Effects of Family and Peer-Related Issues on Childs Learning Experience - Assignment Example

? Effects of Family and Peer-Related Issues on Child’s Learning Experience Effects of Family and Peer-Related Issues on Child’s Learning Experience Chapter 4: Results of the Study Introduction The stated purpose of this research study was to identify ways in which parents and peers influence the learning development of a child. The specific goal was to determine both positive and negative characteristics of parent and peer interaction with a child, with the goal of determine a best practice that will impact the overall learning development of a child in an effective manner. In Chapter 3, the appropriateness of the chose methodology, rationale, population, and the data collection measure were discussed. The chapter will now present the information gathered from the study questionnaires that were answered by participants, both via email and in person. Each questionnaire contained open-ended questions and participants were encouraged to elaborate on their responses. The actual questions contained in the brief interview are displayed in Appendices A and B. The main question addressed by these questionnaires was ‘Do parental and peer related issues affect a child’s learning experience?’. This study also had three sub-questions: 1) How do parent’s affect a child’s learning experience, 2) How do peers affect a child’s learning experience, and 3) In what ways do both parents and peers affect a child’s entire life development? Research Questions Each question in the survey was designed to allow the participants ample opportunity to consider their own responses regarding the impact that their actions have on the learning development of their child or peer. After each participant completed his or her questionnaire, they were either personally thank, or a thank you email was sent. This concluded their role in the study. Responses were organized by question. The research was checked to see if any questions were left unanswered (only a few were) and responses were typed into this chapter for further analysis in Chapter 5. Ten parents and ten peers (students) completed their respective questionnaire. Do Parental and Peer Related Issues Affect a Child’s Learning Experience? Questions # 2 and 5 dealt on the parent questionnaire dealt with this main question. Parents overwhelmingly said that they would keep their child out of an after-school activity if their grades had fallen in the failing category. The intent of this question was to determine if parents would take away a child’s ability to interact with their peers if they felt that their schoolwork would suffer. In that regard, the answer is 90% in the affirmative. Subsequently, the responses from the questionnaire indicate that 50% of the parents surveyed do not have a firm knowledge of who their child’s friends are. One response read, “Actually I cannot tell where not even one of my child’s friends home is”. To be fair, another response did read, “Not only do I know who his friends are, but I have met each set of parents. Of course, I suppose he could have friends I do not know of, but I don’t think so”. Again, five out of 10 responses read similar to this one. All questions on the peer interview relate either directly or indirectly to this main concept, but let us focus on questions three and four for now. Eight out of 10 students indicated that they have trouble resisting peer pressure. One response read “I am afraid that I will have no friends left if I said no every time I was asked to do something I felt was not right”. In a follow-up question, this particular respondent indicated that peer pressure does impact his schoolwork because he feels like it is ‘not cool do well in school as far as my friends are concerned”. Of the two students who responded that peer pressure does not really impact them, one responded that, “I really do not hang out with other kids who do not share my own interests. It is not that we are the best kids around all the time, but we really are not interested in doing the ‘bad’ things that other kids do”. The other respondent indicated a similar response and went on to say that felt his academic work actually is better because he is not that focused on friends. In another indicator of peer influence on their learning development, 70% of peer respondents said that they had been bullied at some time in the last year. Of these, all of them indicated that it did impact their ability to do well in school. How Do Parent’s Affect a Child’s Learning Experience? Questions #3 and #4 on the parent questionnaire dealt directly with this sub-question. The average time that parent spends weekly helping their child with their homework is 60 minutes. Two parents admitted to not spending any time helping child with their homework, while one parent responded that they helped their child for 250 minutes per week. The follow-up question related to reading delivered similar results. The average time each week spent reading with their child number 50 minutes. Again, two parents responded that they did not spend any time reading with their child, while two parents responded that they spent more than 150 minutes with their child reading each week. How Do Peer’s Affect A Child’s Learning Experience? Questions #1 and #2 on the peer questionnaire directly relate to this particular sub-question. Regarding whether or not children make friends only within their own academic level in school, 90% replied in the affirmative. Only one child responded that they had peers from seemingly every level of academic ability. In addition, 80% of the students responded that they would probably not quickly accept a new student into their own group of friends. One person responded, “I don’t think it isn’t that we are trying to be mean, but we just feel comfortable with our own friends. We’ve been together for years and I think a new person would kind of wreck what we have going on”. In What Ways Do Both Parent’s and Peers Affect a Child’s Entire Life Development? Questions #1 directly relates to this sub-question. For question #1, 60% of the participants said that they would definitely confront their child if they came home with a failing grade. One respondent contented, “Failure is not acceptable with us. We believe that the academic year is long enough that if our child were having problems, she could receive help to make sure she did not fail. So, if she failed, we would definitely need to change our tactics with her”. Another parent responded differently by stating that, “We believe failure can lead to success. We want our son to find their own way and learn how to correct his own actions. We all fail from time to time. We are really involved with our child and want him to succeed, but if he failed, we would continue to provide the same support we always have”. Question #5 on the peer questionnaire directly relates to this particular sub-question. Seven out of ten students said that the majority of their friends currently do not really value school. One respondent claimed, “My friends go to school because they have to. Outside of school, we rarely talk about any of classes or anything that happened in school. Instead, we are interested in other things”. Another respondent claimed, “I think my friends are in the minority. We are always focused on school. Not that we are always talk about our homework, but we really enjoy out life at school and tend to be interested in our classes and after-school activities”. Conclusion This chapter presented the data collected throughout the course of this study. The qualitative research method allowed the study director to explore quality data given by both peers and parents. The data gathered encompasses a broad range of opinions from educators and parents with a vest interest in the learning development of children. The survey questionnaire (see Appendices A and B) was administered to each participant either in person or via email. No themes or issues were found that arose outside of the questionnaire. Chapter 5 will highlight the key findings of this study and will present the researcher’s recommendations. From this analysis, the chapter will provide solid conclusions to the main question and three sub-questions targeted by this study. References Baimrind, D. (1978). Parental disciplinary patterns and social competence in children. Youth And society, 1(1), 239-276. Beka, A. (2007). The disturbed parent-child communication after parental separation and its impact on the child’s psychosocial adjustment. European Psychiatry, 22(1), 307. Bradley, R., & Corwyn, R. (2002). Socioeconomic status and child development. Annual Review Of Psychology, 53(1), 371-399. Downey, G., & Coyne, J. (1990). Children of depressed parents: An integrative review. Psychological Bulletin, 108(1), 50-76. Eggers, R., & Jones, C. (1998). Practical consideration for conducting Delphi studies: The oracle enters a new age. Educational Research Quarterly, 21(3), 52-66. de Groot-Kim, S. (2010). There’s Elly, it must be Tuesday: Discontinuity in child care programs and its impact on the development of peer relationships in young children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 38(2), 153-164. Fitzpatrick, E. (2008). Peer-to-peer pressures. Youth Today, 17(10), 7. Hay, D. (2004). Peer relations in childhood. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(1), 84. Hutchinson, L. (2008). Stick and stones and broken bones: The influence of parental verbal abuse on peer related victimization. Western Criminology Review, 9(1), 17-30. Kirkorian, H. (2009). The impact of background television on parent-child interaction. Child Development, 80(5), 1350-1359. Knouse, L. (2004). ADHD impacts child and parent relationship perceptions. The ADHD Report, 12(3), 10. Pollard, R. & Tomlin, M. (1995). The use of expert teachers to improve education. Education, 116(5), 3-9. Snyder-Halpern, R., Thompson, C., & Schaffer, J. (2001). Comparison of mailed vs. Internet applications of the Delphi technique in clinical informatics research. Proceeding of the 2001 AMIA Annual Symposium. Bethesda, MD: American Medical Informatics Association. Retrieved January 15, 2013 from www.amia.org/pubs/symposia/d200120.pdf Trivette, C. (2010). Influences of family-systems intervention practices on parent-child interactions and child development. Families, Family Support, and Early Intervention, 30(1), 3-19. Van Ryzin, M. (2011). Protective factors at school: Reciprocal effects among adolescents’ perceptions of the school environment, engagement in learning, and hope. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40(12), 1568-1580. Appendix A Parent Questionnaire 1) As a parent, would you confront your child if he came home with a failing grade in any subject? If so, what would your likely response be? 2) If your child were failing a class, would you allow them to continue in an after-school activity, or would you require that they first pull their grade up to a passing mark? 3) During an average school week, how many minutes (Monday-Friday combined) do you spend with your child helping them with homework? 4) Do you spend time reading with your child? If so, how many minutes per week? 5) Do you personally know who your child’s friends are, or do you leave their choice of friends largely up to them? Appendix B Peer Questionnaire 1) Do you tend to make friends with only other student’s who make the same grades as you, or do you have friends who are both doing well, and not so well, in school? 2) If a new student were to enter you class, would you help accept them into your group of friends or not? Please explain why or why not. 3) Are you easily tempted by peer pressure (do not give specific examples)? If so, do you feel threatened by your peers if you refuse to do these activities with them? 4) Have been bullied by a peer at any time in the last school year? If so, how has that impacted your ability to perform well in school? 5) Do your friends value school, or do they encourage you to not focus much at all on your studies? Read More