Research question: How do children under the age of 10 years interact socially in their informal/natural settings for gender differences?
Description of the research question
A study to evaluate how children relate to each other, taken in a natural setup would help understand a lot about child life and expected future behavior. Such a study would help understand how children develop skills to control their own life and cope with the peer culture with minimal adult supervision. The use of naturalistic observations to evaluate social relations among children has not been a common area of study.
The study used purposive methods of sampling to gather facts for this study. Alongside notes taking, there was video recording to gather strong facts to support the hypotheses.
This study attempts to analyze how children naturally relate to each other with reference to gender differences. The study considered children under the age of 10. The study chose a pre-school center situated in the central region of the city. Such a setup was perfect because of the cosmopolitan environment with children coming from different social-economic and cultural backgrounds (Babbie and Maxfield 136).
This study is a precise example of deductive research. The conclusions reached in the study followed from gathered facts in form of videos and notes. The study never interviewed anyone, but deductively moved from specific hypotheses to a general conclusion supported with facts from the observations made.
The study used purposive sampling techniques to gather facts. Video recording captured events that manifested the behavioral relationships amongst children. Necessary notes, which later helped to articulate the facts were also available.
Gender difference is a major variable used in the study. It is an independent variable since it does not depend on any other factors. Social interactions among children depend on such factors as gender, social-economic background, unsociable actions, rejection and so forth.
During my observations, some children realized that there was video recording and due to excitement, they began to exaggerate their behaviors. However, it was not critical since children could not understand my intentions, and hence after a while they forgot and continued with their normal activities allowing me to continue with my observational activities.
The observation of events during the study was complete ‘participant observation’. Direct observation, video recording and notes taking were done without prior consent with the subjects. As instructed, the independent observation took place without considering the opinion of the subjects or representatives (Babbie and Maxfield 148).
An ethical issue that surrounds this kind of approach revolves around the collection of data without prior knowledge of the subjects. According to research ethics, it is not right to use people as subjects of study without their prior consent. It is required that any researcher follows all ethical guidelines to the latter to avoid ethical conflicts. The observational process entailed video recording and notes taking, which requires prior consent (Babbie and Maxfield 124).
The research took place in a pre-school centre setup and on a hot day. This kind of setup and timing had very serious implications to the study findings. The study could have taken place in a ‘Sunday school’, ‘children’s clubs’ and so forth. If I would have conducted the study in a different setup and timing, results could have been different. Social behavior among children varies depending on setting and timing.
The outcomes of the study suggested that children use indirect rejection tactics more often with same gender. Unfriendly actions and physical opposition were common among peers of opposite gender.
The results of this research can help to generalize social relations among children in the society. The most suitable population for this study would be young children under the age of 10 years. Therefore, the conclusion of the study would be, “children under the age of 10 years relate to each other differently depending on gender variations”.
Works Cited
Babbie, Earl and Michael Maxfield. Basics of Research Methods: For Criminal Justice and Criminology. New York: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2012, Print.