1. Sandra L. HaroutunianFacebook and BullyingPark UniversitySOC 308 Principles of Social ResearchProfessor Donald P. Stewart
2. Abstract This research will find out how the effects of the social network, Facebook, are impacting our teens today. Cyberbullying has increased in teens between the ages of 14-16 and is more prominent since the inception of the social network Facebook. Some of these teens have committed suicide as a result of cyberbullying because they could no longer handle the pressure from their offenders.
3. Facebook has become a national phenomenon and the media has contributed to familiarizing the public to it. Facebook is the site where most teens search for their friends, updates on those friends, pictures of their friends and events posted. The chart below identifies how teens access technology between the ages of 10-18 year olds.
4.
5. Key Words:Cyberbullying, Facebook, Internet, Social Networks Cyberbullying- “Cyberbullying is any harassment that occurs via the Internet. Vicious forum posts, name calling in chat rooms, posting fake profiles on web site, and mean or cruel email messages are all ways of cyber bullying” (Hardcastle, 2011) Facebook-Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with over 500 million users.Founded in February 2004, Facebook is a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with their friends, family and coworkers.
6. Internet-a vast computer network linking smaller computer networks worldwide (usually preceded by the). Social Networks-A Social Network is a website, or network of websites, specifically established to allow end users to communicate directly with each other on topics of mutual interest.
8. Types of DirectCyberbullying Attacks Instant messaging/text messaging harassment Stealing passwords Blogs Web Site Sending pictures through E-mail and cell phones Internet polling Interactive gaming Sending malicious code Sending porn and other junk E-mail and IM’s Impersonation
9. SociologyFramework Symbolic interactionism Paradigm-This paradigm is the idea of how individuals interact with each other. “A paradigm that views human behavior is the creation of meaning through social interactions, with those meanings conditioning subsequent interactions”
10. SociologyFramework Simmel, a strong advocate of symbolic interactionism, was interested on how society functioned and how they interacted. "Simmel was more interested in how individuals interacted with one another. In other words, his thinking and research took a "micro" turn, thus calling attention to aspects of social reality that are invisible in Marx's or Spencer's theory"
11. SociologyFramework “Cooley also wrote of the "looking glass self" we form by looking into the reactions of people around us. If everyone treats us as beautiful, for example, we concluded that we are.” (Babbie, p. 37). Micro theory deals with issues of social life at the level of individuals and small groups. Dating behavior, jury deliberations, and student-faculty interactions are apt subjects for a microtheoritical perspective”(Babbie,p. 34).
12. SociologyFramework The exploratory study will be the appropriate research design for this proposal. Facebook is virtually becoming a huge social spectacle within the Internet social networks. “Exploration is the attempt to develop an initial rough understanding of some phenomenon” (Babbie, 2010, p. 121).
13. SociologyFramework Exploratory studies are done using three purposes A. To satisfy the researcher’s curiosity and desire for better understanding. B. To test the feasibility of undertaking a more extensive study. C. To develop the methods to be employed in any subsequent study.
14. SociologyFramework Sometimes there can be more then one unit of analysis within the analysis. “For different analyses in the same study you may have different units of analysis” (Trochim, 2006). The unit of analysis that I have considered is individuals, groups, and social interactions.
15. SociologyFramework Hypothesis I believe there is a strong correlation of increased cyberbullying within the social network Facebook of teenagers between the ages of 14-16, which sometimes results in suicide.
16. Hypothesis Variables Facebook and Internet (Independent Variable) Bullying/cyberbullying (Dependent Variable) Suicide (Dependent Variable) Lack of parental support (A possible dependent variable, but not an exact cause of Facebook)
17. Hypothesis Variables Antecedent Test Variable I Test variable=cyber bullying Independent variable=Facebook Dependent variable=suicide
18. Hypothesis Variables Antecedent Test Variable II 1. Test Variable=Facebook 2. Independent variable=Parental Supervision 3. Dependent variable=Cyberbullying/suicide
19. Target Audience Teenagers between the ages of 14-16 Parents of teenagers between the ages of 14-16 Teachers, Administrators and school counselors Law Enforcement
20. Literature Review Facebook Popularity According to Digitalmediawire, Facebook, surpassed the US Web traffic for the first time during the month of May. Facebook had 70.278 million unique visitors vs. MySpace with 70.225 million” (Flip the Media, A blog about the digital media revolution, 2009).
26. Ethics Informed Consent Anonymity Institutional Review Board (IRB) Harm Principle-Because subjects can be harmed psychologically in the course of social research the researcher must look for the subtlest dangers and guard against them” (Babbie, 2010, p. 65).
27. Design and Procedures A self-administered questionnaire with closed ended questions. Likert Scaling because it is the easy to follow. “Though seldom used, Likert’s scaling method is fairly easy to understand, based on the relative intensity of different items” (Babbie, 2010, p. 179). Testing my hypothesis.
29. Conclusion Need for stricter guidelines Protection for our children’s privacy Increase awareness of cyberbullying
Editor's Notes
“MySpace. YouTube, Facebook, Friendster. Nearly every teen in America is on the Internet every day, socializing with friends and strangers alike, “trying on” identities, and building a virtual profile of themselves-one that many kids insist is a more honest depiction of who they really are than the person they portray at home or in school” (Goodman, Maggio, Fedde, & Lyman, 2008).
