Research Project Proposal and Ethical Approval Form

The purpose of this document is to provide the reader with essential background information about your proposed research project and assess the level of risk.

COMPLETE ALL THE QUESTIONS BELOW

Applicant Details

Name Faculty Current level of study Foundation Degree

Undergraduate Degree

Taught Postgraduate

Research Postgraduate

Other (provide details)

Student ID Course title BA (hons) Early Childhood Studies (3rd year)

Your Student Email Project Details

Project Title(max 100 characters) A study of the influences of technology on children's abilities in socialisation during the ages of 3 onwards.

What is the proposed time frame for your project? Briefly indicate when each phase of the project will be completed.

The project will take place in five months. The first two months will be used in sourcing data from the different participants. The next two months will be used in arranging the data and tabulating it in the process. One month will be used to analyze the data and come up with conclusion from the results of the study.

Rationale

The purpose of this study is to investigate the literature on how technological advances have changed the social behaviour of young people existing in the developed world.

Aims

Main Research Question

What are the influences of technology on children's abilities in socialisation during the ages of 3 to 8?

Sub Questions (if applicable - Break down your main research question into 3-4 sub questions that clearly highlight what you want to measure through this research)

1. Does technology affect social behaviour?

2. What is happening to bring about the change in information technology?

Literature Review

Give brief outline of your research topic.

Outline the primary sources of literature to be reviewed, apply full Harvard referencing.

(Consider including legislation, key documents, text books, journal articles or other relevant sources)

Introduction to your research topic (200 words):

In today's civilization, we are inundated with technology. Technology is evolving daily, and will permanently be a staple in our times. The influence that technology has on our children has drawn some attention and some applause. Children these days have no alternative but to be somehow affected by the regularly developing technology in our communities. Our general interest has been that though digital technology has increased children's ability for multitasking, their intelligence to process data deeply may be worsening. Many people have a broad range of feelings on if the technology has decisive importance on our children or a negative; there is an enormous amount of proof to support both of these thoughts. This paper shall contribute to the knowledge of home-based research by stimulating precautions for a complete lack of research and experience in children's home environment. It will describe the study of children 3 and four years of age playing and learning with technology in family settings and how economical techniques were formulated as a system for understanding different community mixing, teaching resources and opportunities. The methods that are consistent with this approach will be discussed on how the researcher will make decisions about data types that can facilitate the understanding of family and activity relationships and, therefore, concerning child learning. The system will also provide an image for data translation, allowing the researcher to broaden their complex, moral and approaches and their interaction with technology. It will confirm by examining some of the factors that children appear to be far away from lots of technology studies in daily life and show some of the techniques in which this can be attained.

Methodology Details

Quantitative or Qualitative

(Tick whichever is relevant) Quantitative Qualitative

Use this section to identify, explain your proposed use of methodology

Justify your proposed choice of methodology

(for example experimental,

ethnography, phenomenological, action or narrative research)

Around (150 words)

The study will employ content analysis where secondary data together with that of the internet will be used in an interpretive manner. The targeted participants include the household with children of 3 to 8yrs in the UK. The population in question mostly deals with children from the different countries in the EU. It is further essential to bring on board people from the European Union to determine the extent to which the children are affected. The children from the different countries of origin will be participants in the study since finding the respective children can prove challenging. The participants will be sourced online together with locally. The online participants will be interviewed through the phone and even through questionnaires. The individuals who agree to take part in the study particular those how are online will be sent an online questionnaire. The study will choose eleven participants. Part of the participants will be from the online community. The participants will be sourced online as a result to ensure that individuals from the different European countries take part in the study while others will be sourced locally. Online surveys will further be used particularly on different websites linked to the different European countries to get more information. People will be required to fill their names and the questionnaires on the site. As such there will be online participants and local participants who hail from the European Union.

Method of Data Capture Details

Proposed Number of Methods Used? Use this section to explain and justify your proposed use of method/s of data capture, (for example observations,

questionnaires,

Interviews or documentation)

Around (150 words)

Data collection will be done with interviews, observation, questionnaires and secondary data. The internet together with journals and magazines will further be analyzed to come up with data associated with the children happening in the European Union. The data will also be collected through books alongside other educational materials of the European Union. Case studies, oral history, and ethnographies will be employed in the study since the participants are from different regions of the EU. Records and documents will be used to collect data.

Data Analysis Details

Proposed method of data analysis (for example grounded theory analysis) Use this section to explain your proposed method of data analysis.

Around (150 words)

The data analysis will take on an interpretative approach since the study will be based on content analysis from the information gained through primary and secondary data using books and the internet. The data collected will be arranged in a manner that can be understood. The responses given through the interviews together with questionnaires among the other methods will be used in carrying out the analysis. Data will thus be evaluated to determine its meaning with either logical or statistical methods. The various procedures involved in handling data through analysis include modeling, transforming, cleansing and inspecting data to draw multiple conclusions. It is essential to set various objects while asking the pertinent question to the study that will guide the data analysis. Priorities regarding measurement should be set to come up with realistic data. The study will carry out different measures throughout the research to come up with viable data regarding the political landscape of the EU. The mode of measuring will involve the different aspects associated with the study. Such aspects include the separate unit utilized by various countries.

Sampling Details

Sample Size and Breakdown (e.g. 12 practitioners) Proposed Target Population A pilot study will be conducted on 17 children. As a result of the pilot test, more instruction for some questions will be added for children's better understanding of the questions and some wording was changed.

Proposed Sampling Method For the main data collection, this research will use self-reported survey from children 4th through 9th grades, five schools will be included. In detail, the sample will consist of two private schools and three public schools, including one middle school, one elementary school, and one high school.

Use this section to justify your choice of the sampling method above.

Around (150 words)

The researcher will base his decisions concerning sample size on an appraisal of similar studies involving children's software and mobile apps with research designs linking content study as well as qualitative coding. Shuler (2012) did a content investigation of educational apps for children as well as included a sample of 100 iPad apps along with 100 iPhone apps from the Education group. Shuler's research majorly examined quantitative variables like price and age target, while he restricted the qualitative assessment to the apps' marketing account, name, and advertising images. Goodwin and Highfield (2012) carried out a more targeted content assessment of 240 children's mobile apps with great concentration paid to mathematics learning apps. Watlington (2011) assessed 100 free iPod Touch educational apps for developmental suitability and suggested only 48% for classroom exploit. Lastly, for a more methodical content assessment, Richards, Stebbins, and Moellering (2013) evaluated 19 decisively chosen apps to exemplify different types of learning games regarding educational content and genres.

Ethical Details

Use this section to explain how you propose to uphold each of the ethical principles.

Around (200 words)

Confidentiality:

Informed Consent:

Protection of participants:

Debriefing of participants:

Project Risk Assessment

Please circle YES or NO for every question below.

Involve direct and/or indirect contact with human participants? YES NO

Involve analysis of pre-existing data which contains personal or sensitive information not in the public domain? YES NO

Require permission or consent to conduct? YES NO

Require permission or consent to publish? YES NO

Have a risk of compromising confidentiality? YES NO

Have a risk of compromising anonymity? YES NO

Collect / contain sensitive data? YES NO

Contain elements which you OR your supervisor are NOT trained to conduct? YES NO

Use any information OTHER than that which is freely available in the public domain? YES NO

Involve respondents to the internet or other visual/vocal methods where participants may be identified? YES NO

Include a financial incentive to participate in the research? YES NO

Involve your own students, colleagues or employees? YES NO

Fully or partly take place outside of the UK? YES NO

Involve participants who are particularly vulnerable or at risk? YES NO

Involve any participants who are unable to give informed consent? YES NO

Involve data collection taking place BEFORE informed consent is given? YES NO

Involve any deliberate deception or covert data collection? YES NO

Involve a risk to the researcher or participants beyond that experienced in everyday life? YES NO

Cause (or could cause) physical or psychological harm or negative consequences? YES NO

Use intrusive or invasive procedures? YES NO

Involve a clinical trial? YES NO

Involve the possibility of incidental findings related to health status? YES NO

If you answered NO to all the questions above, your project will be classed as LOW RISK

If you answered YES to any question within 1-13 and NO to any question within 14-22, your project will be classed as MEDIUM RISK

If you answered YES to any question from 14-22, your study is provisionally classified as HIG...