This paper outlines the findings of the research undertaking to establish how technology facilitates Cyber-bullying within a particular secondary school. The key findings demonstrate that teenagers use different technological platforms to abuse and cause harm that leads to distress for many students. The research sample is a whole year group of Year 10 pupils from a Secondary High School. Two analysis strategies have been under taken to ensure that the correct data is obtained upon completion of this study. These include: questionnaires and interviews. Data was analysed and portrayed in different ways such as tables and figures and the use of content analysis. The results suggest that Cyber-Bullying is a very real issue in schools throughout UK and that strong Anti-Bullying Policies are required in Secondary schools in order to protect those students who are on the receiving end of such abuse.
The focus of this study is to
identify how technology has facilitated Cyber-Bullying. The main emphasis is
identifying the different types of technology being used against a group of
Year 10 pupils in a Secondary High School. Electronic bullying, online bullying
and/or Cyber bullying are new methods of bullying involving forms of bullying
defined as harassment using technology such as social websites (MySpace,
Facebook), email, chat rooms, mobile phone texting and cameras, picture
messaging(sexting), IM(Instant Messaging) and blogs. The following document
will analyse the responses from a group of Year 10 pupils in a Secondary High
School to identify the various technology being used during Cyber Bullying. The
study will compare and contrast the data acquired through questionnaires and
interviews with the intention to update the Anti-Bullying Policy of the
Secondary High School of the findings from the study. The findings recognise
that the number of teenagers who are on the receiving end of Cyber-Bullying is
on the increase and recommendations need to be made to schools to stop the ever
increasing use of technology to harm, abuse and intimidate other students in
order for them to continue with their education.
The following description will
highlight and describe the limitations and boundaries within the research
project. The emphasis of the research project is on the technology used when
engaging in Cyber-Bullying. Cyber-Bullying is becoming more and more at the forefront
in affecting young peoples’ lives in todays’ society. The ability to
Cyber-Bully is not only limited to mobile phones, Instant Messaging, chat
rooms, email and webcams but websites, video hosting sites, Virtual Learning
Environments(VLE’s) and gaming consoles but other advancements in technology
are all responsible for engagement in Cyber-Bullying. This research project
will aim to prove that technology, when used incorrectly, has a major impact on
the lives of a cohort of students in Year 10. The project will only be
focussing on the technology used and not the psychological, behaviours or
effects as a result of the findings.
The technology industry is a fast
growing industry that has both a positive and negative impact on individuals.
As technology is a large and vast part of everyday life the way we use this
technology and the research gathered through the use of questionnaires and
one-to-one interviews will prove the impact that this has on both individuals
and groups. The students will all be
asked to participate in a questionnaire for the purpose of the project to
collect the primary data. In total there are 83 pupils in this year group. The
interviews will be conducted with the consent of the students to gain further
understanding into the technologies being used during Cyber-bullying. The
constraints on the research are that the actual topic of Cyber-Bullying has
only been highlighted in the last decade and therefore accurate, concise and
relevant information on this topic is in its infancy.
The assumptions of the
research project will prove that when young people are able communicate through
the use of technology there is no limitation on how, where and when
cyber-bullying is taking place. It will be down to the data and research gathered
to prove how technology facilitates Cyber-bullying within the group of year 10
pupils.
When trying to understand what
Cyber-Bullying is, it is important to break this down further by trying to
establish what the definition of bullying is. According to Elliot (2011:02)
’Bullying is deliberately harming someone who is less powerful than you with
the intention of causing pain’. When exploring the exact definition of the term
‘bullying’, what emerges is a slight difference of opinion between writers and
authors. Askew (1989) follows a theme in his definition of power and a concept
of continuum by identifying bullying as behaviour which involves an attempt to
gain power and dominance over another. However, when comparing Askew (1989),
with writers such as Herbert(1996) who both identify bullying as a way of being
horrible and cruel to another child or group of children whereby the victim may
find the behaviour embarrassing, hurtful or humiliating, and be frightened or threatened
by it and Rigby(1996), who states that bullying is a repeated oppression,
psychological or physical, of a less powerful person by a more powerful person
or persons. The themes of hurt, intent, repetition, duration, power and
provocation are all vocabulary that can be pinned up upon the word bullying.
What is clear in the
comparisons between writers and authors is that experts in the field offer a
variety of views of the term bullying, however when schools are devising
policies in relation to the term bullying, they are encouraged by the
Department of Education(2014), to arrive and their own institutional
definition.
More recently, research has demonstrated that advances in technology have provided a new means of bullying. Cyber-Bullying can be defined as a form of covert psychological bullying conveyed through the use of electronic media, such as mobile phones and the internet, that is deliberately intended to harm another (Cowie and Jennifer 2007). It includes bullying by text message or mobile phone calling, by instant messenger services and social networking sites, by email, and by images or videos posted on the internet or mobile phones. Cyber bullying is completely different to other forms of bullying, firstly, cyber-bullying creates a sense of anonymity and a hidden identity that serves to distance the bully from the victim. Secondly, cyber-bullying reaches a far wider audience at a greater speed due to the advances of technology and the internet and finally people that are initially bystanders can easily become engaged in the cyber-bullying. The types of behaviour that bullies exhibit differs between Cyber-bullying and other types of bullying, for example intimidation, threats, harassment, name calling and insults, social exclusion or peer rejection, identity theft and publication of private information or images are all common within Cyber-Bullying. All of the information above establishes and gains what Cyber-Bullying is (objective 1). Despite the differences mentioned it is important to remember that Cyber-Bullying may form part of a relationship that includes offline and face-to-face bullying as well (Smith et al 2008).
There have been several
comprehensive studies in which technology and the youth have been the focus. New
research from Mintel (2013) informs us of the following of our UK teenagers:
Research from another country identifies
similarities to other countries. Last year McAfee (2013) undertook similar
research in Australia and found the following:
The extensive technological
involvement by youth is supported by the wide and easily availability of such
products. ‘Youth in this day and age live in a virtual candy store of technology’
Trolley (2010: 8). The youth have grown up with continuous advancements in
technology. Zwick (2005) argues that Desktop Pc’s are being replaced with more
increasingly powerful portable computers.
In terms of occurrence,
numerous studies have been conducted in the UK and in other countries to
investigate Cyber-Bullying. Li (2006) conducted an anonymous questionnaire
survey of 264 students from a High School in Canada and found that:
A further study conducted by
Livingston and Bober (2005) surveyed over 1,500 nine to nineteen year olds
which found that older children were more likely to experience online bullying,
with 35 percent 12 to 15 year olds and 44 percent of 16 to 19 year olds
reporting this. In the UK, the NSPCC (2013) conducted their own research in
2012/13 and found that online bullying amongst 12-18 year olds has increased by
84% than in the previous years. In particular young people mentioned bullying
on social networking sites, chat rooms or gaming sites. From December 2012 to
March 2013, the NSPCC (2013) heard from 1,098 young people who mentioned these
platforms, a third of whom were aged 13-14. To further highlight the growing
issue of Cyber-Bullying in the UK, a five year study of over 15,000 secondary
school pupils in 13 different schools, identified that the frequency with which
pupils reported being bullied was directly related to the market up-take in
mobile technology and internet connectivity (Noret and Rivers, 2010). Patchin
and Hinduja (2006) conducted an internet based survey of 384 respondents of
specific online bullying behaviours that young people have experienced and
found that over half had been ignored by others (60 percent), half had been
disrespected by others (50 percent), nearly one third had been called names by
others (30 percent), and one fifth had been threatened by others (21 percent),
picked on by others (20 percent), been made fun of by others (19 percent) and
experienced rumours spread by others (19 percent). Furthermore, the survey
revealed that Cyber-Bullying was most prevalent in chat rooms, with 22 percent
of victims reporting this, followed by messaging through computers (14 percent)
and email (13 percent).
Cyber-Bullying varies greatly
in their estimates of prevalence, ranging anywhere from 4% to 36% of the school
population (Noret and Rivers, 2010). The figure below conducted in the research
of Noret and Rivers (2010) highlights the frequency to which the different types
of technologies were used during their research into Cyber-Bullying.
Young people are increasingly
using the internet, mobile technology and gaming platforms for a variety of
purposes. They offer young people new opportunities in the areas of
information, education, social contact and entertainment. Several studies have
found that platforms like Instant Messaging (IM), chat boxes and Social
Networking Sites(SNS) offer online communication with existing friends and
acquaintances (Vandebosch and Heidi 2011). Many teenagers have different
technologies that they own, the amount of content they consume and the
environment in which they do this. Many teenagers have various devices that
resemble pocket media devices, these devices carry meaning as status symbols,
for example not owning a trendy mobile phone may be commented on by peers.
Mobile phones carry a strong sense of identity and brand and appearance of such
devices carry identity and therefore act as a way to differentiate oneself from
others. According to teenagers’ cultural frames of reference, the ownership of
a communication device is not an individual matter. Rather it is a radically
social affair (Caron and Caronia 2007).
The types of
Cyber-Environments whereby Cyber-Bullying and harassment are not limited to
(objective 2), but include the following:
Instant Messaging (IM) is very similar to emails being past back and forth however the difference is that both parties are online at the same time and are able to send messages back and forth to each other. This dialogue takes place in real time and is usually done through an internet connection. There are many IM programs such as Windows Live Messenger, that are free to use and many of these programs allow ‘chats’ to take place with more than one person. These particular types of programs allow users to create a list of screen contacts and then the program would alert the user when those contacts are online and available to ‘chat’ to. IM’s can only be exchanged between subscribers who have listed each other as contacts (Willard 2006). Users of IM can decide which of their contacts they wish to invite to join a chat, while excluding others. IM is particularly appealing to High School students as students are free to socialize and very familiar with technology.
Chatrooms
are
also real time written conversations, except that the content is public to
everyone in the chat at that time. However, within a chat room, it is possible
to ‘move’ to a private chat that is essentially an IM conversation (Willard
2006). This shows how social exclusion can be implemented. Someone in a chat
room invites some, but excludes others, from a private chat. This particular
form of Cyber-Environment make participants more vulnerable to harmful
consequences from Cyber-Bullying. Some chatrooms have features where persons
can anonymously post comments for example MUDS (Multi User Dungeons) which is
where multiple users are online simultaneously. Unlike chat rooms, people
typically do not know each other outside of the environment (Grinter and Palen
2002). In a MUD, participants use avatars to represent themselves to create
roles to participate in a fantasy world.
Blogs
are
similar to diaries, except that they are posted online for public view and
comment. Blogs can include both video as well as text. Blogs are very popular in America with 38% of
US teens read blogs and 19% have their own blog (Willard 2006). Huffaker and
Calvert (2005) observed that 52% of all blogs are those of youth adolescents between
ages 13-19. Blogs can be linked to other blogs to create communities of
bloggers. These blogs can be platforms for Cyber-Bullies to post comments,
thoughts and any other information of others. Many bloggers provide personal
information that could be misused by others. Huffaker and Calvert (2005) found
that 20% of all teen bloggers provided their real name on blogs and that 44%
listed an email address or IM name.
Emails
are
used to send messages and is more used these days by adults more so than
teenagers. It can be employed to send offensive messages to harass and do harm.
In research conducted by Tarapdar and Kellett (2011) it was found that the most
accessible forms of technology became the most used method of bullying. Abusive
emails (26%) were the most popular form of cyber-bullying.
Text
Messages are particularly popular in Australia where texting is the
preferred method of communicating for teenager between the ages of 14 – 17
(Brown et al 2009). Text messages are short messages using words or
abbreviations that can be sent between one mobile phone to any other mobile
phones. Most mobile phones these days allow for a digital message to be sent
between users.
Happy
Slapping was started as a joke in London in 2004 Kraft (2006) and at
that time was a particularly nasty form of Cyber-Bullying. Happy Slapping
occurs when a target is approached and slapped in the face while a third person
captures the incident with the use of a camera. The video then gets uploaded to
a website for others to view.
Social
Networking Sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter for
example include many features as above (email, blogs, chats etc.) and have
exactly the same potential to be misused by Cyber-Bullies. The very first
incident in the UK whereby a teenager who posted death threats to another
teenager received a 3 month sentence in a Youth Offender Institute (Guardian
2009).
Video
hosting sites such as YouTube allows users the opportunity to
access useful educational, entertaining and original creative video content,
however it also provides the user to upload and post embarrassing and
humiliating films of someone.
Gaming
Sites, Consoles and Virtual Worlds allows users the opportunities
to text or voice chat live during online gaming between players across the
world, or on handheld devices with people in the same local area. This
particular technology allows players to pick on weaker ones by repeatedly name
calling, making derogatory remarks and forwarding unwanted messages to other
devices in the immediate vicinity.
There are many ways in which society can approach Cyber Bullying; one example of this would be where Rigby and Barrington Thomas (2003) suggest that in schools prevention loomed large in the plans and procedures embraced by most schools. Another way adopted in America according to Phillips and Sianjina (2013) is that agencies within the federal government including the court system and the department of education should assume the responsibility of overseeing the electronic bully policy. Katz (2012) describes in the cycle of bullying intervention, effective bullying prevention is a five stage programme, to be endlessly repeated with tweaks and improvements through constant evaluation and monitoring of its effectiveness. Every single young person in our society should have the right to feel protected by the laws that govern our very own society. For example the Equality Act 2010 (Section 26) states that:
‘Harassment – A person (A) harasses another
(B) if –
Wellfield High School (2014) has
its own Anti-Bullying Policy and within this policy it highlights
Cyber-Bullying as ‘Cyber-bullying takes different forms: threats and
intimidation; harassment or “cyber-stalking” (e.g. repeatedly sending unwanted
texts or instant messages); vilification / defamation; exclusion or peer
rejection; impersonation; unauthorised publication of private information or
images and videos and the manipulation of’.
‘The use of ICT in Cyber-bullying is a fine balance between risks and opportunities’ Katz (2012:26). ‘Experts say that there are missing or shadowy parents and social pressures on kids much earlier than in previous generations. The need to please and be accepted by the peer group that becomes the driving force in teenagers’ lives’ Singh (2007:16). A common theme to the literature states that technology plays an important role in the everyday lives of teenagers. As modern advancements in technology increase, so does the use and the popularity of these technologies and devices, however the way that the technology is used to abuse individuals or groups of people during cyber-bullying creates a major and a common problem for students, parents and professionals.
This section
will explain the methodology used to investigate how technology facilitates
Cyber-Bullying. The epistemological approach within the document will be
justified through the comparison of the researcher’s knowledge and the data
acquired through research. The document will also explain approaches to both
qualitative and quantitative data collection methods through the use of
triangulation methods to gain the desired data and how they will be used in the
study. The section will then explore the two different methods adopted during
data collection and reference these to the outcomes of the research
project.
All research is
about knowledge. This research will adopt both a positivist and interpretivist
epistemological approach to gain further understanding on how theories on
knowledge would reflect upon the evidence gathered by the researcher. Audi
(2011) describes that being justified in believing something is having
justification for believing it, this narrowed down further means that justified
belief is a good backbone for knowledge.
(Fantl et al
2008) describe epistemology as ‘a philosophical enquiry into the nature,
conditions and extent of human knowledge’. The approach adopted in this
research allowed the researcher to gather data through consultations and
interactions with the cohort of students and the interpretations of the
researcher to ultimately induce an epistemological approach. This study will
allow the research to be gathered, interpreted and the results be published to
enable the researcher to understand how technology facilitates Cyber-Bullying.
Lincoln (1998)
insists that human behaviour, unlike physical objects, cannot be understood
without reference to the meanings and purposes. The researcher adopted
approaches in a ‘stand off’ between a ‘qualitative scholar’ and a ‘quantitative
scholar’. The ‘qualitative scholar’ will adopt approaches from ethnology,
archival research and textual criticism however the ‘quantitative scholar will
make use of mathematics, and statistics. By combining elements of quantitative
and qualitative paradigms, the validity of the research findings may be
enhanced because the different methods being used, questionnaires and interviews
will complement each other and the value of the study will be enhanced by using
the mixed methodology approach. A
pattern and trend that is developing amongst young people is the link drawn
with Cyber-Bullying and technology.
The type of
methodological stand point that this particular piece of research is a
combination of both Positivism and Interpretivism. A combination of the
researcher interacting with the students during the interview process,
highlights the cross over into Interpretivism. However the true hard data that
is required for this research requires the methodological approach to encompass
elements of Positivism. The use of questionnaires to gather the data shows that
elements of positivism will be required to acquiring the primary data, but is
not the only methodological approach to the research. Della and Keating (2008)
state that ‘Methodological debates are often framed as a confrontation between
the quantitative methodologies used by positivists and the qualitative ones
used by constructivists and interpretivists. According to Cresswell (2011) the
complexity of our research problems calls for answers beyond simple numbers in
a quantitative sense or words in a qualitative sense.
Newman
(1998:43) states that ‘multivariate research is based on the complexities of most
human and social science research. More than one variable is always operating
in the questions researchers ask’. Triangulation is restricted to the use of
multiple data gathering techniques, usually three, to investigate the same
phenomenon (Berg and Lune 2014). The research methodology conducted through the
use of primary qualitative studies does not exclude the quantitative data
gathering techniques adopted. The gathering of data in a school setting would
describe the ethnography as being distinctive as the researcher would be
required to engage with the group on its own ground. The role of the researcher
varies according to the level of involvement. During the gathering of the
primary data through the use of questionnaires, the researcher would be unobtrusive,
however the engagement level during the interview stage may vary and therefore
the researcher becomes more involved. Ethnography is an ideal method for
deriving meaning from social lives that might otherwise go hidden or unnoticed
(Berg and Lune 2014), however this approach would not be adopted as the method
of collection does not involve participant observation by the researcher.
According to Meyerhoff and Schleef (2010) the researcher develops personal
associations with members of community and then becomes a member of it.
A conceptual framework has been derived to
show the theory that underpins the research project. The framework has been
used to show the factors and relationships that occur between the topics, which
are all key in this study. All the topics are directly and/or indirectly linked
to each other and must be considered through the research.
The purpose of
the research methodology is to capture the voices of the Year 10 students who
have been Cyber-Bullied. The methodology uses a mixed methods approach that
involves both positivist and interpretivist elements that will provide the
research with clarity and specific data from the implementation of multivariate
research undertaken. The collection of data through the use of questionnaires
and interviews will add to the researcher’s knowledge of the topic and therefore
justifying the epistemological approach and reasoning behind the paradigms
adopted when conducting research into Cyber-Bullying.
The methods adopted for the
research project will vary between questionnaires and interviews. The focus
will be on a group of Year 10 students that will include a mix of high/low
achievers and pupils with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities).
Focus groups were looked at as an alternative method for information gathering.
According to Creswell (2011) the researcher engages in a sampling procedure
that involves determining the location or site for the research, identifies the
participants who will provide data in the study and how they will be sampled.
Cresswell (2011) also ascertains the number of participants needed to answer
the research and the recruitment procedures for participants to engage in the
research.
A Questionnaire is a method of
issuing participants with a series of questions to gain data. The ways in which
the questions are structured are essential to the quality of the data. If
questions are worded poorly, this will reflect in the quality of the data that
has been gathered (Proctor and Van Zandt, 2011). It is also very important when
working with young people, to take into account their understanding of words
and therefore the questions within the questionnaire would need to be worded
and phrased accordingly. Proctor and Van Zandt (2011) highlight that a common
issue when conducting questionnaires is their unreliability, if people do
complete them, then they may forget to return them or ultimately they may
ignore the questionnaire completely. The nature of anonymity granted through
the completion of questionnaires has its positives, as suggested by Gilham (2000),
results obtained are likely to be more accurate as a result of anonymity. This
method has been chosen to collect both quantitative and qualitative data
whereby the use of both open ended and closed questions will provide the
grouping of data that is required to critically analyse the technology used
during Cyber-Bullying(objective 1), and to analyse the cohort of year 10
students(objective 2). The distribution of the questionnaires was on paper during
an assembly morning to 84 students. This method is important because a large
amount of data will be gained. The final aspect that the use of this method
will enable the researcher to make recommendations for the Anti-Bullying Policy
of the Secondary High School (objective 3). A copy of the questionnaire is
available in the appendix.
Interviewing may be defined
simply as a conversation with a purpose. Specifically, the purpose is to gather
information (Berg 2014). There are three
different types of interviews, the standardised interview, the
semi-standardised interview and the un-standardised interview. Merriam (2002)
agrees with Berg (2014) as interviews range from highly structured, where
specific questions and the order in which they are asked are determined ahead
of time, to unstructured, where one has topic areas to explore but neither the
questions nor the order are predetermined. For the purpose of this research and
the group of young people that will be researched, the standardised interview
will be used. The rationale behind this decision is that to gain the relevant
information, the questions will be simple enough to understand which allows the
subjects to understand clearly what they are being asked. The sequencing,
phrasing and level of language adopted in the interview will be considered
accordingly and adopted for the purpose of gaining the relevant information.
The interviewer will need to be aware that the topic could be sensitive to some
young people and may result in those feeling manipulated by the questions being
asked. The risk involved with the sensitive nature of the topic could be that
the young people will drop out from the interview and the researcher would not
be able to use the data. The benefits from those young people that do complete
the interview will be deliberate, knowledgeable and unforced. The researcher
will ask the pupils to self-nominate to participate in the interview in order
to identify and gather the parameters for the project. The researcher has
conducted an interview with two participants, one who has been bullied and
another who was the bullying order for there to be consistency with the results
obtained during the collection and analyses of the cohort of Year 10 students
(objective 3). The data that will be collected during the interviews will also
allow the researcher to focus specifically on the technology used during
Cyber-Bullying (objective 2). A copy of
the interview questions are available in the appendix.
The sampling strategy that has
been employed by the researcher took into account many considerations. One of
the methodological issues that needed to be recognised first, was the actual
sample size using questionnaires. The researcher specifically did not want to
sample the whole school, however the researcher understood that the likelihood
of the precision sample may increase the number of errors. Bryman (2008) states
that the less sampling error one is willing to tolerate, the larger a sample
will need to be. However, Fowler (1993) argues against this point by declaring
that in practice researchers do not base their decisions about sample size on a
single estimate of a variable. He also observes that it is not normal for
survey researchers to be in a position to specify in advance an ‘a desired
level of precision’ (Fowler,1993: 34). Another consideration that the
researcher needed to take into account was non-response, this did not occur
within this research as all the students that were present on the day of the
data collection, completed the questionnaire. The only issue that did occur,
which was out of the control of the researcher, was absenteeism. A good
response rate from the questionnaires that were handed out was based on the
non-probability sample and specifically convenience sampling. A convenience
sample is ‘one that is simply available to the researcher by virtue of its
accessibility’ Bryman (2008: 183). As a convenience strategy was employed, the
researcher also considered a quota sample of a non-probability sample however
this particular sample would represent students within different categories.
The researcher conducted a standardised interview in order to collect the
qualitative data required. The reasoning behind the decision is that it would
entail far more accuracy in processing the answers compared to questionnaires,
with many questions being closed or closed ended. These type of questions allow
for the respondents to reply with limited answers and therefore variability is
reduced.
Validity is a function of the
correlation between the response and that true value Groves et al (2009). This
research implemented the three standards that all surveys should meet, content
standards, cognitive standards and usability standards. The students themselves
could provide data that is inaccurate when they complete the questionnaires as
they may get bored and feel that the topic is not relevant to them if they have
not been Cyber-Bullied. Absenteeism on
the day may not provide the project with sufficient data however the year group
as a whole has 97% attendance for the year thus far.
To correctly adhere to the
ethical standards, permission from the Secondary High School’s Headmaster
(refer to Appendix 3) and the parents or guardians of the young people
participating in the research was obtained. The researcher adhered to the
ethical guidelines for educational research (refer to Appendix 2).
Technology can have a huge
impact on young people being Cyber-Bullied, however it is important to show
that no bias is shown in the research, this is done by directing a participant
to give the result or answer other than their own. Bias is known to distort
results Page et al (2012) and therefore must be avoided. This puts more
emphasis on the phrasing of questions and especially during interviews, the
researcher will need to prompt for more information. ‘It is vitally important
to remember that all participants within the research project are voluntary’
Polonsky (2004) and therefore the participants must be given the opportunity to
withdraw from the research process. Two key terms, anonymity and
confidentiality, must not be confused when conducting the research.
Confidentiality according to Nation (1997) denotes an implicit or explicit
arrangement that no record of a participant’s data will be disclosed. Anonymity
is a condition, according to Weiss (2000) in which the researcher does not know
the identity of a participant.
This section will discuss the results that have been obtained whilst conducting the research. A large sample, a whole year group, of students were selected and questionnaires were handed out to these students. Interviews were also conducted with two students who volunteered to be interviewed.
Questionnaires
were given out to 83 students from a year group of which 74 students completed
the questionnaire. All the students had the option of not completing the
questionnaire or to complete it in their own time. For the purpose of anonymity
all students were requested not to add their name to the questionnaire.
The
key results of the questionnaire are as follows:
The table below further highlights the key
results of the questionnaire.
The results gathered from the
questionnaires enabled the researcher to gain an overall perspective of Cyber-Bullying
within the Year 10 student group, however for more finite, accurate and
specific information, then an interview would need to take place in order to
gather further detailed information. The interviewer asked the group of Year 10
students for two volunteers to complete in the interview process. The
interviews were conducted with both a victim of bullying and a bully present as
more of a discussion. This would enable the researcher to focus on the schism
that exists between both individuals with the intention to identify specifics
required to meet the overall aims objectives of the study. The researcher
adopted the process of coding qualitative data. According to the Center for
Evaluation and Research (2012), coding is the process of organising and sorting
your data. When the researcher conducted the interviews, the students involved
in the process were very limited in their answers, even when prompted further. With
the data that was collected, the researcher was able to summarise and
synthesize as seen below in Table 2.
The data in column three below highlights
common terminology that was mentioned when the interview was conducted. From
this common terminology, it then became apparent that four main themes could be
deduced, these included technology, reasoning, venue and information sharing.
The transcript
was then broken down again, to summarise the common themes according to their
use from the bully and the victim.
The
process of breaking down the transcript according to the individuals involved
enabled the researcher to identify any emerging themes, no emerging themes
existed in this research. A combination of qualitative data and quantitative
data through the use of interviews and questionnaires, enabled the researcher to
arrive at the following conclusions from the data gathered:
The method that was not used in the validation
of data was focus groups. During the cross checking of the data obtained
through triangulation, it was felt that this method may be counterproductive as
a risk to compromising the unique contribution of the individuals involved in
the process.
As identified in the key
literature (e.g. Katz 2012, Singh 2007), it was stated that the use of
technology is vitally important in the way teenagers communicate. It was also
highlighted in previous studies conducted (e.g. Noret and Rivers 2010, Mintel
2013 and Mcafee 2013) that Cyber-Bullying is fast becoming an issue that is
affecting teenagers, not only in this country, but other countries too. Through
the analysis of the data, the vast majority of students in Year 10 within the
Secondary High School are not or have not been Cyber-Bullied. However, of those
that are currently being bullied through Cyber-Bullying, text messaging,
picture messaging and instant messaging are by far the most commonly used
method. The key results obtained from the questionnaire do raise some very
interesting and thought provoking questions. The results suggest that 88% of
students that have been bullied, have been a victim of Cyber Bullying while at
school. This in itself is a very high figure especially when the current
Anti-Bullying Policy stipulates that any student caught committing the bullying
will face certain sanctions. The underlying question that exists is, is the
current policy strong enough to deter those that engage in the harassment. Livingston
and Bober (2009) conducted research for 9 – 19 year olds highlighting the fact
the older students are more likely to be Cyber-Bullied, however contradicting
this research is McAfee (2013) who found that on average children between the
ages of 8-12 year olds are using between 3-4 internet abled devices including smart
phones and tablets which potentially leaves them vulnerable to becoming
Cyber-Bullied. The analysis of results clearly shows that when students are
Cyber-Bullied it lasts for between one month and six months, with six months
being the most common timeframe. The main focus of the research was to
understand how technology has facilitated Cyber-Bullying, the data that has
been collected uniquely identifies that there is no real differences to the
technology being used either by a bully or through which means the victim is
being reached during Cyber-Bullying, the key differences that do exist are the
impact that this has on the individuals, however this research does not delve
into the complexities of the emotional behaviours of the individuals.
Technological advances allow for communication between individuals and groups
to be more prominent than in previous years, however certain technologies
appear both in this research and in research conducted 5 years ago. It is clear
from the literature review and the study conducted by Noret and Rivers (2010)
that Instant Messaging is prevalent throughout, this coincides with the
research gathered in this study whereby this type of technology appears again
and used continuously both during and after school.
The data that has been
gathered has enabled the researcher to make recommendations to the Secondary
High School concerned and in particular its Anti-Bullying Policy. The
recommendations are as follows:
The students also make various recommendations to try and stop the Cyber-Bullying when it begins, changing phone numbers, switching off the device and informing members of staff at the school are all methods that they feel will enable them to stop becoming victims of Cyber-Bullies.
The
research conducted has frequently challenged the thoughts and feelings that
have been collected through the key literature.
Research has been obtained and gathered that has questioned beliefs from
authors and professionals that have been questioned and disproved. In some
instances, the research that has been gathered has corresponded with beliefs
and the research has acted to support the claims made by the authors. The aim
of the research is to examine how the use of technology has facilitated Cyber-Bullying
in a Secondary High School setting and particular focussing on the Year 10
cohort within a Secondary High School. The aim has been thoroughly met through
the extensive research conducted in the literature review by comparing the
literature of authors and professionals, using data that has been collected
through other organisations and critically analysing this against the data
collected at the Secondary High School.
A concise definition of Cyber-Bullying still remains open for debate
amongst authors. Common themes do exist between well-established authors (e.g.
Askew 1989, Herbert 1996 and Rigby 1996) however what is consistent is that
Cyber-Bullying is repetitive, hurtful and deliberate acts towards the victims
(objective 1). The opportunity to critically analyse the technology used during
Cyber-Bullying (objective 2) provided prospects to use real-life data and
compare this data against organisations (McAfee 2013, Mintel 2013, NSPCC 2013) and
results of data collected in Canada (Li 2006) and other authors (Livingston and
Bober 2005, Patchin and Hiduja 2006). A common theme that occurs throughout is
that as different technologies are being introduced to young people, the
Cyber-Bullies are making use of these technologies. Through the use of questionnaires
and interviews, primary data was collected to analyse a cohort of Year 10
students (objective 3). The comparison of results and data from various means
and sources would allow the research conducted to make recommendation for the
Anti-Bullying Policy for the Secondary High School (objective 4). This
recommendation would hopefully restrict the opportunities for Cyber-Bullying to
take place at school as an update on the current policy would be implemented in
preparation for the new academic year in 2015.
Throughout the completion of this research project, questions have arisen that need to be investigated further. The questions identified are:
This has been a very valuable research project and one that has highlighted the greater need to educate students, parents and school staff on an issue that sometimes goes unnoticed for periods of time. In an era when students are bombarded with the pressures of achieving good results, we sometimes miss the impact that Cyber-Bullying can have on individuals and those around them such as families, friends and the communities they represent. Alongside the pressures of achieving well, students also have to deal with looking good in their social circles, this includes having the latest technology or gadgets. As the research has suggested, we live in a world whereby technology plays an important role in our everyday lives and in particular from a social point of view, however what sometimes occurs when this technology is abused and misused results in negative behaviours towards others. These negative behaviours are either occurring in school or at home and what has been learnt from the research is that nowhere is safe for the victim if the bully is able to access any form of technology.
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