Research Memo 1

Hypothesis:

Many people do not consider the emotional and mental tolls that child abuse has on a child throughout their life. After doing some online research, I discovered that child abuse can severely affect an individual both physically and emotionally because it consumes every aspect of their life. Therefore, due to this research, I came to a conclusion that individuals do not realize that the abuser should not be the only one held accountable for the repeating occurrences of child abuse.  So I ask the question, “Who should be held responsible for the repeating occurrences of child abuse?” My hypothesis is that children all across the world are affected by child abuse because authorities are not doing enough to prevent this issue. Therefore, respondents to my survey will most likely agree that the government, abuser, and any individual who knows what is going on should be held accountable because they continue to let the abuse happen.

Context:

I have conducted research to identify the causes and effects of physical and emotional abuse to show how children exposed to child abuse suffer later on in life. This research included finding out why a parent or guardian would feel the need to abuse their child/ children, which type of child abuse effects a child the most, should the laws for child abuse have harsher punishments, and who should be held responsible for the repeating occurrences of child abuse? The targeted audience in this case was high school students. This was my targeted audience because adolescents are one of the main age groups who encounter the most child abuse. My results are most likely reliable because I was careful in choosing my respondents.  I chose my respondents based on age and gender. Also, when choosing my respondents I picked individuals who were from my school that I knew.

Results:

Survey Question	Age 14	Age 15	Age 16	Age 17	Age 18
Scale of 1-10 Do you think child abuse is a serious issue in SC?	1/2  answered 5 and above	10/10 answered 5 and above	8/8 answered 5 and above	3/3 answered 5 and above	2/2 answered 5 and above
Do you know of someone, heard about someone, or are related to someone who has been affected by child abuse?	2/2 answered yes	10/10 answered yes	8/8 answered yes	3/3 answered yes	2/2 answered yes
Check all that applies Who should be held accountable for the repeating occurrences of child abuse?	2/2 answered that the government should be held accountable	7/10  answered that the government should be held accountable	6/8 answered that the government should be held accountable	2/3 answered that the government should be held accountable	2/2 answered that the government should be held accountable
True or False If child abusers faced tougher consequences for abusing children, the rate of abused children would go down?	2/2 answered true	10/10 answered true	8/8 answered true	3/3 answered true	2/2 answered true
Out of the following ages what age group do you think suffers from the most child abuse?	2/2 Answered the age group of 5-10 years	9/10 answered the age group of 5-10 years	8/8 answered the age group of 5-10 years	3/3 answered the age group of 5-10 years	2/2 answered the age group of 5-10 years

Data Analysis:

Children all across the word are being affected by child abuse because authorities are not doing enough to prevent the issue at hand.

Both males and females had altered opinions relating to the issue of child abuse. Gender played a big role in opinions because males and females tend to have different ideas on a variety of subjects. This was useful information because it helped me to know which gender felt the strongest about what was happening in society today. The range in age groups also affected the responses. People who were older tended to know more about child abuse and the effects that came along later in life.  I noticed the following trends when reviewing the surveys that I had conducted.

·       Ninety-six percent of the individuals who took my survey felt that people other than the abuser should be held accountable for the repeating occurrences of child abuse. I feel that the respondents answered this way because they have seen the government give back children to their parents who have continuously abused them.

·       Seventy-six percent of that ninety-six percent said that the government should be held accountable for the repeating occurrences of child abuse.

·       One-hundred percent of individuals, who took my survey either had been affected by child abuse, knew someone who was, or had heard about someone that was. The respondents were able to answer yes to this question because you hear about child abuse a lot on the news and in the papers.

·       Ninety-six percent surveyed a five or higher on how important child abuse was on a scale of 1-10. Most of the respondents listed child abuse as a five or higher for the reason that they understand the severity of this issue.

·       One-hundred percent of individuals who took my survey answered true that if child abusers faced tougher consequences for abusing children, the rate of abused children would go down. I feel they answered this way because there are not very harsh punishments for child abuse.

Conclusion:

Adolescents believe that authorities are not doing enough to prevent child abuse in their area. All of the respondents surveyed were either directly or indirectly exposed to child abuse. Most of the individuals surveyed were unsure of why government officials were not doing more to help victims who were abused and to help future victims from being abused. From the surveys, I learned that individuals do understand that child abuse is a problem all across America. This shows that authorities need to step up and make an attempt to prevent the repeating occurrences of child abuse.

Follow Up:

I will continue to research how children are affected from exposure to child abuse using other essential questions. I will try to determine what would happen to the rate of abused victims if authorities were doing more as well as the reasons behind why government officials are not doing more.