Why am I interested in this topic?

As a researcher, I initially wanted to focus on violence, but ultimately decided to narrow my research question to bullying as it would be easier to conduct primary research on the topic. 

My interest in social media led me to investigate how it influences teens and I specifically wanted to understand age differences in attitudes towards bullying. 

Through my research, I hoped to gain insight into the prevalence of different types of bullying among different age groups. 

Ultimately, I chose to investigate bullying to challenge my own views on the topic and gain a better understanding of how it affects teens in the year 2016.

Primary Research

As a researcher, I used two primary research methods, an interview and a questionnaire, to gain insight into the personal and general experiences of my participants regarding bullying and social media.

Specifically, I focused on the experiences of 11-12 year olds and 14-15 year olds. Through my research, I discovered that 14-15 year olds were more likely to experience bullying both in school and online. This could be attributed to their increased access to their peers compared to 11-12 year olds. 

Additionally, I conducted an interview with a girl in year 13 to discuss her experience of being catfished.

Secondary Research

As a researcher, I conducted secondary research by exploring various sources such as books, journals, and online articles to gain a diverse range of views for my EPQ. 

Through my research, I found that bullying is highly prevalent among individuals aged 13-15, which was consistent with my primary research. These findings suggest that teens in this age group may be more vulnerable to experiencing bullying

Conclusion

My findings revealed that there is a high prevalence of bullying among 13-15 year olds, which suggests that older teens may be more vulnerable to bullying than their younger peers. Furthermore, my research indicated that 11-12 year olds are more likely to experience bullying in school, which was surprising to me. These findings also highlighted that schools remain the main location for teens to experience bullying.

To conclude I found that emotional/mental bullying has a significant impact on students in both the 11-12 and 14-15 age groups. These findings suggest that younger students are more affected by traditional forms of bullying, while older students are impacted by both traditional and new forms of bullying, such as online bullying.

Reflections

From this process I struggled to conduct first hand research.  I found it difficult because I had to organise a time that was appropriate for the classes. I  struggled with the handling the year 7’s as it took a 30 minutes while year 10’s took 10 minutes.  

I wish I had conducted more interviews with some of the year 7’s and year 10’s. I believe by doing this I will be able to collect useful information. I wish to also conduct primary research on gender and bullying.  As many of the sources I used have shown a link between gender and bullying. I hope to explore this to find out if these claims are valid.

FINAL EPQ PROJECT 

Below is the completed final extended project that I successfully accomplished, earning an A grade in this qualification.