Researcher Identity (Exercise 2.1)

Several circumstantial factors in my life have inspired my interest in the topic of bullying among children and adolescents. Over the course of my life, I have encountered verbally aggressive messages in many forms. I have been not only the recipient of intentionally hurtful messages but the perpetrator of these messages as well. One unique attribute of bullying, however, is the perceived asymmetrical distribution of power between the bully and the victim. Perceptions of this power imbalance ostensibly stem from, among other things, one’s physical strength, popularity, and capacity to socially influence others. I can only remember one episode in which I was genuinely bullied as a child, and I remember much of the negative effects experienced from the bullying, including anger and a sense of hopelessness, were largely nested in the perceptions of this power imbalance. In my experience, the power imbalance originated from the bully’s ability to broadcast my humiliation to a number of different classmates about whose opinion I cared; that is, I viewed the bully’s accessibility to my social network of friends as a source of power imbalance.

My reflections about the negative outcomes I experienced and this specific episode, as a whole, shape my general view of bullying. Media also tell me that bullying is an important community-health issue that deserves a great deal of attention. Being exposed to countless anecdotal stories of victims’ suicide and suicidal ideation at the hands of bullying have made me realize that the effects of victimization are not merely benign as I had originally concluded from my own experience.

My general research interest in the effects of the Internet on human communication has prompted me to study bullying that occurs over the Internet. Cyberbullying is an extension to the offline, traditional bullying with which society has become accustomed. The same criteria of traditional bullying apply to cyberbullying with the exception of the medium through which the intentionally hurtful or embarrassing message is communicated. In this research domain, I have both basic and applied research goals. My goals for basic research are to understand better the structural and functional characteristics of technologies that influence perceptions of power imbalance among victims in situations where the cyberbully is unidentified (i.e., identity is anonymous). My goals for applied research are to create interventions, communicated through campaigns, to curtail the problem of cyberbullying. Given my background, I would begin with relevant theory on determinants of human behaviors (e.g., social cognitive theory) and create a campaign that incorporates most of the theoretical components. However, I know that approaching this type of applied research, from a quantitative perspective, is my prejudice as it relates to methodology.

I feel my insight into bullying from the perspective of perpetration and victimization positions me to best appreciate and contextualize the responses of child and adolescent bullies and victims. I believe my prior experiences with bullying and exposure to media may bias my own inquiry of traditional bullying and cyberbullying. I come to this research with a desire to “help others,” already making value judgments about bullying as a bad thing. I may need to amend my way of thinking about bullying if, for instance, I find evidence that bullying is not an inherently universal negative experience. For some, bullying may be, for instance, a cathartic exercise to relieve situationally-aroused stress for the bully, and the coping strategies used by victims may teach them important conflict management skills they use in later life.