The purpose of the study done by Booth-Butterfield, Anderson and Williams in 2000 was aimed at investigating the kind of messages that school systems are sending to adolescents concerning the usage of tobacco and how the students perceived them. The particular message that was to be studied was the informal messages decoded by adolescents that are found in between the lines of messages passed across to them formally and informally. Adolescents are influenced by a lot of messages and actions that they see and hear around them. When they take up negative habits such as smoking tobacco, stopping becomes a challenge as and being told to “say no” to such habits does not necessarily help them. This study also sought to determine the various factors that lead to adolescents smoking tobacco, how the messages that are often unintentional are communicated to them via public schools and how the punishment or reward structure is effective in schools.
Most significant prior studies and most compelling idea related to the purpose of the research
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Barker (1994), Pierce and Gilpin (1995) suggested in their researches that the tobacco industry used promotions and advertisements to target the adolescents which resulted in no declines in tobacco use among the white teenagers regardless of the physical risks the substance posed in the lives. They further mentioned in their researches that the “just say no” campaign focused more on the illicit drugs and not on tobacco. This gave the adolescents the impression that tobacco was relatively acceptable and as such indulged in it. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention released findings that showed that smoking had risen among students in high school from 27.5% to 34.8% in 1991 and 1995 respectively. This was attributed to mass media exposure and marketing practices where tobacco usage is portrayed as a glamorous act. This studies and actual findings fueled the study and was in line with the purpose of the study.
Significant constructs and operational definitions
The most significant construct was tobacco use and this was defined as having used smokeless tobacco or smoked cigarettes in the past thirty days.
Research definition
The research used qualitative design method because the researchers wanted to be in a position where they were able to describe the problem from the “nature’s point of view” or the emic perspective. The quantitative approach was not used because the researchers would be forced to use questions that were closed-ended which did not give participants the opportunity to open up more. Focus groups were also adopted in the study as it allowed the researchers to ask questions that were more general as well. Interviews and questionnaires were used in the research to collect data. The study is theory based research as it used various theories to explain why adolescents are affected by the messages they receive regarding smoking tobacco. These theories provide a comprehensive and complex conceptual understanding of this issue. The research done was experimental because there were focus groups involved which had facilitators to control them. The participants had controlled environments where the data was collected.
Variables used in the research
The dependent variable was the smoking of tobacco. The action of smoking was dependent on the mass media advertisements, the promotions and the campaigns done by the industries and the teachers in the schools. This made the messages conveyed to be the independent variables. When the media portrayed smoking as a glamorous deed, many of the teenagers took it up. If an action was taken to stop the smoking of tobacco, then the probability of adolescents smoking in school would be low. The attribute variable that was used was gender. The participants were grouped according to gender in order to avoid dominance during conversations. Smoking status was also an attribute variable that was used as it varied from non-user, smoker and smokeless user.
Research design used
The research design used is cohort design because the study done part of a larger program that was done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study involved participants of a larger group. It was also experimental as there was control measures used in the study. The research was also a confirmatory research as the researchers were aware of there were formal and informal messages conveyed to the adolescents and they sought to prove that these messages were contributing to the usage of tobacco among the adolescents. It is also exploratory as the study relied on earlier studies as references (University of Southern California Libraries, 2016). Qualitative research was adopted because the researchers did not want to limit the participants with close-ended questions and as such it was descriptive research as they sought to explain why, how, where, what, and when questions related to the smoking of tobacco.
Control Procedures used by the researchers
Facilitators were used to control the focus group discussions during the collection of data. These facilitators ensured information was well articulated and relevant to the study. Grouping of the participants according to their gender was also a control measure that was used to ensure that the girls and the boys get to speak freely and openly without any restrictions or pressure from the opposite sex. Follow-up questions were also used to gather more information on particular topics. A pilot test was also done before the actual study to guarantee proper results in the investigation.
Sample of the Research
The participants were recruited with the assistance of numerous public high and middles schools. The main study had thirteen focus groups with each group having between five to nine participants. However, one of the groups had three participants. The sample group was majorly made up of white students from the eighth and twelfth grades.
Reliability and Validity of the Instruments used in the study
Reliability is defined as extent to which assessments are consistent (Price, 2013). In this study, reliability checks were done through reading and re-reading of the transcripts obtained from the participants. There was repeated examination of the data to ensure there was no over attachment to particular areas and under attachment in some. Validity is defined as the believability or credibility of the research. It was done through the pilot test that was carried out before the actual test. This determined the credibility and validity of the data collection tools.
Researcher’s attention to alternative hypotheses
Adolescents acknowledged costs as the other reason why adolescents engage in smoking tobacco. The short term benefits of smoking are acknowledged more than the long term effects. Adolescents feel they need their freedom and when given they misuses it on drugs and other negative habits. As quoted by Eiser et al. (1989), adolescents need unswerving guidelines and structures from authoritative figures and external rules that are credible may assist in discouraging the usage of tobacco Tobacco policies in schools and their enforcements should be aligned because their inconsistency undermines the efforts made.
Methods of data analysis
The data collected was coded and analyzed using the Q.S.R. Non-numerical Unstructured Data Indexing Searching and Theorizing (NUD*IST) software which allowed for multiple codes for each conversational unit. The data was qualitative and as such verbatim extracts were used to analyze the information collected.
Major findings of the study
The findings of the study revealed that adolescents there was a hypocritical nature of the messages against tobacco use received from the system of the various learning institutions. This showed that what the teachers said and what the actions they took did not match at all. The second major finding was that the punishment-incentive techniques used by the institutions to discourage the use of tobacco were not effective.
Summary of the most important points
The summary made from the study was the message received from the institutions of learning is not clear as the teachers say one thing but do the other hence the hypocritical nature. Institutions need to have clear messages passed to the adolescents under their care. The incentive-punishment technique should be taken seriously as well and other related policies have to be reviewed.
One of the limitations of the study was in the usage of collective interviews. The information collected in these groups does not necessarily apply to the generalized population. The other limitation is the qualitative data collected is less clear on how widespread and overt the patterns of the messages conveyed actually are. The strength of the analysis is that everyone opinion was voiced out. The conclusion made is that the study addressed the problem it sought out to and gave recommendations and suggestions to try and solve the problem at hand.
References
Barker, D., (1994). Changes in the Cigarette Brand Preferences of Adolescents Smokers-United States, 1989-1993 . MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 43 , 577-581
Eiser, J., Eiser, C., Gammage, P., and Morgan, M., (1989). Health Locus of Control and Health Beliefs in Relation to Adolescent Smoking. British Journal of Addiction, 84, 1059-1085
Pierce, J., and Gilpin, E. (1995). A Historical Analysis of Tobacco Marketing and the Uptake of Smoking by Youth in the United States: 1890-1977. Health Psychology, 14, 500-508
Price P. C., (2013). Research Methods in Psychology: Reliability and Validity of Measurement. California State University, Fresno. Retrieved from https://opentextbc.ca
University of Southern California Libraries (2016). Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: Types of Research Designs. http://libguides.usc.edu
