Research Proposal on Bullying

Running head: SCHOOL BULLYING

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School Bullying Cristina Y. Perez Texas A&M University-Commerce

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Bullying amongst students in schools is more common than many seem to think. Many individuals believe that at some point in one’s life, bullying is inevitable. As if it were some form of passage. Bullying affects students and school systems in more ways than one can even begin to imagine. Kim and Kim (2015) believe it is the most common form of school violence and has been progressively acknowledged as a major social problem. According to stopbullying.gov (2016), bullying is a type of repeated behavior that is aggressive and unwanted by others. Bullying is a devastating issue that comes in different forms such as verbal bullying, social bullying, and physical bullying. It affects all who are involved, including those who are being bullied, and those who commit the actual bullying. The schools overall performance and climate can also be affected. Statement of the Problem How does bullying affect students and the school climate? According to stopbullying.gov (2016), anyone can become a victim of some type of bullying during their lifetime, which therefore could lead to unwanted outcomes such as suicide, dropping out of school, skipping school, getting into fights, vandalizing property, substance abuse, impacts on mental health, decreased academic involvement and achievement. The purpose of this study is to further explore the causes and effects of bullying in schools and what can be done to address the problem of bullying.

Review of Related Literature Bullying is a term that is heard and brought up on a daily basis and has become a very serious issue that needs to be addressed (Kim & Kim, 2015). Anyone can become a victim and

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be affected by those that bully. Bullying can come in a variety of forms such as, taunting, namecalling, teasing, threatening, inappropriate sexual comments, excluding and leaving out individuals, saying things to others that are untrue, spreading and coming up with rumors, embarrassing other people, and physically abusing others (stopbullying.gov, 2016). According to Jan, Scholar and Husain (2015), social networking and the advancements in technology are also factors when it comes down to bullying, and cyberbullying appears to be a difficult matter to deal with and is increasing day by day. The Causes of Bullying Khasnabis and Upton (2013), believe that something in relation to Pandora’s Box has been opened up when it comes down to bullying and the advances with technology. In today’s society most people are connected to some sort of device and social network throughout the day. Therefore, cyberbullying may occur and several people can become victims. Jones and Augustine (2015), believe that cyberbullying can be a different type of harassment because it is not as easy to pinpoint the individual that is being the bully; the bully can remain anonymous. However, those that are the victims may still suffer the same consequences as those that are bullied. A study conducted by Thornberg (2010), states that the causes of bullying may be because of instrumental and/or psychological motives. Viala (2015), states that bullying is psychosocial in its foundation and family pathologies link to the problems that occur. According to stopbullying.gov (2016), individuals that are viewed by others as weak, anxious, appear to have a low self-esteem, isolated from others, and unable to defend themselves can be at risk of being bullied. However, stopbullying.gov (2016), states that individuals who are more likely to bully others can attain the following characteristics: are associated with people who bully others,

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do not have parents that are actively involved in their lives, are exposed to violence, are aggressive, can become angry, upset, and/or frustrated easily. The Effects of Bullying It seems that now a days it is the new normal to hear about issues dealing with individuals being bullied; and anyone can become affected by this issue. Individuals that are bullied can suffer from depression, low self-esteem, poor academic achievement and involvement, anxiety, mistrust, loneliness, and issues with one’s health (Thornberg, 2010). Thornberg conducted a qualitative approach study because most of the research that has been done has been quantitative. Thornberg’s (2010) study consisted of having children interviewed from six elementary schools in Sweden and gave the interviewees strict instructions that needed to be adhered to. The results of the study showed that all of the participants had heard of or witnessed bullying incidents. However, there were not that many that that gave information on being a victim or being the actual bully. In most of the results of this study, the majority were bystanders or didn’t really know what their role actually was. It also appears that there are several bystanders that just don’t want to get involved and they tend to look the other way. This study also found some other bullying causes which consist of deviant appearances, deviant behavior, deviant characteristics, disabilities, and deviance by association (Thornberg, 2010). Also, it is evident that bullying will and can occur because of social positioning. Seventy-one percent of school children believe that bullying occurs because of friendship positioning, status positioning, and power positioning (Thornberg, 2010). According to Jones and Augustine (2015), bullying has led to so many horrific tragedies, such as the Columbine school shootings and various others that have occurred. Stopbullying.gov (2016), states that individuals that bully can encompass several issues they are experiencing within themselves. In addition, those that

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are the bullies can also experience negative outcomes such as, depression, loneliness, anxiety, mental health issues, and lack of school participation. Stopbullying.gov (2016), states that during the 1990’s, 12 out of 15 school shooting incidents had a shooter that was a victim of bullying. Bender and Losel (2011), conducted a study to examine the long-term relation to antisocial development. The results concluded that anti-social conclusions was a robust predictor for bullying. Physical bullying was more evident when compared to verbal/indirect bullying. The ultimate finding of this particular study was that bullying is a key factor when it comes down to an individual’s anti-social development. Bullying and the School Climate It is evident that bullying can be a school’s problem and can jeopardize the school climate. According to Schroeder (2010), everyone can be affected; the bystanders, the bullied, and the bully. Students that are in schools should feel safe and be provided with a positive environment where conducive learning takes place. Bullying and cyberbullying are escalating day by day and as a result of this the following can occur: the student learning process can be disrupted, students can fall behind in their classes, lose interest, become less motivated, and their overall academic achievement and meeting state standards can become issues. School systems need to make sure everyone in the school feels respected, safe, valued, and cared for because these factors tie in to overall youth development, school attendance, and school performance (Schroeder, 2010). School systems that look the other way and do not address the issue of bullying deliver a distinct message that aggressive behavior is accepted and could possibly encourage and boost the continuation of the issue. Due to this, students could end up feeling as if they deserve to be treated in that manner (Schroeder, 2010). Bullying, which is a problem for schools everywhere, can affect the entire school population. Research has proven that bullying

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affects students and teachers in undesirable and destructive manners (Kyriakides, Creemers, Papastylianou, & Papadatou-Pastou, 2014). Prevention Schools need to make sure they address the issue of bullying before it is too late and people suffer because of the effects. Schools could take a whole-school approach to address bullying. A whole-school approach consists of programs that will prevent bullying that function all together at various levels in the school community. According to Kyriakides, et al. (2014), the approach the school takes should focus on the school policies and procedures, the school learning environment, and the evaluation of the school. The way that students behave and conduct themselves outside of the classroom is an important factor. Students should be effectively monitored at all times, engaging lessons should be going on in all classrooms, activities should be set up during break times, rewarding good behavior whenever it is observed, motivation systems should be set in place, and students should be fully aware of the policies, procedures, expectations, and consequences. According to Low, Van Ryzin, Brown, Smith, and Haggerty (2013), prevention programs need to adhere to five crucial aspects which are, fidelity, dosage, quality of delivery, participant responsiveness, and program differentiation. Teachers, faculty, and staff members need to all come together and collaborate to ensure they provide students a safe, positive, and rigorous learning environment.

Research Questions 1. What are the causes of bullying? 2. What are the effects of bullying? 3. How does bullying affect the school climate? 4. What can be done to address and prevent the problem of bullying?

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Significance of the Study This study will examine how bullying affects students and the school climate. Bullying is something that goes on and effects individuals daily. Therefore, this study will focus on the causes and effects of bullying, as well as what can be done to address the problem. Schools, parents, students, etc. can refer to this study to gain knowledge about bullying.

Method Participants The four middle schools, Lamar, Cigarroa, Memorial, and Christen that are affiliated with The Laredo Independent School District will be a part of this study. The reason middle schools are the primary focus in this study is because this is where students start going through puberty and experience all sorts of changes. All students can participate in the study at their own discretion. In addition, some parts of this study may require parental permission. School counselors and ELA teachers that teach 6th, 7th, and 8th grade will be assisting in the study. Each middle school has a population of approximately 1,000 students. DMAC will also be used to retrieve data. Instrumentation Some of the instruments that will be used to collect data are as follows: surveys, interviews, and checklists. Surveys will be used to gather and collect information about how people feel, think, and act towards the issue of bullying. Students that have parental permission to participate in interviews will be asked a series of questions in regards to bullying. All students will be asked the same questions and respective ELA teachers and school counselors will help

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conduct the interviews. Results from the interviews will be gathered together. All participants will also be given a checklist to check off certain criteria that applies to them and the issue of bullying. DMAC will also be used to retrieve information about the student population. Design/Procedure Quantitative Research is when data is gathered in a numerical fashion and will give an explanation, and/or a prediction of what was studied. Qualitative Research is used when researchers collect, analyze, and interpret the data that is collected and is subjective. After the initial research is conducted, it may lead to further interests and further studies (Gay, Mills, & Airasian, 2006). Narrative research is when the researcher tell a story or narrates it providing details (Creswell, 2015). This type of research is used when participants are ready and will give their story. Usually this type of research ties into a chronology of events that have occurred (Creswell, 2015). Narrative research has several types of forms such as: biographies, autobiographies, personal narratives, narrative interviews, documents of life, etc. (Creswell, 2015). Life history and personal experiences also fall into this type of research. The key characteristics of narrative research are as follows: the researcher will identify a problem, review the literature, develop a purpose statement and research questions, collect qualitative data, analyze and interpret the data, and write and evaluate the study (Creswell, 2015). Ethics can be a problem when conducting this type of research. Interviews can be conducted to gather information and the information that is collected can be very personal (Gay, et.al.). The key characteristics of this type of research are as follows: it concentrates on peoples chronological experiences, interviews are conducted, restorying may happen, and the researcher may ask for more information. An example of how this research can be used would be to interview individuals and ask them questions about the topic of interest (Creswell, 2015). Ethnographic

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Research consists of research procedures that analyze, describe, and interpret. Culture plays a major role in this type of research. Researchers use this method when wanting to investigate a larger matter. There are different types of ethnographies, they are as follows: realist, confessional, life history, autoethnogrpahy, microethnography, ethnographic case studies, critical ethnography, feminist ethnography, postmodern ethnography, and ethnographic novels (Creswell, 2015). Researchers can use this type of research when wanting to implement a new program to be used. The key characteristics for this type of study are as follows: cultural themes, a culture sharing group, beliefs, language, and patterns that are shared, fieldwork, themes, description, interpretation, setting, and researcher reflexity (Creswell, 2015). Ethical issues can also arise when looking at data. A case study will consist of a single group. This group will be a part of a certain procedure and then postested. This type of study is not really recommended because of the validity threats (Gay, et. al.). . Data Analysis For the Data Collection, interviews, surveys, observations, and narratives will be gathered from the participants. ELA teachers and counselors that are assisting with the study will be provided with the proper training and forms that need to be filled out, as well as a list of questions that should be asked during interviews. Transcribing and recording will also need to be done. Google Docs will be used so that all of the information gathered can be compiled in one place. After all data has been collected and organized, the analysis will take place. While analyzing the data, trends, patterns, and themes will be looked for? Some questions that will be asked while analyzing the data are as follows: 1. Do the results make sense? 2. Were there any inconsistencies? 3. Did anything occur that was alarming or surprising? 4. What are the

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demographics of the students that participated? 5. What is the school environment like? 6. What is the social environment like? 7. What is the home environment like? 8. What are some of the things the participants are exposed to on a daily basis? 9. What is working and what is not working and why? 10. What can be done to address this issue and be effective?

References

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Bender, D. & Losel, F. (2011). Bullying at school as a predictor of delinquency, violence and other anti-social behavior in adulthood. Criminal Behavior and Mental Health, 21, 99106. doi: 10.1002/cbm Creswell, J. (2015). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (5th ed.). University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Pearson. Gay, L., Mills, E., Airasian, P. (2006). Educational research competencies for analysis and applications (8th ed.). Ohio: Pearson. Jan, A., Scholar, P. & Husain, S. (2015). Bullying in elementary schools: Its causes and effects on students. Journal of Education and Practice, 6(19), 43-56. Jones, J.R.. & Augustine, S.M. (2015). Creating an anti-bullying culture in secondary schools: Characteristics to consider when constructing appropriate anti-bullying programs. American Secondary Education, 43(3), 73-84. Khasnabis, D. & Upton, K. (2013). Disrupting traditions: Swimming against the current of adolescent bullying. Voices from the Middle, 20, 37-46. Kyriakides, L., Creemers, B.P.M., Papastylianou, D., & Papadatou-Pastou, M. (2014). Improving the school learning environment to reduce bullying: An experimental study. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 58(4), 453-478. doi: 10.1080/003113831.2013.773556 Lee, S., Kim, C., & Kim, D.H. (2015). A meta-analysis of the effect of school-based antibullying programs. Journal of Child Health Care, 19(2), 136-153. doi: 10.1177/1367493513503581 Low, S., Van Ryzin, M.J., Brown, E.C., Smith, B.H., & Haggerty, K.P. (2013). Engagement matters: Lessons from assessing classroom implementation of steps to respect: A

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bullying prevention program over a one-year period. Society of Prevention Research, 15, 165-176. doi: 10.1007/s11121-012-0359-1 Schroeder, D. (2010). Traumatic effects of bullying. Retrieved from http://www.bullyingpreventioninstitute.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=5AFZRcshS8=&tabid=72 Stopbullying.gov. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.stopbullying.gov/ Thornberg, R. (2010). Schoolchildren’s social representations on bullying causes. Psychology in the Schools, 47(4), 311-327. doi: 10.1002/pits Viala, E.S. (2015). The fighter, the punk and the clown: How to overcome the position of victim of bullying. Childhood, 22(2), 217-230. doi: 10.1177/09075682|452|845