Qualified researchers apply various research designs in their projects in order to come up with easier ways of analyzing any data collected. According to Trochim (2006), two types of research designs exist, and these include two-group design, courtesy of which the researcher divides data into two parts and compares them by making one group to act as the control group and the factorial method, following which the researcher introduces discrete factors and levels with which to rank the variables acquired during a research.
Literature review
The project selected is on cyber-bullying among the youth, its impacts and how they respond to cyberbullying. It talks about how people involved in cyberbullying were once involved in traditional bullying as the victims and display numerous behavioral problems with relation to their peers. No clear difference has been established as to what gender or age group is mostly involved in this vice. The research thus aims to establish the factors that influence cyberbullying, risk factors and assess the effects of and how to prevent cyberbullying (Gleason, 2014). The research incorporated both qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis and applied both two-group design and factorial design as research design methods.
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Methodology
The research has applied the two-group research method in trying to differentiate between traditional bullying and cyberbullying, with traditional bullying being used as the control variable (Trochim, 2006). The research attempted to establish any similarities between the two, and whether they were interrelated in order to come up with who was at risk of being cyberbullied and effects such as mental health and being prone to self-harm, that arose in traditional bullying (Gleason, 2014)
Factorial design has been applied in order to assess the different factors that contribute to cyberbullying in school and the overall effects on an individual (Shuttleworth, N.d.). The variables in the research study can be classified into three. The independent variables in the study include , the age of the participants, the time frame used, the ease of access to internet and the social media as used among young people, the behavior of the internet users involved once they log into an online social media account and number of participants used in the study. The dependent variables in the study include level of awareness of cyberbullying for both the victim and the bully which depends on the amount of time of experience for the individual. The extraneous variable was the location of an individual, whereby advancement of technology varied in different countries, and thus the results obtained could not be applicable in all countries due to this variable (Gleason, 2014). Myths regarding cyberbullying were also included.
The factorial design provides interactions between the independent and the dependent variables. An example is the dependent variable level of awareness of cyberbullying which is influenced by factors such as age of the individual and time frame of experience of the individual. When the two are combined, it can be established that someone who is older and has been cyberbullied for quite some time has awareness on how cyberbullying works and how one can identify it. The main effects presented for the factorial design include the ability of an individual to identify cyberbullying, and other effects such as mental distress and self-harm (Gleason, 2014).
The research study did not include a random sample for study but rather relied on information provided by other researchers. The limitations of the research included generalization of information in cases where assumptions were made, such as the assumption that most children who experience traditional bullying are likely to be cyberbullies (Gleason, 2014). Hence, no statistics is provided thus no quantitative analysis can be made using the data. Another limitation is that the researcher used various sources which appeared to be contradicting each other.
References
Gleason, H. (2014). “The Prevalence and Impact of Bullying Linked to Social Media on the Mental Health and Suicidal Behavior among Young People.” Health Service Executive. Retrieved from https://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Education-Reports/The-Prevalence-and-Impact-of-Bullying-linked-to-Social-Media-on-the-Mental-Health-and-Suicidal-Behavior-Among-Young-People.pdf
Shuttleworth, M. (N.d). Factorial Design. Explorable. Retrieved from https://explorable.com/factorial-design
Trochim, W.M. (2006). Factorial Designs. Social Research Methods. Retrieved from http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/expfact.php
Trochim, W.M. (2006). Two-Group Experimental Designs. Social Research Methods. Retrieved from http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/expsimp.php
