This research paper is holistic and covers the researched topic in great detail. The authors conducted an extensive literature review as evidenced by the references. The research methodology used was appropriate. The results are conclusive and suitable inferences can be drawn from them.
The research was conducted by Tiffany Slotsve, Alex del Carman, (lectures at Texas University), Mary Sarver &Rita Watkins (lectures at Sam Houston state university).The principle aim of conducting this research was to scrutinize people’s self reported exposure and perception to television violence and their perceived behavior.
The title of the article reflects the subject matter. The author stipulates that it is a retrospective study. This is a type of longitudinal analysis that looks backwards asking subjects to recall events that happened earlier in their lives. The authors effectively researches on this subject. An alternative title would be; television violence, its harmful effect on children.
The writer of the article tries to explain the effect of television violence on children. The writers relate the relationship between television violence and behaviors.
The literature is thorough and offers an extensive background effect of television violence on children. The writers demonstrate that viewing aggressive videos, films, rock music and even internet affect the behavior of children.
This research will help recognize how common and harmful television violence can be among adolescents. The research also enlightens the reader on how television violence influences some individuals to act in a certain way.
A sample size of 130 students was used. This was considered 95% accurate in providing a relationship between exposure to television and perceived behavior. This sample was sufficient enough to ensure a 0∙005 level of confidence.
In this study, non-probability method was used. This was due to constriction on time and resources. Power sampling was used to determine the sample size required. A survey was carried out to measure students’ perception on television aggression and their perceived behavior.
The students were asked to answer questions relating to their past when they were young (ages 5 to 15 years), question relating to the present time and on demographical information. The survey instrument consisted of 39 questions within three sections -nominal, ordinal and interval data.
Ethical considerations are not mentioned. The researchers do not state whether they sort consent from either the head of the school, the parents or even the students.
The researchers conclude that there is a relationship between viewing aggression on television and perceived behavior .Behavior is defined as either positive (not meant to be harmful to others such as extreme sports) or negative aggression (behavior that harms others such as hurting animals and crime).
This suggest that a person exposed to aggressive television as a child is likely to participate in extreme sports(positive aggression).The researchers also concluded that a person who watches television violence is also likely to get into trouble at school (negative aggression)
The researchers conclusion were justified .This is due to the extensive research that they carried out. These research findings can be trusted because they were carried out by a team of experts. Adequate sampling was done and the data collected was effectively analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used as an effective means of summarizing the degree to which values of two variables relate to each other.
Reference
Slotsve,T.; Carmen, A.; Sarver, M.(2008). Television violence and aggression: a Retrospective study. Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice, Vol. 5(1). pp. 22-49.