Assessing bullying behaviours Sample Clauses

Assessing bullying behaviours. To date a number of methods, varying in techniques and informants, have been used to measure bullying behaviours. Utilising the wealth of data available by naturalistic observations of behaviours, bullying has been assessed using direct observations of children in their normal day-to-day social environments such as the playground or classroom (Xxxxxx & Xxxxx, 1995). Using audio-visual equipment researchers record and code instances of bullying. Although this method does allow for the observation of bullying behaviours as they occur in naturalistic circumstances, this method is not suited for large cohort studies due to the large amounts of time and man power involved. Sociometric assessments have utilised the presence of peers in bullying situations and used peer nominations as an alternative method. Children are presented with the names of other class members, and asked to nominate who fit the description of a ‘victim’ a ‘bully’ or a ‘bully-victim’ (Xxxxxx & Xxxxx, 1997). This is further extended by asking children to identify ‘victims’, ‘bullies’ or ‘bully-victims’ in relation to themselves, thus making peer nominations an ideal tool for measuring the dyadic relationships between victims and bullies (Xxxxxxxx et al., 2007). Although peer nominations are a valuable tool in collecting data from multiple informants simultaneously, they do not provide information with regards to the severity of the experience or nature of the bullying experiences. An alternative and more widely used method for assessing bullying in recent research are questionnaires, where respondents rate their own experiences with bullying (Xxxxxxx, 1997; Xxxxxx, Xxxxxxxx, Xxxxxxx, & Xxxxxxxx, 2009). Although questionnaires represent a straightforward method for collecting detailed information on different types of bullying behaviours and the severity of the experience, they also have their limitations (Xxxxxxxxxx, Xxxxx, Xxxxx, Xxxxxxxx, & Xxxxxxx, 2009). For example, although children provide self-perceptions and global views of their experiences across various settings, relying on young children as informants can be problematic. Some may be reluctant to report painful or traumatic experiences, raising ethical concerns (Xxxx & Xxxxxxxxxxxx-Xxxx, 2002; Xxxxxx, et al., 2009). Furthermore, young children may not have yet developed adequate cognitive abilities to comprehend the concepts being assessed (Xxxxxxxx, Ablow, Xxxxx, & Xxxxx, 1998), or recognise their involvement in certain activiti...