multivariate display

When reading the guidelines and requirements for this assignment I could tell it was obviously going to be complicated and in depth. I would expect no less from a final assignment.  My first thought was what topic I would choose to use in order to create the multivariate display. I did not want to choose a topic that had been done before or settle for one of the suggested topics the teacher provided such as where does my money go. This in the end turned out to be one of if not the biggest obstacle for me, which choosing a topic generally tends to be in my case. It took me about thirty or more minuets alone to finally decide what topic I would choose. After browsing the web and Google and finding nothing of interest my “ahhhh” moment came to me. I chose to do my multivariate display on multiple sclerosis. This disease is of personal interest to me due to the fact that my mother was diagnosed with it around five years ago. Sense then I have seen the effects of the disease on her body physically and emotionally however I have never really taken the time to inform myself in detail about what having the disease may mean for my mother as well as my immediate family. Considering my mother likes to keep her feelings to herself I used this assignment to gain additional knowledge she may have not told me after she was diagnosed with have m.s. I knew that the first visual I would work on would be a mind map sense it did not require research. I stemmed off branches of anything that came into my head that I had already knew about the disease. The following visuals required for the assignment were going to take a lot of research on my part. While there was a whole bunch of information on multiple sclerosis online, finding quantitative data that could be used in a multivariate display was actually quite challenging. Also my own interest in learning about the disease slowed me down a bit because I would often catch myself reading about new treatment methods and or other general information that I could potentially share with my mother if she already did not know. I thought about family a lot while doing this assignment. I found percentage numbers which I used for my table and one of my graphs concerning the risk of developing multiple sclerosis if someone in your family has been diagnosed with the disease. It turns out that I as a first degree relative of my mother have a three to four percent chance of developing multiple sclerosis as opposed to the .1 percent of average people with no relatives who have the disease. The most challenging visual in my multivariate display was the flowchart I created. After spending about fifteen to twenty minutes just thinking about how to make it and coming up with nothing I finally decided to just write down the question “Do I show signs of having m.s.?” I carried on from there and had about two rough drafts before completing the one which is used in my display. Although my flowchart is not that long, I had to keep it as simple as possible due to a lack of space on my poster board and the fact that it could have gone on forever with such an intricate topic. Although my multivariate display may not be as visually appealing as I would like it to be I am pleased with it because I was able to learn much more about multiple sclerosis which makes me feel better about myself considering my mother is affected by the disease. She injects shots into her thigh each day as directed by her doctor and while doing research I came across an article about the first oral treatment for m.s. that has recently come out so I look forward to bringing that up to my mother and showing her that I have an interest in her disease and well being.