What is the research about?
This research wants to better understand how students think about and respond to being (un)popular, and how it may shape how they interact with classmates. To achieve this goal, we will ask students questions about their goals and about who in their class exhibits what behavior. With the secondary school students, we will also use computer games to explore how easily they associate high and low popularity with pleasant or unpleasant words.
What insights can be expected?
The study will provide insights tailored to the variation in real-world educational settings. We will further advance research on bullying in schools by developing a toolkit to identify young people who are more prone to engage in bullying, and work on developing targeted interventions so schools can reduce bullying by addressing the ‘coolness’ concerns and needs of students.
What does the research look like?
We will visit the classroom twice during a scheduled classroom session. There will be approximately three months between these visits. During each session, students will fill out questionnaires about their own experiences, beliefs, and motivations related to well-being, popularity, and bullying. They will also answer questions about the social status and behavior of their classmates. This will help us assess how they perceive and think about the social dynamics in their class.
For secondary school students, the study includes an additional component: using a laptop and joystick, they will take part in a computer game designed to assess the extent to which their ‘gut feeling’ suggests that being popular is important to them.
What does participating bring students and their teacher?
- We will make sure to minimize the impact of the research on the students (and make sure they find it fun!). In addition, participating in this type of research provides them with an accessible way to share their experiences or concerns with their teacher or mentor. Students will be informed that they will have the opportunity to meet with the teacher or mentor to share their emotions or discuss concerns.
- Teachers and mentors will be provided with a report including an overview of the situation in their own classroom. This information is valuable to better understand the classroom climate.
- Teachers and mentors will be provided with classroom-based social safety reports. These reports are in accordance with the guidelines of the Education Inspectorate under the Social Safety Act.
- All participating primary school classes will be provided with a lesson package introducing them into the wonderful world of psychology, as well as the book (tussen je oren) on which the lesson package is based. This is a psychology lesson package including explanation videos and classroom assignments for the upper elementary grades.
- This is a good opportunity for children and adolescents to learn about all aspects of scientific research in a fun way and to see what they themselves can contribute. From experience, children and adolescents usually like to be listened to and are happy that they are given the opportunity to share their experiences in the classroom.
