Brainstorm for Primary Research

Introduction
As well as academic research, there needs to be some primary research undertaken in order to understand the question fully. Before, research is undergone there needs to be some thought on what type of research whether it be quantitative or qualitative.


The Final Idea


Extracting research from children can be difficult as a simple questionnaire cannot be handed out to children as it may be confusing and foolish to think they can independently fill it in. Also, a questionnaire would possibly not capture a child's attention and therefore, a research method that proved to be fun for children but insightful in research methods is essential.


The main questions that need to be answered are:

1. What are your favourite websites?
2. What do you like best about these websites?
3. How long do you spend on the computer everyday?
4. What would your perfect website look like?
5. Have you got a CBBC account?
6. How easy did you find logging in on the CBBC website.

The main idea was to make the questionnaire an activity for the children and almost like a game. The question is going to be posed to the children and they are going to be given lots of cut outs with many websites on them, then, the children will choose their top 3 from the pictures and options. Although, question 4 will be a separate activity that will allow the children's creativity and imagination to show as they will be given paper and other resources to make their perfect website. This activity is not expecting the children to draw a perfect website explaining all the technical details, however, this will show what they want and may highlight ideas that are overlooked by an older generation.

Wargrave community centre opens its doors to children aged between 5-10 every Thursday afternoon acting as a after school club. This seemed the perfect place to conduct research as we had a wide age range which fell into the target demographic the question is aimed at. After choosing a perfect location, many phone calls were made about accessing the community centre. There were many constraints but having a CRB check already, did help. Also after talking to the leader of the centre a letter to every child's parent had to be made.  

A date has been arranged to visit the community centre to conduct the research with the children and a meeting has already took place with Michelle Curran (One of the leaders at the community centre) to outline the centres rules. The rules that the community centre abide by resemble the rules the CBBC must follow, reinforcing how important a child's safety is on-line. Some of the rules are:

1. Do not accept any requests from children from the centre.
2. Do not allow the children to go on any instant messaging websites.
3. Moshi monsters is banned.
4. Children are only allowed on the computer for 30 minutes at a time. 

The Next Step is to go and carry out the research at the community centre and compile the results. 

Plan of Action for the CBBC Question

Introduction:
In order to answer the question posed there needs to be a plan of action. The research needs to be split into two categories which will be academic research and primary research techniques. The academic research will not only provide a theory to prove right or wrong but it will provide more stability to the main argument.


The primary research techniques will involve some sort of interaction with the target demographic for the CBBC question in order to find out what the age range of 8-12 want out of a website and more importantly, how they use the internet.


Plan of Action: De-Constructing the Question

How can we create a safe environment for children online without discouraging participation?

The question posed at first could be misleading and suggest that the focus is on the specific section of signing in or logging on. The main focus should be placed on "create" as the CBBC are looking for a way to life their website to the next level and attract more users. However, they still have to maintain a safe environment and they definitely do not want to discourage participation as this would possibly make them lose members. 

The logging in stage for the CBBC website is time consuming and has a lot of agreement forms that can confuse and discourage their members. Therefore, the website needs to add more features that resemble their top competitors such as Facebook without breaking any of their rules. 

Plan of Action for Academic Research:

There are many media and social studies theorist that have many ideas about technology and participation, however, the research for this question needs to be specific and focus on theorist who have specialised in children's participation habits. David Buckingham and Sherry Turkle have done an in-depth study on technology and children and therefore, some research on these two theorist would be a valuable source. 

Also, in the plan of action there needs to be an argument that supports the primary research which gives the whole presentation some credibility. 

The Next steps are to research theorists and link them to suitable areas in the question posed. 

Plan of Action for Primary Research:


Primary research such as questionnaire and focus groups will give a further understanding to what children want out of the internet.  The next plans for the primary research is to draw up a plan for a suitable research method that will be relevant and understandable to children aged 5-11.