The Emergence of Bullying - Research Proposal Example

Bullying The research that is being proposed is based on the following two research questions. The first one can be formulated as follows: How often does bullying happen throughout the school years and as one enters the next grade level? The second one is How often does it happen as one grows older in adulthood? In order to answer these research questions, the study will randomly sample 120 students that belong to different grades and provide with survey question that they will have to answer. The research will employ interview. This evidence will be processed, including evidence that will be taken from similar researches which were carried out previously. It is expected that the major factors which contribute to the emergence of bullying on various stages of life of a person will be revealed such as low self-esteem, negative school environment and lack of proper normative beliefs that would go against the acceptance of bullying as a practice. This research is important since it would provide deep insights the nature of such phenomenon as bullying and reveals the reasons why some people are vulnerable to it and have to experience the destructive impact of it not only in school, but in adult life. Introduction My proposal will focus on several important aspects of bullying as well as examine it in various setting and to different victims, ranging from those who attend elementary school to adults. That is why, the research questions might be formulated in the following manner: How often does bullying happen throughout the school years and as one enters the next grade level? How often does it happen as one grows older in adulthood? The questions are really important since bullying, no matter how sorrowful it may be, happens in various environments and is able to have a negative impact on the experience of a person in school or in the workplace. That is why it may be useful to identify the essential aspects of it in order to work out an effective policy of prevention. Literature review The topic in question has been well researched in the literature. One might suggest that the scholars aimed at different manifestations of it and did not limit their exploration with the academic environment only. What is more important is that bullying has also been examined as a phenomenon that happens in the workplace to adults, meaning that it is not only children that are vulnerable. Thus, Nancy G. Guerra, Kirk R. Williams, and Shelly Sadek in their study that is titled Understanding Bullying and Victimization During Childhood and Adolescence: A Mixed Methods Study aim “to examine individual and contextual predictors of bullying and victimization and how they vary by age and gender” (Guerra, Williams & Sadek, 2011, p. 295). In order to be able to study it properly, the authors designed two waves of surveys in as many as 59 schools. In general, more than 2600 students from elementary, middle and high school participated, including some adults. In addition to that data, the researcher created several focus groups which included around 120 students in order to obtain more perceive data for the research. The findings of the study were the following: it was noted that self-esteem, school climate as well as normative beliefs with regard to bullying all play an important role in emergence of this phenomenon. For example these individuals who have low self-esteem are more vulnerable to bullying; this is also amplified by the general atmosphere of acceptance of it. In other words, the schools that feature negative climate are more prone to it. The findings of this research are important for my proposal since they provide a vast array of data that can be further analyzed and used while examining the phenomenon of bullying. For example, this study highlights some of the key factors that should be identified in every school in order to determine the chance of occurrence of bullying in it. The next research that may appear to be quite useful was conducted by Wendy M. Craig and is titled The Relationship among Bullying, Victimization, Depression, Anxiety, and Aggression in Elementary School Children. The research question of this study might be formulated in the following way: “What are sex and grade differences among bullies, victims, bully/victims, and comparison children on physical, verbal, and indirect aggression and victimization and on depression and anxiety?” (Craig, 1998, p. 123). The researcher worked with roughly 550 children that studying in the grades five to eight. The number of boys was almost equal to the number of girls; so, gender balance was maintained. The data was obtained from questionnaires that the children had to fill. The results of it were rather interesting. For example, it was found that male students, male bullies are likely to use violence as the primary method of interaction with the victim beginning with the early grades. In addition to that, verbal violence was added only in older grades. Contrary to that, female bullies did not use violence at all in the early grade, but tended to engage in the older ones. One of the major points of this study focuses on the fact that there is some sort of evolution in the perception of a bully. In other words, the character of one develops and it is surprising that female bullies tend to start using violence as they grow older. Furthermore, the study explores the significance of verbal violence and the way it is used by the bullies. The third research which contained essential guidelines for the proposal was conducted by a group of scholars which included Ralph Fevre, Amanda Robinson, Trevor Jones and Duncan Lewis. The title of it is Researching workplace bullying: the benefits of taking an integrated approach. The research question that guided the actions of the scholars is the following: What are the difficulties that are encountered by researchers that attempt to measure the existence of negative behaviors in the workplace and what are the suitable ways to overcome these difficulties? (Fevre, Robinson Jones & Lewis, 2010, 72). The sample of the people who participated in the research consisted of around thousand people who are whether are employed or were employed in the last two years. In addition to that the results of those interviews were compared to national surveys which were carried out earlier. The researchers found that the actual results of testing might different from the envisioned ones because of the imperfection of the questions that were designed. That is why it may be useful to amend certain questions so that the participant would be able to understand them in a correct manner. It is obvious that the significance of this study can be witnessed in the fact that it explains the kind of questions that should be asked in order to obtain the results that are not distorted by the misunderstanding. In other words, this study is able to have a positive impact on the way the proposal may be structured. The fourth research that should be carefully examined and is able to make a valuable contribution to the proposal is titled Examining Developmental Differences in the Social-Emotional Problems Among Frequent Bullies, Victims, and Bully/Victims. The study was conducted by Lindsey M. O’Brennan and focuses on the following research question: “What is the association between frequent involvement in bullying and aggressive impulsivity, attitudes toward aggressive retaliation, internalizing symptoms, peer relations, and perceptions of school climate?” (O’Brennan, 2009, p. 100). The data for the study was obtained from a vast number of students – slightly more than 24,300 students. They studied in elementary, middle or high schools at the time of the research. What is more important is that the participants were divided into three categories: those who are recognized as bullied, those who are recognized as their victims, and those who were perceived as bullies and victims at the same time. It was found that the latter category of people, namely bully/victims experienced symptoms of internalizing problems and also were more vulnerable to conflicts that they developed in relationships with their peers. What is more important is that they and regular bullies were more frequent to display impulsive behavior which was targeted at the victims. The significant of this study is particularly important for the proposal in question since it shows the different categories of people that should be identified within this phenomenon. Furthermore, it shows that bullies can be victims as well which means that they case should be examined in great detail. It is also important to note that retaliatory tendencies are frequently experienced by bullies. Finally, there is one last research that should be mentioned in this section. It was carried out by Brian P. Gendron, Kirk R. Williams as well as Nancy G. Guerra and is called An Analysis of Bullying Among Students Within Schools: Estimating the Effects of Individual Normative Beliefs, Self-Esteem, and School Climate. Their research question can be formulated as follows: “What is the connection between self-esteem, approving normative beliefs about bullying and school climate when it comes to emergence of bullying?” (Gendron, Williams & Guerra, 2011, p. 150) The research was carried out in Colorado and included students from 5th, 8th, and 11th grades. The overall number of participants was around 7,300. The findings of this research supported the view that low self-esteem is able to contribute to the flourishing of bullying as well as negative climate in school and indirect approval of the this phenomenon from the peers or the school administration. One might suggest that it did not present anything new; however, it is obvious that the level of precision of this study is tremendous and it clearly highlights the aspects that should be carried into account. The significance of this research with regard to the proposal is obvious: it does not only provides with the vast array of evidence that can be latter used and compared to other researches, but also outlines some of the aspects that should be taken into account when it comes to identifying the major causes of bullying and the driving factors. Hypothesis/research question There are two research questions that will guide the exploration of the issue. The first is How often does bullying happen throughout the school years and as one enters the next grade level? The second one can be formulated in the following manner: How often does it happen as one grows older in adulthood? If one carefully examines them, one will be able to see that they are closely connected to the studies that were mentioned in the section above. Indeed, while the proposal focuses on bullying, it is obvious that it can be divided into two equal parts: examination of the phenomenon when it takes place in the academic environment of school and exploration of it when the victim as an adult. It is understandable that answer to this question is able to fill the gap that exists in the current research of the issue. Indeed, it is important to note that sometimes bullying is not associated exclusively in the school years, but can also be witnessed when the person becomes an adult. That is why the research that will be focused on this particular aspect will be able to fill the existing gap. Speaking of the relationship between the ongoing debate about the question and the nature of the proposed research, one should note that the latter offers a new perspective on the issue, suggesting that the phenomenon of bullying should be regarded as something that is conditioned by a particular setting only, but also the state of mind of a person. It is obvious that this research will avoid methodological issues that previous studies features since it will take into account the their fallacies and make sure that the evidence that will be obtained is not distorted and reflects the situation accurately providing the correct perspective on it. In addition to that, the methods that will be used will be carefully checked and adjusted to achieve the best performance. Methods The proposed research will be driven by the following set of questions. The first may be formulated in the following way: How often does bullying happen throughout the school years and as one enters the next grade level? The next one has such form: How often does it happen as one grows older in adulthood? There are several research methods that will be used in the course of research. The major one is engaging the participated in answering survey questions that are designed previously. In addition to that, the research will also involve secondary analysis of the data which was provided by the studies which were mentioned in the previous sections. Now, it may be logical to review sampling technique that will be used. The sample will include 120 students. The process of sampling will be random. As it has been mentioned earlier, there will be several categories of people: elementary, middle and high school students as well as adults. The schools will be selected from those which are located in by neighborhood. There will not be a strict requirement for a particular grade; the adults that will be involved in the study are the teachers of the school. They will be chosen randomly. I will be directly interacting with the participants, asking the follow up questions if necessary and providing the survey. I will not identify the participants, directly, but make a code for each. They key variable which is the reaction towards bullying will be measured on the basis of answers to the questions that were provided by the respondents and will be processed statistically, dividing evidence into several categories. In addition to that the answers will be analyzed within various categories. Speaking of conceptualization of variable, one might suggest that they will be analyzed and checked for the possible influence on the change of contributing to the emergence of the phenomenon of bullying in different grades as well as in the adulthood. As for the way they will be operationalized, it is obvious that the answers will be processed and checked whether they highlight the leading role of different factors, like low self-esteem or school climate. I chose interview because it is the best method to obtain qualitative data and, therefore, it is the most reasonable for this study. Conclusion Having examined all the evidence which was brought up in the paragraphs above, one might pay attention to the possible ethical issues that can arise. It is obvious that conduction of the research is not able to hurt the participant; however, it is important to make sure that anonymity of the respondents is maintained in case they wish to be anonymous. As for the limitations of the current research one might mention that it is not able to explain why bullying might follow a particular person from school into adult life. In other words, it may be useful to explore lives of the people who were bullied in school and check if they are bullied in the work place; nevertheless, this would take unreasonably long time. All in all, the study would focus on different aspects of bullying and make sure that they are addressed properly in order to reveal the true nature of this phenomenon making sure to explain the primary factors that contribute to the emergence of it. With this information it may be possible to design effective counter measures. References Craig, W. (1998). The Relationship Among Bullying, Victimization, Depression, Anxiety, And Aggression In Elementary School Children1. Personality and Individual Differences, 24(1), 123-130. Fevre, R., Robinson, A., Jones, T., & Lewis, D. (2010). Researching workplace bullying: The benefits of taking an integrated approach. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 13(1), 71-85. Gendron, B., Williams, K., & Guerra, N. (2011). An Analysis of Bullying Among Students Within Schools: Estimating the Effects of Individual Normative Beliefs, Self-Esteem, and School Climate. Journal of School Violence, 10(1), 150-164. Guerra, N., Williams, K., & Sadek, S. (2011). Understanding Bullying and Victimization During Childhood and Adolescence: A Mixed Methods Study. Child Development, 82(1), 295-310. OBrennan, L. (2009). Examining Developmental Differences In The Social-emotional Problems Among Frequent Bullies, Victims, And Bully/victims. Psychology in the Schools, 46(2), 100-115. Read More