Screen Time and Adolescents

INVESTIGATIVE STUDY 1: Children’s screen time

Ramirez, E.R., Norman, G. J., Rosenberg, D. E., Kerr, J., Saelens, B.E., Durant, N., & Sallis, J. F. (2011).Adolescent screen time and rules to limit screen time in the home. Journal of Adolescent Health, 48, 379-385 doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.07.013

Screen viewing in school-aged children has become an almost ritualised behaviour, and it is important to establish appropriate screen-viewing limits to reduce sedentary activity and promote more active lifestyles. This investigative study gives you an opportunity to interview parents about their child’s screen time use in the home, and household rules surrounding screen time use.

Doing/Observing/Interviewing Component of the Study

You need 4 participants in all in your study, over the age of 18 years. Participants must be parents of a child aged between 8-16 years of age. You will need to compare screen use across age so interview two parents/caregivers of a child aged 8-12 years, and two parents/caregivers of a child aged 12-16 years.

In this study, you will conduct 4 interviews altogether. These interviews are to be conducted individually. Refer to data table-1 for recording responses.

Follow below steps to prepare for your study and record your interaction and observations:

1. Request that your participants sign the consent form

2. Keep your data sheets at hand to record the information you obtain during the interview or to record your observations.

3. Record your observations on the data collection sheets along with any other field notes that you have. Do not use any audio/video recorders to record your interviews.

4. Establish rapport prior to asking the below mentioned questions. Complete the demographic information first.

Ask participants the following questions:

1. Describe the number and type of screen devices in your home? (e.g mobile phone, computer, dvd, gaming device) Which of these screen devices does your child use? Which (if any) of the devices are in the child’s bedroom or used by the child in their bedroom?

(Give the participant about 5 minutes/sufficient time to talk; note as much you are able to whilst they talk; avoid interrupting them).

2. For how many minutes/hours per day does your child use each screen device? What are the estimated total minutes/hours of overall screen time for your child per week? Is your child’s screen device usage higher on weekdays or weekends?

3. Describe the activities used on screen devices by your child? (e.g. watching TV, games, social media, homework).

4. Do you have any rules/limits in your household for screen device usage/time? If yes, what are these rules? Is there resistance to these rules in your household? Describe

5. What do you perceive are the advantages and disadvantages of children’s screen time use?

RECORD INFORMATION ON YOUR DATA TABLE, AND USE IT TO ADDRESS THE QUESTIONS BELOW. THIS SHEET MUST BE PRESENTED IN YOUR APPENDIX

Data Table-1

	Participant-1	Participant-2	Participant-3	Participant-4
Name
Age of the child
Gender of the child
Number and type of screen devices in the home Devices that are in the child’s bedroom Estimated time spent on devices Per weekday Per weekend day Per week (overall) Activities used on Screen devices
Rules/limits on Screen device use Resistance to screen device limits
Advantages of Screen device use Disadvantages of Screen device use

Consider the following Questions in Writing/Reporting your study:

1. Based on your interviews, provide an account of screen use by children as described by your participants. Where applicable relate to theory and literature. (Observations)

2. Outline the similarities and differences in the responses of your participants and relate your answers to the core article Ramirez, et al. (2011). (Data and data analysis; your comprehension about the collected information in comparison to the core article; relating your data to existing literature).

3. Compare and contrast screen device usage by 8-12 and 12-16 year olds. Where applicable relate to theory, research and journal articles. (Developmental Implications/Discussion)

4. What do you conclude from your study?

5. Reflect on the following questions at the end of your investigative study.

a. What are you trying to accomplish?

b. Did you succeed? Why? Why not?

c. What is the strongest aspect of this work? Why?

d. What aspect is most in need of reworking? Why?

YOUR FINAL CHECK LIST PRIOR TO SUBMISSION:

Make a final check of the following before submitting your work

Is there a general Introductory paragraph in your final version?

Is there an Introduction related to underlying theory in your final version?

Have you answered all the 5 questions related to your study?

Have you incorporated information from your readings?

Have you referred to your first hand data collection sheets?

Have you included information from your field notes?

Have you included journal articles into your study so that inferences are supported in an academic manner?

Do you have a conclusion at the end?

Do your references have wide variety of information sources and resources (e.g. text, journal articles)?

Have you answered the reflection questions separately?

Is your word-count is inclusive of the reflection questions (2000-2500 words)?

Is your formatting consistent with APA?

Is your in-text referencing consistent with APA 6th ed?

Is your reference list complete and consistent with APA (6th ed)?

Appendices attached to the end of your report

Does your appendix have all the consent forms from your participants/parent/guardian?

Have you included your data collection tables (you should have 4, one for each participant)?

Appendix has hand written field notes?

Have you included all hand written answers and interaction notes?