Essay On Screen Time

Summary

To what extent has screen time impacted childhood obesity in Australia?

I chose ‘To what extent has screen time impacted childhood obesity in Australia?’ for my research project question. I selected this as I wanted to do something surrounding the well-being of children due to my intention to work with them. I had been hearing about the effects of screen time and childhood obesity in the news. I was intrigued by this and formed my question. The outcome was a written report.

The research processes used for the outcome were articles, surveys, interviews, multimodal, blogs, government, education and news sites, and other uncategorised online research.

Some key findings from my research were, Screen time is now the leading cause of obesity, Screen use has increased dramatically, it can actually enhance learning, Screen time and obesity detrimental to mental and physical health and monitoring and reducing screen time could reduce obesity.

Word Count 150

Processes

Newspaper Articles

Newspaper articles were reliable because many of them referred to alternative sources and research experiments which reinforced the author’s information. Numerous of these included quotes from professionals in related areas. However the majority of articles examined were outdated and more up to date information was available elsewhere. The articles appeared slightly bias and opinionated and many contradicted each other. For example in Miletic’s article regarding the effects of screen time she states there are no adverse effects of screen time, however, the majority of articles reported multiple negative effects. The information provided by newspaper articles was slightly reliable but only where professionals in the relevant areas were quoted as the journalists did not have any qualification in any area related to the topic. The information gathered from newspaper articles was valid and was exceptionally useful in helping to answer the research project question.

Surveys
Surveys were useful as it allowed me to get primary research from parents about their child and are also up to date. However these surveys would have been bias and were very opinionated due to the parents possibly wanting to either provide an answer that they believe is correct or just stating what they think is right or not. Many of the parents would also assumedly not have any qualification which makes the information gathered unreliable as it is unclear where their information came from. They also did not allow me to collect information from people outside of the state as I did not know anyone from interstate that could complete my survey meaning the responses are based solely on South Australia and not of Australia which the topic is based on. The employment of surveys could have been an ethical issues do to people no writing accurate responses or the questions being unethical. The surveys were valid as they directly answered my research question but were unreliable due the respondents assumedly not having degrees in the area of study and it is unclear where their information came from and if it was reliable and many responses were based on opinions

Interviews
Interviews were a perfect way to get primary reliable information from professionals who work in the area of study, in which many have degrees. It allowed me to personally ask questions that were completely relevant to my topic and get the answers I needed. Many of the people interviewed suggested other people and places that I could find more information. A weakness of interviewing is that the professional may have their own opinions which are then in their answers which can make them bias. The responses from interviews would generally be reliable as the interviewee had been through training and done years of study relevant to the area of study, however in some cases opinions and personal research done by the professional could make their answers unreliable. The interview process was valid for my research project as it allowed me to speak to professionals and ask questions directly that could assist in answering my research project.

Multimedia
The employment of multimedia, such as videos was useful in answering my research project question because rather than reading the information, it could be listened to and explained in a way that makes more sense and there was a large amount of information in each video. An example of this was a video by Dr David Geier (2015), which was about limiting screen time and mentioned the effects and reasons for using screens every day. The information provided was not as reliable as some of the others due to the author, Dr Geier, does not have qualifications in the relevant areas. He is an orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine professional which does not have much to do with childhood obesity and screen time, however the information was provided was valid and answered my research project question better then may other internet sources.

Government, Education and News Sites
These official sites provided me with a sufficient information about both screen time and obesity making them valid, they were also highly reliable as the authors generally had a degree in screen time or childhood obesity and also quoted many professionals in the area of study.

They were useful and easy to access which resulted in them being highly used throughout the outcome, and folio.

General Internet Research

Internet research such as blogs and unofficial sites were valid in providing a great deal of information relevant to my topic that could assist in answering the research question however, they were all generally unreliable due to many not having an author listed and the ones that did had no qualifications in either childhood obesity or screen time. Blogs can be seen as bias as many are generally based entirely on the authors point of view and opinions.

Evaluation of the decisions made for challenges and

opportunities

A challenge faced while completing my research project was not being able to ask a specific question in my survey due to ethical reasons. I needed to ask whether the respondent’s child or children was overweight so I could look at the time spent on screens and compare it however this is unethical so I had to come up with another way of putting it that was more ethically acceptable. I overcame this challenge by changing the wording of my question and separating it into two section, the first being “how long does your child spend doing physical activity each day?”, and the second “How long does your child spend on screens each day?” These questions permitted me to make assumptions as to whether the child was overweight or not and if it was due to screen time but I could not come to any valid or reliable conclusions as they would be established entirely on assumptions. I believe I made the correct decision when facing this challenge as there really was no way in finding out if the child was overweight by asking in a survey.
A second challenge I faced was not getting returns of emails to request interviews. I emailed multiple dieticians, psychologists, and doctors to request interviews however many of these did not receive responses or with a large majority the response said they would not be able to do an interview. This was frustrating as it limited the amount of primary resources that could be accessed. To overcome this I emailed more professionals, and also expanded my requests to teachers and kindergarten workers. This was successful as I received some responses back however, if I had phones some of the businesses and people I may have received more responses back and had the opportunity to gain more primary research which would have made my outcome more reliable.
An opportunity I was provided with was after emailing a dietitian who could not help me much as she was based in America recommended that I spoke to the ‘Dietitians Association of Australia’. I did this but then received an email back saying they could not do interviews and if I wanted to gain any information I would need to have a paid consultation with one of their recognised dieticians. I believe I made the correct decision in contacting them and although I did not get any usable information back I could still use the information from the overseas dietitan as background information as my question is based in Australia.
The final opportunity I was given was after interviewing a psychologist she gave me some sources to look at which backed up her information. I did not look at this at that point in time I did not need the information as I already has some that supported what she had said. This was the incorrect response as I should have looked at this information as it was referenced by a professional which makes it appear more reliable than some of the other sources used.

Evaluation of the quality of the research outcome
The research project outcome can be classified as reliable as the sources used were predominately primary or reliable secondary. This makes the outcome reliable as the information in it is made from primarily reliable sources which ensure that the information is accurate. The information in the outcome is valid as it answers the question, however, some paragraphs do not appear to completely answer the question, and while they still are relevant they do not answer it as well as some other paragraphs could. Throughout the outcome some primary sources were put in when it wasn’t entirely necessary just so the secondary information would be substantiated and appear more reliable.
The outcome could be useful to other people as screens are being implemented into almost all aspects of life and the nation’s obesity rates are rising. This is becoming more frequent in the news and people are likely to be curious about the effects of screens and how it corresponds to obesity. However, there are also many studies into screen time and childhood obesity which would be more reliable and valid than mine with a wider range of research relating to more people which would be more beneficial for people curious in the area of study to look at.
Word Count 1533