Research Memo

Brianna Aitchison

Ms. McKoy

English 2

21 February 2013

Is Bullying Leading to Suicide?

Hypothesis:

            Bullying, I feel, has become a huge course leading to suicide and needs to be stopped before it grows larger.  Everyone hears stories of a teen committing suicide but they never really know why they did it.  My main target population is to survey ages 12-18, but to also get input from adults.  Going through with my survey I wish to find out how a bullied victim has found help or may find help.  Also, what may come to the mind to make them consider suicide.  I feel my audience will hopefully put an honest input in the ways they have or someone they know have dealt with bullying or even some ways that they can get help.

Context:

            My target population was from the ages 12-18 because during these ages is when bullying usually occurs most and more suicide ratings can be seen.  While doing my pilot testing I realized I need to add more of a variety of questions and my questions did not really touch on suicide at all.  The results I received I believe would be reliable because many of the answers varied and the questions I asked were normal based questions asking about their knowledge and what they thought about bullying.  I feel my questions were skewed because I asked questions based on knowledge that the respondent could/would have.

Results/Data Analysis

Demographic	Trend	Meaning
34 females 6 males	All males and females answered true for question 11. Question 11: Is the knowledge of bullying important?	When coming up with question 11 I thought many that took the survey would answer with a true because without the knowledge there would be no way to stop bullying from occurring.  In addition, I feel as if this trend occurred because many already know about the consequences that come along with bullying.
Females: 14-16- Yes (22)  No (4) 17-24- Yes (1)  No (6) 25-Older:  No (1) Males: 14-16: Yes (2)  No (1) 17-24:  Yes (2)  No (1) 25-Older: None	More female teenagers from ages 14-16 are getting or have been a bullied victim rather then 17-24 year olds or people 25 and older. The number of males that have or have not been a bullied victim has stayed the same for 14-16 year olds and 17-24. Question 6: Are/have you been a bullied victim?	On question number 6 I came to realize bullying has increased a lot for teenagers in today’s age rather then it may have been just a few years ago mainly for females rather then males.  This could even be by the way media has started to affect our society.
34 Females 6 Males	The top two responses I got for my 10th question was Messaging such as (texts, e-mails, mail, etc.) and also Internet from both males and females. Question 10: Where do you see bullying occurring the most? (Check all that apply) Hallways Restrooms Messaging (texts, e-mails, mail, etc.) Internet Cafeteria Other	How society is becoming more of a media place and many of the bullies are turning to Internet or messaging so they do not have to directly face their victim and believe whatever they may be doing is not bad and there are not consequences for it.

Conclusion

           

            My surveys have helped me to gain a better understanding of how people have dealt with bullying such as ignoring it, talking to people, self harm, etc.  Also by answering this question it gave me a sense to know that bullied victims tend to think self harm or even fighting may be an answer to this issue.  My hypotheses was correct with finding out how bullied victims have found help or may find help by the respondents answering honestly by giving answers such as going to a counselor, and telling a principal or adult.  One this that was different then I had expected was when I had asked if they thought parents/guardians, teachers, etc. were aware that bullying was going on most answered with a yes compared to what I thought many would answer no to.  I thought this because talking to a teacher and telling about my sisters story he did not think bullying occurred that much in the school.  Also, I thought this because many teens or children do not like to usually speak out or tell that the bullying is going on. After surveying my questions have showed me that many people know that bullying is a huge problem that needs to be fixed.  In addition, going along with bullying, many turn to self harm which is now a huge revolving issue around the world. 

Follow Up

            Starting on my secondary research I want to mainly focus on bullied victims that have thought about suicide instead of anyone who has just been bullied.  One of the main questions I feel I should focus on is should people be aware of the thoughts that come to mind of a bullied victim.  As a result of this research my research questions have changed survey wise because I want to get inputs from actual bullied victims that want or have attempted to do suicide.  Also, my research questions have changed a bit because I want people to understand what comes to the mind of a person that wants to commit suicide and why they would want to commit suicide.

Works Cited Aitchison, Brianna. “Is Bullying Leading to Suicide?” Survey. 13 February 2013.