My
ideas for research and development of my project
I am
interested in exploring and researching what influence social media has on
mental health within teenagers, I am intrigued as this is an important
subject and is growing health issue towards the younger generation. I would
like to find out more about what’s causing mental health within social media
on a broader scale, and how it could affect the younger generations reputation.
I have
chosen to research mental health and how it’s affecting teenagers aged
12-19, I would like to find out what the main health issue that is in this
age group suffers with and If it has any relation to social media. Within
this age group I would like to research and see who’s more prone to develop
mental health males or females, the different gender difference with would
allow me to broaden my research and create more data to analyse.
I am
focusing on trying to see what is the most common social media app that
causes the most mental health, such as snapchat, Instagram, Facebook. As
there are many social media apps I will only choose the four to research and
investigate the common types of ways that mental health is created.
I would
like to aim to see if there is anything that can help prevent the mental
health issues that is happening and help create a happier place for social
media. I will begin to study the common ways that start mental health
disorders that are influenced by social media, this would let me explore and
give my opinion if the social media is a good or bad place for the younger
generation to be on.
To
research is particular subject I would have to use a lot of social media as
people before me have researched this specific thing, I would be generating
mostly secondary data but I will be researching some myself which would be
primary data. I will be researching field as well as desk research this is
where I would be collecting data to analyse from my computer where I would
be gaining information that would help me get a better result to answer my
question. I will also be researching field data where I would be creating a
questionnaire, where I will ask members of the public which are within the
age range questions about what they personally think about social media. I
will be asking questions that would help me analyse If social media is a
prime target for bullying as well as create mental health issues.
To collect
this research, I would have to google as well as get primary data results from the public. A problem
that I fear that would restrict me from getting the most relevant
information is that there will be too much content for me to investigate. As
such I have come up with several possible resolutions to this such as:
Firstly,
I will limit myself to a few particular mental health issues, such as depression,
anxiety, eating disorders, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts. This would
allow me to get a more diverse research and also help me as it would cut out
a vast portion of the content that is available and considerably limit the
results.
Secondly,
I plan to remove most social media app that my research is limited within
snapchat, Instagram and Facebook. Which the limited apps this would allow me
to save time as well as get more precised results, the solution will have
the same effect as that of choosing a particular mental health issue, by
constraining my research by just the right amount.
Thirdly,
I will look at only a portion of the interviewees which I will only be
collecting data that is in the age range of 12-19. With so many different
people having mental health I will only be looking at teenagers as this is a
growing issue as well as the most common age to experience mental health
that is caused by social media. This would be the final measurement that I
take in condensing my project, this is because I fear this may come too
close to making me unable to fulfill the criteria of the EPQ as I wouldn’t
have much variety in my research.
Furthermore, I think this would help enable
me to receive a good grade in the EPQ and would be beneficial towards my grade
and help me secure a place at university.
I began
researching some preliminary research before thinking of my final subject,
this would help me to choose if I could get the information as well as results
indicating if it was a good idea for the topic. I will complete general
research on mental health that is created by social media, and the statistics
and figures with my results. This research will help define the direction of
my research, illustrating whether the topic is too broad for me to create a
5,000-word essay for my final project.
As a
sense of direction of the research I will use two approaches to my research,
which is primary hand and secondary research. Primary hand would involve me
looking in depth at a particular social app as well as mental health issue. The
secondary research approach would be getting information that Is already
collected by other people and I would get the results and use them to help
me with my analyzing. Both methods would help me to get research and help
with the data analyzing.
I aim
to use a range of sources, to collect data from these range from websites,
blogs, magazine articles, to help reinforce arguments I make from my primary
analysis. After reading the source I will extract the relevant information that
I require and put it in a word document so it’s easier to find when I need
it. It will also help me as when I need to write it up its easer to look at
and take a conclusion as all the data Is in the same place. I will evaluate
and discuss how useful they were, and where I got the evidence from.
I
intend to construct a questionnaire that I will get a variety of individuals
to answer, this would allow me to get an insight on modern day views and see
their personal opinion whether they think that social media is a big cause
for the mental health within the age range.
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