Ch 2 Discussion
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Consider the following vignette and share your ideas, based on your readings for Week 2.
You are on a research team interested in studying the effects of children’s screen time on particular aspects of their social skill development. What variables would you focus on? What research method and design would you use for this study, and why? What ethical considerations would you need to keep in mind?
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In this scenario I would present the hypothesis is that children who spend more time watching television are less motivated to initiate social interaction with his neighborhood peers.
We would like to learn how many children would prefer to go out to play with his peers or stay home glued to the TV. In this specifically setting, I would say that the Independent variable: Screen time (amount of time the children spend watching TV and the Dependent variable: Initiation of Social interaction.
In this study, I would use the correlation method, since my interest is to study how these two variables are related and how actively they are related. This study is the most suitable to use in a short period, because if we are able to design, for example a longitudinal design method, a lot of factors could affect the children’s behavior, like divorces, child abuse, abandonment, etc. Another disadvantage would be the loss of a participant because of residential mobility or worth case scenario, death.
The ethical consideration would impede us to study factors like moving to another state or neighborhood, divorce or child abuse, and even if we follow all ethical rules, is more likely a parent refuse to participate because the parents will have to move or get a divorce, meaning these are not variables that we can’t manipulate. Obviously, we are not going to set a child to endure, any kind of abuse.
We should take into consideration that correlation between two variables doesn’t mean that one variable may cause the increase or decrease of the other, but it would tell us for sure whether the two are related to each other and which magnitude.
Parke, R. D., Roisman, G. I., & Rose, A. J. (2019). Social development. John Wiley & Sons.
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If I were participating in a research team interested in studying the effects of children’s screen time on particular aspects of their social skill development, I will focus on the following variables: The length of time spent watching T.V(Independent variable) and social skills development(dependent variable).
Hypothesis: If children spent four hours daily watching T.V, then they will suffer poor social skills.
I considered convenient to use the experimental research method because it allows researchers to determine if one variable (IV) is causing the other (DV) to happen. Experimental research establishes cause-effect conclusions which in my opinion are very helpful to the medical field. The findings of experimental research lead to new discussions for further investigation about the topic being researched. Furthermore, it will serve as concrete supporting material to teach parents about the consequences(positives or negatives) of watching too much television.
To obtain the generalizability of findings, I will combine the laboratory and field approaches. The advantage of combining these two approaches is that we achieve more ecological validity and at the same time have more control over the extraneous variables that can invalidate the research.
There are crucial considerations in researching children. We need to make sure that the research is necessary and that it will not cause any harm to any child involved. Moreover, we must obtain informed consent from the person who is legally in charge of the minor. The child will have the option to withdrew if he or she does not feel comfortable, and we must keep privacy and confidentiality at its highest level.
Citations:
Parke, R. D., Roisman, G. I., & Rose, A. J. (2019). Social development. John Wiley & Sons.
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Researching the effects of children’s screen rime on particular aspects of their social skill development has many different levels, variables, and designs that can be used as well as different ethical considerations to keep in mind. First, we need to start with the scientific method. Formulating a hypothesis comes first. The hypothetical hypothesis for this experiment is: If kids spend less time watching television, then they will become less aggressive. Next, we need to use replicable techniques to collect, study, and analyze data. This experiment will use the experimental approach. There will be an experimental group, and a control group, the experimental group will be exposed and less exposed to television, and the control group will not be exposed to television. The kids in the experiment need to be in an age bracket which would be between 10 and 13 years old, boys and girls. The independent variable would be the amount of television each of the group are exposed to. The dependent variable is then how the kids react, if they are less or more violent. One group would be exposed to 1-2 hours of television, the next group would be exposed to 2-4 hours, and another group would be exposed to 6-8 hours. The control group is exposed to no hours. I would measure violent behavior by telling the children a story and asking them to finish. The story would be neutral and the ending is the ending the child gives. Another way this theory could be tested is by asking parents or family members and teacher to keep a journal to log the child’s behavior.
There are three main ways to study children according to OpenLearn, cross-sectional studies are one way, they are comparisons made between two or more different groups of children. Each of the groups is different. Like in this study the amount of television watched by the kids. Another study is called a longitudinal study, which is when a group is followed and studied over a period of time. The third study mentioned on OpenLearn is a case study, which is a small group or one person or child seen over a period of time.
Ethics are super important. Children’s rights in social development research include: the right to be fully informed, the right to give informed and voluntary consent, the right to NOT be harmed in anyway, the right to withdraw voluntarily from research, the right to be informed of the research result, the right to confidentiality, the right to compensation, and the right to beneficial treatments. Some of the ethical problems that may arise, could be that the kids might not understand the experiment or the information given.
Behavioral Modification. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2020, from https://dualdiagnosis.org/treatment-therapies-for-dual-diagnosis-patients/behavioral-modification/.
Clinical Child Psychology. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2020, from https://www.apa.org/ed/graduate/specialize/child-clinical.
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As a member of the research team, whom is as well interested in knowing and studying how screen time can affect children’s social skill development. I would recommend my team to use an experimental study test for this experiment. A correlational study test, seems to focus more on studying the relationship between its variables, rather than how they affect each other, an experimental test would be better. Since the goal is to know whether screen time affects social skill development in kids. An experimental test can provide more data, that will help draw a more precise conclusion.
Hypothesis: Children who watch screen time, can pick up faster on social cues and develop social skills faster than those who don’t watch screen time.
For this experiment, I would have three groups. My first group would be children who watch screen time constantly, my second group, children whose screen time is limited, my final group, children who don’t watch any screen time. My IV would be the screen time that is given, and not given. My DV is how much the children pick up on, if watching too much, too little, or no screen time at all has an effect on the children’s ability to develop social skills.
The main ethical considerations I would keep in mind, respect what parents will allow and not allow their children to see. Ask parents if the child has certain fears to anything in specific (example: spiders, clowns, a color) to avoid causing trauma to the child. I would keep in mind to respect religious belief, which goes back to avoid creating trauma or discomfort. Only allowing children to see children like shows and programs, while keeping in mind to ask the child if they like or don’t like, feel or don’t feel comfortable watching the shows or programs. These would be the main ethical considerations I would keep in mind. For myself and for my group.
Parke, R. D., Roisman, G. I., & Rose, A. J. (2019). Social development. John Wiley & Sons.
