Exam Question 1

Question 1: What are the key issues raised in the article and how has qualitative and quantitative research been applied to explore them?

The key issues raised in this article are the changes in and effects on consumption, changes in product output and the impact on production. To begin with, one of the key areas that the article focuses on is the increase in Children using technology devices such as smart phones, video games and tablets/iPads from 2007-2014. It also underlines the amount of time children ages 5-15 spend online and it highlights their attitudes and behaviours in demonstrating a level of critical understanding while using their technology devices. One of the most interesting key topics I found in the article was when it talks about the amount of children that have access to devices at home and how 3-4 year olds spend eight and a half hours a week online and also how 72% of children under eight have used a mobile device. Since this article was written by OFCOM in 2014, it suggests that the reason why children are having access to phones and tablets is because more and more technology devices are coming out each year. In addition, due to the number of technology devices increasing each year, the article exhibits that there have been decreases in the number of children aged 5-15 having a TV in the bedroom and a game/console player in the bedroom. This relates to the research focus evolving and emerging developments and changes in, and effects on consumption as it shows how children watch less TV on their television because they are able to access it anywhere such as in their smart phones, tablets/iPads and laptops. The impact on production is profoundly presented in the article as it shows the amount of time that young children consume digital technology for, this means that the impact of devices is increasingly growing and becoming more accessible for younger children. Quantitative data was used in the article in the form of charts and graphs to show availability of key devices in the homes and media in children’s bedrooms among 5-15 year olds. Statistics in the article portrays that children aged 5-15 from 2007 had no tablets or computers in their bedroom, but due to the breakouts of devices, it majorly increased in 2014. The popularity of iPads has had a significant impact since 2011 on mostly 12-15 year olds and TV in the bedroom has decreased massively since 2007 by 23% which relates to the impact on production and consumption as more technology devices are coming out each year and children are consuming it in their bedroom. The use of quantitative research in this article was used to quantify attitudes, opinions and behaviours and generalise results on the consumption of technology in children’s bedrooms from 2007-2014, and since there was a lot of quantitative research to back up the qualitative research in the article, it therefore makes the information presented more valid and interesting. Validity is important when looking through statistics in order to see whether the research collected is bias or inaccurate.

However, whether the article is biased or not could be questioned as it talks about age and gender but fails to mention social class, which could mean that not every child in the UK could have ownership to media devices in their bedroom as they might not be able to afford it. One of they key areas that I found most interesting in the article is when it states that console/games players are the second most common type of media device present in children’s bedrooms. This qualitative data heavily differentiates from the quantitative research, because in the chart, it illustrates that the amount of children who had game consoles in their bedroom in 2007 was 60% but in 2014 it has decreased to 41%, which shows the impact on production on new rising devices such as tablets/ iPads and smart phones. One of the main reason why console games are falling massively, is because children are downloading online app games from their phones or iPads because they are free. This is a change in, and effects on, consumption because if children are using their phones and iPads to play games, it means that game consoles would heavily decrease as the years go on. Overall, the quantitative and qualitative research used in this article are used to heavily back up the information specified and provide accurate and truthful information on how children consume media devices and the impact on production.