Q1.
The study results indicated that the participants assigned to alcohol user condition exhibited more willingness to take alcohol, perceived fewer risks to alcohol consequences and perceived alcohol consumption as positive than their counterparts who were assigned to the control conditions. This implies that exposure of adolescents to alcoholism tends to expose them to alcoholism.
Q2.
The independent variable (IV) is the descriptive norms about the use of alcohol as displayed by Facebook users through posts and comments. The study is keen on testing other variables with respect to the independent variable. The variable includes Facebook profiles that portrayed the use of alcohol as normal through posts, reaction to posts on alcohol, and comments on the same posts. The researcher fabricated Facebook profiles with African user conditions. Specifically, the Facebook posts displayed users taking alcohol and commented positively on alcohol use, depicting it as normal.
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Q3.
The dependent variables in the article include perceived vulnerability to the negative influence on taking alcohol, willingness to drinking alcohol, and the descriptive norms of using alcohol among school-going children. The three variables are up for test among the participants.
Q4.
The research uses the experimental method of research. This is the method where a researcher subjects the dependent variables to a change then monitors the change. The researcher, in this particular case, introduced the fabricated Facebook posts depicting alcohol use to monitor their effects on the participants.
Q5.
The sample of the study is one hundred eighty-nine adolescents who were subjected to the study to represent adolescents throughout the world. Unfortunately, certain factors tend to decrease the external validity of this sample. One such factor is the fact that the participants were majorly whites. The world population comprises several races, including Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and Latinos, among others. Having whites as dominant in a sample decreases the external validity of the study. Participants were picked from five private schools, a church youth group, and a swim team. These factors also reduce external validity because so many areas are not represented. In addition to that, the age range of the sample participants also reduces external validity. Adolescents range between age 10-19, yet the study only has participants between age 13-15.
Q6.
The study includes a between-subject study design. In this kind of study, different participants are exposed to different study conditions, and then they are monitored to see the results. In this particular study, the participants were divided into two different groups, and each group subjected to a different Facebook condition. The study specifically had two different Facebook conditions, which were the alcohol user conditions and the control user condition. The study expected to monitor how the participants exposed to alcohol user conditions would react. Similarly, the control conditions were there to affirm the hypothesis.
Q7.
The study included a double-blind study design. This is the kind of study design where both the experimenter and the participants are unaware of the group on the placebo. Similarly, this study had both the researchers and participants unaware of the conditions each group was assigned to.
Q8.
One major strength of the study is the fact that the gender balance of the participants was almost 50-50. Since 49% percent of participants were males, it can be presumed that the other percentage was female (51%). This increases the external validity of the study. In addition to that, subjecting the participants to Facebook profiles of the same gender is yet another strength of the study. Adolescents majorly get influenced by people of the same gender.
Moreover, different gender also affects the ability to influence. It is, therefore, fair to have matched males to male profiles. Nevertheless, failing to consider other factors that increase willingness to drink alcohol on the participants is a weakness of the study. There are other factors, such as peer pressure and family background, which ought to be considered.
Q9.
Indeed, one study cannot be used to make an overall conclusion. Depicting norms of alcohol drinking indeed increases the willingness of adolescents to drinking alcohol and their vulnerability to the effects of alcohol drinking. However, different social network platforms portray things differently. For example, Instagram is more photographs and videos, while Twitter is only limited to 140 characters. Apart from that, other social media platforms have more users than others. The question on which social media platform increases adolescents’ willingness to drinking should be posed in future researches.
