Community College Student-Researcher Discovers Classmates' Increased Empathy Levels Viewing TEDx Talk Video. Issue 3 (4th March 2019) - Shelton, Robert
ABSTRACT: Reading and conducting research can initially feel daunting for community college students. For this nontraditional aged, first generation student-researcher, the interest in research increased with the availability of TEDx Talks. The overall intent of the study was to evaluate the empathetic reactivity of students ( n = 78) while viewing a prosocial behavior TEDx Talk. Students completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) pre/post-assessment to understand if empathy levels changed from before and after viewing the video. Results showed statistically significant changes for both males and females suggesting increased levels of empathy after viewing the video. For the student-researcher, certitude was found as data were analyzed; initial positive feelings about learning research utilizing TEDx Talks were confirmed with statistical analysis, thereby strengthening confidence that learning was not only hypothesized but secured by empirical evidence.