Cyberbullying Survey

Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use

474 W 29
th
Avenue
Eugene, OR 97405
Web Site: http://csriu.org or http://cyberbully.org
E-mail: nwillard@csriu,org
541-344-9125 (phone)
541-344-1481 (fax)
Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D., Director
The attached Cyberbullying Survey seeks information from middle and high school
students on issues related to cyberbullying. This survey is designed for use in the
context of the developing a comprehensive strategy to address cyberbullying as
described in Cyberbullying: Mobilizing educators, parents, students, and others to
combat online social cruelty, by Nancy Willard. More information on this book is
available at http://cyberbully.org
There are two purposes for this survey:
1. Needs assessment tool. Cyberbullying recommends that schools/districts
conduct a Needs Assessment as the initial step in the development of a
cyberbullying plan. This survey can serve as a Needs Assessment tool for use by
schools/districts.
2. Research insight. If your school/district is willing to share the aggregated results
of this survey with the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use, your
results, along with the results of other schools and districts, will provide research
insight into the issue of cyberbullying.
Although there is evidence of the emergence of cyberbullying in elementary school, this
survey is best suited for middle and high school use due to its complexity.
Research on Human Subjects
The survey does not solicit any personal information that would allow identification of
individual students the school/district or the Center.
The survey itself notes that the students responses are confidential and that students
are not required to complete the survey.
It is advised that schools that are planning to request that students complete this survey
send a notice home to parents describing the survey, its purpose, and the use of the
data. The notice should indicate that if parents desire that their child not complete the
survey, they should return a written objection to the school. A Parental Disclosure Form
that allows the school/district to transmit the data to the Center has been provided. If the
school/district does not intend to transmit aggregated data to the Center, please omit
Paragraph 4.
The Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use is fully committed to abide by U.S.
Federal standards regarding research on human subjects.
Before administering this survey, school personnel should consult with district officials to
receive approval in the manner required by the district. This is essential if any data is to
be provided to the Center.
Electronic Form
Schools/districts are granted permission to create an electronic version of this survey to
facilitate delivery and analysis within their school/district. This document has been
provided as a PDF file. If you need an word processing version, please contact us.
Modification
School/districts are granted permission to modify the survey in any manner. This
document has been provided as a PDF file. If you need an word processing version,
please contact us.
However, it is strongly recommended that schools/districts not remove questions
pertaining to in-school cyberbullying based on the assumption that students are not able
to communicate electronically at school. This may be a false assumption.
Cyberbullying Survey
Our school is conducting a survey on cyberbullying to assist in safe school planning.
Cyberbullying is sending or posting harmful or cruel text or images using the Internet or
other communication technologies, such as cell phones.
Your son or daughter will be requested to complete a survey about cyberbullying. This
survey will request information about incidents of cyberbullying, reasons why students
may not report such incidents, how frequently cyberbullying is occurring in our school
and community, and other related questions.
Your son or daughters responses on the survey will be anonymous. No personally
identifying information will be requested. He, she, or you may decline to participate. You
may review the entire survey if you wish to do so.
Aggregated data from this survey will also be provided to the Center for Safe and
Responsible Internet Use. You can find out more about the Center at http://csriu.org.
The Center will utilize the survey data for research purposes. No individual data will be
provided to the Center.
If you do not want your son or daughter to participate, please sign this form and return it
to school.
I would prefer my son/daughter not participate in this survey
_________________________________
Cyberbullying Survey
The following survey is seeking information from students about cyberbullying.
Cyberbullying is sending or posting harmful or cruel text or images using the Internet or
other communication technologies, such as cell phones. Cyberbullying might occur at
home through your personal Internet account or a cell phone used at home.
Cyberbullying might also occur at school, through the schools Internet network or a cell
phone used at school.
The responses to this survey will be used to help the school develop a plan to address
cyberbullying. The survey also will provide helpful information for researchers. Your
responses to this survey are confidential. You may also choose not to respond to this
survey.
Survey Questions
1. What grade are you in? ____
2. What is your gender? ___ M ___ F
3. Do you use the Internet at home? ___ Yes ___ No
4. Do you use a cell phone at school? ___ Yes ___ No
5. The following are a list of common cyberbullying actions. For each type of action,
please answer three questions.
a. Flaming. Sending angry, rude, vulgar messages about a person to an online
group or to that person via e-mail or other text messaging.
i. How often have you been flamed?
___ Frequently ___ Occasionally ___ Never
ii. How often do you think students at this school are flamed?
___ Frequently ___ Occasionally ___ Never ___ Dont know
iii. On the following scale, what is your reaction to flaming?
___ No big deal
___ Learn to live with it
___ Upsetting
___ Very upsetting
___ No opinion
b. Online Harassment. Repeatedly sending offensive messages via e-mail or
other text messaging to a person.
i. How often have you been harassed online or through text messaging?
___ Frequently ___ Occasionally ___ Never
ii. How often do you think students at this school are harassed online?
___ Frequently ___ Occasionally ___ Never ___ Dont know
iii. On the following scale, what is your reaction to harassment?
___ No big deal
___ Learn to live with it
___ Upsetting
___ Very upsetting
___ No opinion
c. Cyberstalking. Online harassment that include threats of harm or is
excessively intimidating.
i. How often have you been cyberstalked?
___ Frequently ___ Occasionally ___ Never
ii. How often do you think students at this school are cyberstalked?
___ Frequently ___ Occasionally ___ Never ___ Dont know
iii. On the following scale, what is your reaction to cyberstalking?
___ No big deal
___ Learn to live with it
___ Upsetting
___ Very upsetting
___ No opinion
d. Denigration (put-downs). Sending harmful, untrue, or cruel statements
about a person to other people or posting such material online.
i. How often have you been denigrated online? ___
Frequently ___ Occasionally ___ Never
ii. How often do you think students at this school have been denigrated
online at home?
___ Frequently ___ Occasionally ___ Never ___ Dont know
iii. On the following scale, what is your reaction to denigration?
___ No big deal
___ Learn to live with it
___ Upsetting
___ Very upsetting
___ No opinion
e. Masquerade. Pretending to be someone else and sending or posting
material that makes that person look bad.
i. How often has someone masqueraded as you online and made you look
bad?
___ Frequently ___ Occasionally ___ Never
ii. How often do you think masquerading occurs to students?
___ Frequently ___ Occasionally ___ Never ___ Dont know
iii. On the following scale, what is your reaction to masquerading?
___ No big deal
___ Learn to live with it
___ Upsetting
___ Very upsetting
___ No opinion
f. Outing. Sending or posting material about a person that contains sensitive,
private, or embarrassing information, including forwarding private messages
or images.
i. How often have you had someone send or post sensitive personal
information about you online?
___ Frequently ___ Occasionally ___ Never
ii. How often do you think students at this school have had someone send or
post sensitive personal information about them online at home?
___ Frequently ___ Occasionally ___ Never ___ Dont know
iii. On the following scale, what is your reaction to outing?
___ No big deal
___ Learn to live with it
___ Upsetting
___ Very upsetting
___ No opinion
g. Exclusion. Cruelly excluding someone from an online group.
i. How often have you been cruelly excluded from an online group?
___ Frequently ___ Occasionally ___ Never
ii. How often do you think students at this school have been cruelly excluded
from an online group?
___ Frequently ___ Occasionally ___ Never ___ Dont know
iii. On the following scale, what is your reaction to exclusion?
___ No big deal
___ Learn to live with it
___ Upsetting
___ Very upsetting
___ No opinion
6. Have you been cyberbullied by a student who attends this school?
___ Yes ___ No
a. If you answered yes to 6, has he or she also bullied or harassed you in
person at school?
___ Yes ___ No
b. If you answered yes to 6, have you ever bullied or harassed him or her at
school?
___ Yes ___ No
7. Have you ever cyberbullied students attending this school?
___ Yes ___ No
8. How often does cyberbullying occur through the school network?
___ Frequently ___ Occasionally ___ Never ___ Dont know
a. If you answered frequently or occasionally, please indicate what kinds of
cyberbullying activities through the school network (check all that apply).
___ Flaming
___ Online Harassment
___ Cyberstalking
___ Denigration
___ Masquerade
___ Outing
___ Exclusion
9. How often does cyberbullying occur through cell phones or other devices used by
students at school?
___ Frequently ___ Occasionally ___ Never ___ Dont know
a. If you answered frequently or occasionally, please indicate what kinds of
cyberbullying activities through cell phones or other devices used by students
at school (check all that apply).
___ Flaming
___ Online Harassment
___ Cyberstalking
___ Denigration
___ Masquerade
___ Outing
___ Exclusion
10. How often does cyberbullying that involves students attending this school occur
outside of school?
___ Frequently ___ Occasionally ___ Never ___ Dont know
11. How frequently have you been a witness to cyberbullying incidents?
___ Frequently ___ Occasionally ___ Never
a. If you have been a witness to cyberbullying incidents, what is your normal
response (check all that apply)?
___ Join in
___ Cheer the bully on
___ Watch or look, but dont participate
___ Leave the online environment
___ Object to others, but not directly to the bully
___ Object to the bully
___ Try to help or befriend the victim
___ Report the cyberbullying to someone who can help the victim
___ Have not been a witness
___ Other ___________________________________________________
12. If someone was cyberbullying you at school or if a student from this school was
cyberbullying you at home, would you report the cyberbullying to a school
counselor, teacher, or administrator?
___ Probably yes ___ Probably no
a. If you answered probably no, what are the most important reasons why you
would probably not report (check all that apply):
___ I dont think school staff would understand or believe me
___ I dont think the school would or could do anything to stop it
___ I could get myself into trouble, because I could also be at fault
___ I could get myself into trouble, even if I had done nothing wrong
___ The cyberbully could get back at me and make things even worse
___ Other students could make fun of me
___ My parents could find out and might restrict my Internet access
___ I need to learn to deal with cyberbullying by myself
___ Cyberbullying is no big deal. People should just ignore it
___ Other:
13. If someone was cyberbullying you at home, would you tell your parent/guardian?
___ Probably yes ___ Probably no
a. If you answered probably no, what are the most important reasons why you
would probably not report (check all that apply):
___ I dont think my parent/guardian would understand or believe me
___ I dont think my parent/guardian would know how to stop it
___ I could get myself into trouble, because I could also be at fault
___ I could get myself into trouble, even if I had done nothing wrong
___ The cyberbully could get back at me and make things even worse
___ Other students could make fun of me
___ My parent/guardian could restrict my Internet access
___ I should be able to deal with cyberbullying by myself
___ Cyberbullying is no big deal. People should just ignore it
___ Other:
14. Please indicate whether you strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree
to the following statements:
a. Cyberbullying is a normal part of the online world. There is nothing anyone
can do to stop it.
___ Strongly agree ___ Agree ___ Disagree ___ Strongly disagree
b. I know of someone who has been really hurt by cyberbullying.
___ Strongly agree ___ Agree ___ Disagree ___ Strongly disagree
c. Things that happen online should stay online.
___ Strongly agree ___ Agree ___ Disagree ___ Strongly disagree
c. If someone is being hurt by cyberbullying, it is important to tell a
responsible adult.
___ Strongly agree ___ Agree ___ Disagree ___ Strongly disagree
e. I would report cyberbullying incidents, if I could do so without anyone
knowing it was me.
___ Strongly agree ___ Agree ___ Disagree ___ Strongly disagree
f. I have the right to say anything I want online, even if what I say hurts
someone or violates someones privacy.
___ Strongly agree ___ Agree ___ Disagree ___ Strongly disagree
g. Adults should stay out of this.
___ Strongly agree ___ Agree ___ Disagree ___ Strongly disagree
h. I would like to create a more kind and respectful online world.
___ Strongly agree ___ Agree ___ Disagree ___ Strongly disagree
15. Does the schools Internet policy or other policies prohibit actions in school that
would be considered cyberbullying?
___ Yes ___ No ___ I dont know