Screen time is mostly associated with negative consequences, especially for children. Screen time is related to using smartphones, tablets, laptops, electronic games, and television (Twenge & Campbell, 2018). With one hour of daily use, children of age 2 to 17 years show signs of low psychological well-being, greater anxiety, and low focus that contribute to the inability to finish certain daily tasks (Twenge & Campbell, 2018). The research explores screen times effects on school-aged childrens social and emotional well-being. A certain age bracket is identified to simplify the research objectives. Parents perceptions are to be investigated in this qualitative study after formulating research questions.

Research Design

A qualitative research design would be valuable for the current study since an in-depth analysis would be obtained with the opinions and experiences of the research respondents. The reason for selecting qualitative research design is that they would help gain original thoughts and perceptions of parents of children exposed to screen time daily and what effects they see in their children regarding their social and emotional well-being. The respondents would expect a better response rate as they would be face-to-face, and quick replies would be obtained compared to questionnaires or surveys. The selected research instrument is interviewing as the transferability of the interview findings, which would be in the form of viewpoints generated by the parents, would be transferred into the generalization of the larger target population.

Sampling Strategy

The sample for this research would include parents whose children go to school. The parents of children aged 5 to 10 years are deemed suitable to be selected as participants for the interviews. The reason for selecting this sample is that parents are close to their children as they mostly use mobile phones at home for playing games or watching videos (Radesky et al., 2020). Parents of children aged 5 to 10 years are deemed appropriate for the school-going age bracket as this age group has been highlighted the most in previous studies like Twenge & Campbell (2018). Their social and emotional health depends on how they interact with each other and gain logical development for enhanced problem-solving (Healthwise, 2021). Hence, their parents would be a good source to identify whether screen time affects them positively or negatively.

The sample size selection would ensure that gaining valid results is ensured. The first stage of gaining validity is gaining a maximum response rate of 70% or at least near 70% (Holtom et al., 2022). Simple random sampling would be used to select the parents as participants in the interviews so that every participant gets an equal chance to give his or her opinions without discrimination of gender, race, class, grades, etc. (Bhardwaj, 2019). However, grades would be restricted to children from 5 to 10 years of age, from Kindergarten to grade 5.

Research Ethics

Based on the definition generated by federal regulations, minimal risk is the scale of harm or uneasiness anticipated for the research respondents. It should not be greater than ordinary life experiences, whether physical or psychological (FDA, 2014). Current research involves no such risks as it is a simple interview session to ask for their perceptions of their children and the expression of views qualitatively.

Research ethics surely apply to the current study as informed consent and voluntary participation are the two highlighted characteristics (Grant, 2021; Xu et al., 2020). A consensus needs to be gained from the interview respondents before they agree to fill out the forms. For conducting interviews, emails would be sent to the selected participants to gain their consent and an invitation. There would be a separate box at the beginning of the mail that would include a detailed description of the research, its purpose and objectives, and why the participation of the parents is valuable. Also, it would be ensured that their name and email addresses would not be shared with any third party since it is not the aim of the research but only to attain their perceptions on the research topic and its pertinent questions. An example of an online informed letter of consent that would be sent in the email is attached in the appendix.

Participants can withdraw at any time, and...…Task Force, Ottawa, Ontario (2019). Digital media: Promoting healthy screen use in school-aged children and adolescents.Paediatrics & Child Health,24(6), 402417. https://doi.org/10.1093/pch/pxz095

FDA. (2014). Minimal risk. https://www.fda.gov/patients/informed-consent-clinical-trials/minimal-risk

Grant, S.C. (2021). Informed consent- we can and should do better. JAMA Network Open, 4(4). https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.10848

Healthwise. (2021, September 20). Growth and development, ages 6 to 10 years. My Health-Alberta. https://myhealth.alberta.ca/Health/Pages/conditions.aspx?hwid=te6244

Holtom, B., Baruch, Y., Aguinis, H. & Ballinger, G.A. (2022). Survey response rates: Trends and a validity assessment framework. Human Relations, 75(8), 1560-1584. https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267211070769

Noble, H. & Smith, J. (2015). Issues of validity and reliability in qualitative research. Evidence-Based Nursing, 18, 34-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/eb-2015-102054

Radesky, J. S., Weeks, H. M., Ball, R., Schaller, A., Yeo, S., Durnez, J., Tamayo-Rios, M., Epstein, M., Kirkorian, H., Coyne, S., & Barr, R. (2020). Young childrens use of smartphones and tablets.Pediatrics,146(1). https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2019-3518

Romain P. L. (2015). Conflicts of interest in research: Looking out for number one means keeping the primary interest front and center.Current Reviews in Musculoskeletal Medicine,8(2), 122127. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12178-015-9270-2

Twenge, J. M., & Campbll, W. K. (2018). Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents: Evidence from a population-based study.Preventive Medicine Reports,12, 271283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2018.10.003

Xu, A., Baysari, M.T., Stocker, S.L., Leow, L.J., Day, R.O. & Carland, J.E. (2020). Researchers views on, and experiences with, the requirement to obtain informed consent in research involving human participants: A qualitative study. BMC Medical Ethics, 21. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-020-00538-7

Appendix

Appendix C:

Letter of Invitation and Research Consent Form

SREB No: 2020-12-005-034

Project Title Here

Dear participant,

I, Ezine Odia, am a fourth-year student in the Honor Bachelor of Early Childhood Leadership (HBECL) program at the Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning. In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the program, I am conducting a research project entitled _____________________________.

The purpose of the study is to ________________________________________

Specifically, this study will _____________________________

A better understanding of [topic area or focus] is important because ______________________________________________________________.

To complete this project, I am presently seeking [description of participants] willing to participate in the study. This study is qualitative, and the chosen data collection method is a qualitative questionnaire. Your participation would involve [answering a web-based questionnaire] on ________________________________. The questionnaire comprises # questions and is expected…