-esteem;
3. to know the logic behind these process or mechanisms;

4. And to ascertain if the absence of makeup reduces the

amount of confidence or self-esteem possessed by female
college students.
C. Academic Literature Relevant to Research Topic1
The study will include both essential and supplementary academic literature
in this section of the study. There will be three subheadings: history of
makeup, self-esteem defined, and the relationship between makeup and selfesteem. The readings included in this section will aid the readers in
understanding the concepts and the flow of the discussion (the whats, whys
and hows).
The history of makeup needs to be discussed as a background for
understanding makeup and its development, since makeup is, after all, one
of the central concepts in the proposed research. Next would be the
material concerning self-esteem. First of all, self-esteem must be defined, in
order to completely inform the future consumers of research about the
nature of self-esteem. This will also help clarify, what it self-esteem is and
what it is not, thereby eliminating any misconceptions that exist in the
minds of the readers. They have to understand self-esteem first before they
actually try to continue reading through the research, so that they will be
able to understand the following the discussion, which is the relationship
between makeup and self-esteem. This section then, will explain the
connection or relationship between the two concepts, makeup and selfesteem. This will be the springboard of our analysis. The studies listed in
here will inform the readers of our position regarding the subject. That said,
this section will also justify the methodology and the analytical framework
that will be used in the research. This means that the literature in this
section will enable the readers to see why the particular methods and
methodology proposed will be used and why the results will be analyzed and
interpreted that way. This literature should also, ideally, be able to explain
why the results, that were the conclusion of the analysis of the data, are the
way they are.
D. Methods and Methodology
The study will employ an interpretive approach rather than a
positivistic one because of various reasons. The first would be the nature of
1 To keep this proposal brief, this section only contains an indication of the
relevant literature, and not the whole content that will be used if ever this proposal
is accepted.

the respondents. The respondents are female students from the different
colleges of the University of the Philippines. This description automatically
suggests that the respondents belong to different groups and subgroups.
Applying a positivistic approach to this research will result in a superficial
analysis of the respondents with regards to the subject matter. It will not be
able to dig deeper and unearth the subtleties and nuances present in the
process of research. Since positivism is so deeply concerned about the
relationships of variables present, people are reduced to mere numbers. It
is valueless in nature, which means it just analyzes what can be observed,
and does not take into consideration the values that the respondents have,
or from what groups or subgroups they belong to, which results in a high
level of superficiality. In contrast with the interpretive approach which tries
to explain phenomena and existing relationships by not only learning about
the behavior exhibited by the respondents, but also by learning about the
possible forces that influence them: socio-cultural background, economic
status, etc. This allows for a deeper level of analysis which cannot be done
by merely engaging in superficial research.
Since the respondents have differences or similarities in their
backgrounds and characteristics, an intersectional multi-level analysis, such
as the one suggested by Winker and Degele (2011), can be used in order to
sufficiently determine the different factors at work, which affect the
behavior of the respondents. There will be two sections in this analytical
process. The first would be the evaluation of individual interviews. There
are four steps in this section. The first step will identify the different
identity constructions. Examples would be the dichotomies of the rich and
the poor, the old and the young, the attractive and the unattractive. Next
step would be to identify the symbolic representations or how the
different entities are presented, like the stereotype, women are more
communicative than men. Next, we need to find references to social
structures and to the social categories of class, gender, race, and body. We
then proceed to determine and naming interrelations of central categories
on three levels, the three levels pertaining to the identity constructions,
symbolic representations and the social structures that were determined
earlier in the three previous steps. Now comes the second section of the
process, the analysis of all interviews of the research. The first step in this
section will cluster and compare subject constructions under the aspect of
different strategies to overcome uncertainties. After that, we analyze the
structure and power relations of the different structural categories, namely
the classisms, heteronormativisms, racisms, and bodyisms. The next step in

this process tries to analyze and view the different stereotypical

representations as justifications of inequality, perpetuating the said
representations. This part will allow us to understand the reasons as to why
women wear makeup, and of course, the effects women experience due to
the three factors being analyzed in this multi-level analytical framework.
The last part will try to integrate the results of the previous steps and grasp
the view of the whole picture, determining the intersectional interrelations
on three levels.
In order to utilize the capabilities of this analytical framework, an indepth interview of the respondents was deemed necessary and ultimately
chosen as the method of data collection. A focus group discussion was
initially considered for the data gathering process, but the presence of the
other respondents might influence the responses of the other respondents,
or conflict might ensue due to their differences and preferences in makeup.
In addition, the respondents might be able to open up and talk more about
the subject if they were engaging in a conversation with the researcher
alone. After the selection of the data gathering method, the procedure
starts with selecting 10 respondents, chosen at random, who will be asked a
series of questions, and the corresponding responses to each question
would be recorded, either in manual or digital type, or the recording the
conversation itself digitally. The respondents will be allowed to talk as much
as they can until they think they have sufficiently answered the question.
Additional questions can also be asked on-the-fly if the researcher thinks
he/she might be on to something that was not expected, taking advantage of
serendipity. This way, the nuances in the responses will be discovered and
can be used as data for interpretation. After the data is gathered, it will be
organized and analyzed. Responses that answer the research questions will
be emphasized. In the analysis of the data, the effects of makeup on the selfesteem of the individual will be determined by their subjective responses,
and will not be coded in such a way as to be usable in a scale, like
Spielbergers State-Trait Anxiety Survey that was used in the research of
Scott (2007). Instead, the responses will be read and transcribed and read
again, then recurring themes will be noted and then the researcher will
engage in a conceptualization process, concretizing the abstractions from
the recurring themes in order determine the key points or concepts that
apply to most, if not all of the interviews. This process will try to determine
main themes that are generalized from the data gathered (if these sort of
themes exist). However, the smaller, deviating details will not be left behind.
These smaller details (especially if they oppose the generalized themes, if

there are any) will also be presented, and theories on why those responses
differ from the rest (maybe a postmodern approach or the multi-level
analysis) can be used in order to understand these details that deviate from
most of the data. Theories can then be proposed after the major and minor
themes have been discovered.2
E. Risks and Challenges
A possible risk for this research would be attacks from cosmetic companies
as well as professional who use makeup for a living (makeup artists).
Depending on the results of the study, publishing it would affect the spheres
of these individuals and organizations and would probably view it as
offensive, and would therefore try to attack and invalidate the research. On
the other half of the sphere, extremist feminists might attack the research if
it causes an increase in the use of makeup, thinking that the women who
use these cosmetic products are being exploited by virtue of their desire to
look beautiful in the eyes of society and complying with its standards of
beauty.
One of the foreseen challenges in undertaking this research will be
level of difficulty in trying to bring out the themes that hide behind the
responses of the respondents. The differences and similarities of their
backgrounds must also be taken into consideration, while also being aware
of possible serendipitous factors that might affect their responses.
Interpreting the themes and formulating a theory of the themes will also be
a challenge even if it is deductive. It will be even more difficult if the
situation is not sexy enough, a situation wherein the data does not
necessarily fit the framework used in the study, forcing the researcher to
determine why it does not fit, still using the framework or by considering
hidden factors. The researcher might even be forced to engage in an
inductive process, and creating a new theory for him/herself.

2 Though it is highly encouraged to do so, it is preferred to leave it as a descriptive

study, since there are only a few participants and it is a qualitative study, focusing
more on the themes and concepts that appeared from the in-depth interviews than
on a generalized, all-encompassing theory.