Abstract
Media as a social institution happens to be the source and agent of information dissemination. Media conveyance occurs under various tools one of them being electronic media. Electronic media mostly in all households are the televisions. Television has become a socialization tool for our teenagers because most of their time is spent glaring at the screens of their televisions.
However, televisions have in some manner, shape how our teenage relate with each other in the social world. To some, the television has positively impacted on their academic performance and behavior during some it is the vice-versa. The paper analyzes the different effects of Television among teenagers.
Research Question
The research question of the study is on How does television affect the life of a teenager.
The research will center around how the television shapes the life of teenagers in all spheres of social life to academic performance. Through evaluation of the impacts of the television to the life of teenage, we can ascertain the effects of adolescent having televisions around their surroundings(Ray & Jat, 2010).
The recent dynamics in behavior change among teenagers locally and globally has made me take the initiative of assessing the impact of T.V among various teenagers. The research is of significance primarily to the family as a social institution that handles shaping the behavior of the teenagers. The study is also of importance to the media institution where the T.V falls as a media tool. After the research being undertaken the T.V will positively impact on the lives of teenagers relating to it.
Context
The study will be undertaken in an urban setting sourcing various categories of teenage age groups. The Urban environment is preferably the convenient area of study due to the availability of television in almost every household and the teenagers in most of the family settings. Participants will be drawn from the age group between early teenage from twelve years to late teenage of nineteen years.
In enhancing the credibility of the research, parents and caregivers will be incorporated in the study so as to give a background analysis of the teenagers in question. The teenagers will enable us to study the effects of television at a broader scope while the parents act like justifications of the deduced fact.
Data collection
In analyzing the effect of television on the teenagers, there is a need for an all covering survey tool so as to meet the respective pragmatic need of the research. The sample chosen matched with the correct surveying instrument is supposed to generalize the results deduced from the sample of the population. The research will apply the extensive of questionnaires during the data collection period. The questions will primarily revolve around academic concerns and behavior patterns so as not the effect of them watching television.
A maximum of twenty close ended questionnaire format questions will be used having an equal coverage in the academic performance of teenagers and behavior change. The questionnaire will apply a combination of several forms of close-ended questions like the matrix, Likert scale and dichotomous. The choice of using close-ended format is because of the need for pragmatic and definite results from respondents. Also with close-ended it reduces irrelevancy hence clarity in the responses.
The study applies quantitative research methods rather than qualitative research method due to the latter is mostly influenced by the researcher biases in the study. Qualitative data lack empirical evidence to support the arguments of the author. Qualitative data, in summary, would not be a better research tool in assessing the effect of T.V on the teenagers.
Respondent confidentiality shall be maintained in the course of the study. The questionnaires shall only be accessible to the data collection team only, the use of hypothetical cases on respondents will be avoided at all costs. In achieving ideal responses, there will be no directed connotation questions that clearly depict the respondent as positively or negatively affected by television. Lastly, on ethical considerations when seeking information from the public is the questions set will avoid seeking deeper into the private life of individuals willing to be part of the sample study.
Background sources
The two primary background sources to be used in the research are;
Ray, M., & Jat, K. R. (2010). Effect of electronic media on children. Indian Pediatrics, 47(7), 561-568. Retrieved from http://medind.nic.in/ibv/t10/i7/ibvt10i7p561.pdf.
The article concurs with our study as it covers the age bracket of teenagers being studied and the effects being also studied are featured in the text. Factors such as behavior patterns, academic performance, eating patterns are clearly related to the watching of T.V.
Strasburger, V. C., Hogan, M. J., Mulligan, D. A., Ameenuddin, N., Christakis, D. A., Cross, C., … & Swanson, W. S. L. (2013). Children, adolescents, and the media. Pediatrics, 132(5), 958-961.
The Journal covers the potentially harmful effects of television on the teenagers from a standpoint that the extent to which teenagers spend time watching television and the kind of materials being watched on television immensely affect the teenagers. The article goes on to give what should be done and what ought not to be done for the benefit of the teenagers.
The research will start from the mind mapping in trying to find all interrelated concepts and idea within the research. Mind mapping activity will run for a whole week as ideas are related and synthesized. Analyzing the scope of the research so as to determine the population and sample size will take approximately a period of two weeks for thorough assessment of the target population to be prepared. Research on past literature reviews, articles, journals and books regarding other related areas in the same subject area will take a one-week duration.
The selection of the choice of survey tool design to be used will take a week’s time and the collection of data will be held in one month period due to the sample size chosen out of the population. Data analysis of the results will take a period of two weeks after which there will be drafting of the report in the following one week. The final write-up is supposed to be ready for presentation will be prepared in a weeks period. The research will approximately take a period of four months till submission.
Oral presentation with the help of PowerPoint software will be the method used in research performance. The research findings will be organized in the slides showing data analysis in terms of graphs, tabulations and short explanations for the audience following the proceedings. This format is valid as it gives room to remove doubts due to its application of first- hand information. Confidentiality of the author’s work is highly secured, hence cases of academic irregularities are minor.
Limitations to be encountered in the course of the research revolve around time frame allocated. Some activities might not work according to the planned schedule due to the various irregularities arising. An example is a small turnout of sample size having to increase the time, so as to meet the targeted sample size.
The survey design use might not be efficient in its collection of data due to the withdrawal effect of respondents, and the ambiguity of the questions in the survey tool used might deter the research from continuing. In terms of getting personal data, language barriers might arise, the hostility of the respondents because the study centers around effect of the private life of teenagers and lastly misguided information from the respondents is bound to occur.
References
Ray, M., & Jat, K. R. (2010). Effect of electronic media on children. Indian Pediatrics, 47(7), 561-568. Retrieved from http://medind.nic.in/ibv/t10/i7/ibvt10i7p561.pdf.
Strasburger, V. C., Hogan, M. J., Mulligan, D. A., Ameenuddin, N., Christakis, D. A., Cross, C., … & Swanson, W. S. L. (2013). Children, adolescents, and the media. Pediatrics, 132(5), 958-961.