Conclusion of Opportunities and Limitations Research Methods

When investigating about the effects that Media violence has on Children, one of the most important research methods to use to conduct your data is a Survey. With my Primary research I would use a survey to ask Parents different questions on whether they think that media violence has an effect on their children through the video games they play and what they watch on TV. A survey is a good research method to use because it is free and quick to develop and it is also easy to collect valuable data which will help me justify my research and compare it with Secondary sources. A limitation of conducting a survey is that respondents may not feel encouraged to provide accurate, honest answers and they might put the incorrect answers that present themselves in a favourable manner. With this it would be difficult to come to a conclusion on my Primary research as it might not match my Secondary.

Experiments are a good way of collecting research on Media violence on children because you are able to get a natural reaction from the experimentee which would then be more accurate in forming your research. An experiment that I could perform to find out if media violence affects children would be to put a few kids in a room and get them to play some violent games. An experiment links with observations so you could get an unexpected result of what happens when they are playing the video games. A limitation of experiments is that it can create a false situations that do not always represent real life situations. This is largely due to fact that all other variables are tightly controlled which may not create a fully realistic situation.

Another good way to gather data about media violence on Children is an observation. An observation allows you to closely observe or monitor something or someone. With an observation you are sitting and watching in order to come to a conclusion about your primary research, it is also the same as an experiment. An opportunity of conducting an experiment is that it gives access to people in real life situations which would help you get a better understanding if the violence in the media effects children or not. A limitation of an observation is that it is time consuming and also expensive to put together.

Theories are conveyed to explain, predict, and understand a situation that is observed to exist and happen, and in many cases, to test and extend existing knowledge within the limits of critical bounding expectations. An opportunity of using theories to formulate your research on Media violence on children is that it gives you a basic level of understanding your idea, which is very important as you would need to later compare your research with Secondary sources and see if the information collected from your theory is correct or incorrect. A limitation of theories is that they could be someone else’s opinion which could mean that it is false and not a ground-breaking research.

Academic research is a useful way of collecting information about media violence on children, because they were written by experts and Professionals who have studied it for half of their lives and know exactly what they are talking about, which would make your research precise and truthful. An opportunity of using an academic research to collect some information about how violence in the media affects children is that it Include references to other sources you can use and is also checked well by the publisher to make sure that the information provide is not inaccurate. A limitation is that the information can take a long time to publish and since most of the research is written by experts, you might not understand the words used which means that you would have to go to another website.

Lastly, another way of conducting research of violence in the media is through watching documentaries or films, which is a good Primary research method. An opportunity of watching documentaries or films to find out about this research is that it can be a visual representation of a topic and can be based on facts and real life events. For example if you’re watching a film about a young boy who is initially affected by what he sees on TV, it would then give you a clear understanding on how to justify your research since you’ve watched it happen. A limitation of watching films or documentaries to gather research about this particular topic is that it is created for entertainment purposes only and may not accurately represent a topic or event. When collecting information through films or television you have to make sure that the research isn’t biased and that it is effective or else the data you collected could be inaccurate and not tie in with your Secondary research.