MARY WARD CATHOLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL

MDM 4U1
UNIT 15 - 16 FINAL DATA MANAGEMENT PROJECT

THE FACTORS LEADING TO BECOMING

A PERPETRATOR TO CYBERBULLYING

BY: ALLEN CAI - SECTION 02

KYLE XUE - SECTION 01
CANDICE ZHANG - SECTION 01
TEACHER: MR. WAUD
DATE: MAY 31, 2016

Allen Cai - Section 02

Kyle Xue - Section 01
Candice Zhang - Section 01

MDM 4U1
Unit 15-16 Project
Mr. Waud

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract ............................................................................................... 2
Purpose ................................................................................................ 2
Hypothesis ........................................................................................... 2
Description of Data .............................................................................. 2
Sampling ............................................................................................. 3
Observations ....................................................................................... 3
Calculations ......................................................................................... 6
Variables .............................................................................................. 9
Analysis ............................................................................................... 9
Discussion ........................................................................................... 11
Bias ...................................................................................................... 12
Conclusion ........................................................................................... 12
Works Cited List ................................................................................... 13

Allen Cai - Section 02

Kyle Xue - Section 01
Candice Zhang - Section 01

MDM 4U1
Unit 15-16 Project
Mr. Waud

Abstract
The general area of this project is bullying, with cyberbullying being the more
specific topic. Related areas of research include school attended, the
probability of being a victim or a perpetrator, and an increase in technology
usage. This project includes an analysis of age, gender, chance of being
bullied and technology use. The research focuses on the defense
mechanisms and factors which cause bullying. Since cyberbullying is
becoming a bigger issue on the society, children and teenagers are
becoming more affected by this ever-growing problem. Many factors can
affect cyberbullying, and the factors shall be analyzed in order to increase
the rate of cybersafety. However, in order to decrease cyberbullying
instantly, the main factor should be found in the project. Once this main
factor has been isolated and identified, it can be used to apply towards those
who are constant victims to cyberbullying.
Purpose
The main question that needs to be answered is, What is the main factor
that leads to cyberbullying? By conducting primary research on this topic
through the method of surveying high school students, deeper and personal
insights about the experiences of students can be identified and be changed
as to lower the chances of becoming a victim.
Hypothesis
Social Media can cause bullying because of its increase in popularity. Due to
the anonymity, perpetrators can target a victim without being noticed. Many
children are also affected by the media, and students tend to compare their
classmates to the Medias standards. As the students start to compare
themselves more to their classmates and the media, they may decide to
cyberbully another person or make group chats.
Description of Data
First, the data is sorted into quantitative or qualitative data. Quantitative
data are measures of values or counts and are expressed by numbers.
Qualitative data are expressed in words. Using the variables of the project, a
chart is made in order for the analysis:
Quantitative

Qualitative

Allen Cai - Section 02

Kyle Xue - Section 01
Candice Zhang - Section 01

Technology Use
Chance of being a perpetrator
Age
Hours

MDM 4U1
Unit 15-16 Project
Mr. Waud

Gender
Reasons

Using the variables, the cause and effect and correlation analysis are
created. The correlation analysis will be between the technology use and
perpetrator, victim chance and likelihood to become a perpetrator,
cyberbullying and age, victim use and the hours on technology, the gender
of the bully and the reasons why they would bully others, and online versus
offline bullying from the victims.
Sampling
The data is an example of a convenience sample. No real method was used
to determine which people are surveyed, but rather, people were chosen
based on whoever happened to be there at the moment.
Observations
Graph 1: Technology use vs Becoming a Perpetrator

Graph 2: Victim Chance vs Likelihood of becoming perpetrator

Allen Cai - Section 02

Kyle Xue - Section 01
Candice Zhang - Section 01

MDM 4U1
Unit 15-16 Project
Mr. Waud

Graph 3: Cyberbullying vs Age

Graph 4: Online vs Offline Bullying

Allen Cai - Section 02

Kyle Xue - Section 01
Candice Zhang - Section 01

MDM 4U1
Unit 15-16 Project
Mr. Waud

Graph 5: Number of Victims vs The time spent on technology (hours)

Allen Cai - Section 02

Kyle Xue - Section 01
Candice Zhang - Section 01

MDM 4U1
Unit 15-16 Project
Mr. Waud

Graph 6: The Gender of the Bully vs The Reasons

Allen Cai - Section 02

Kyle Xue - Section 01
Candice Zhang - Section 01

MDM 4U1
Unit 15-16 Project
Mr. Waud

Calculations of the Graph

50 people took the survey in total.
Less than 1 = 0%
1-3 = 10%
0.1x50=5 people
3-5 = 12%
0.12x50=6 people
5-7=24%
0.24x50=12 people
7-9=24%
0.24x50=12 people
9+=30%
0.3x50=15 people
More people use technology over 9 hours.

Bullied anyone before?

Yes=30%
0.3x50=15 people
No=70%
0.7x50=35 people

Victims:

Allen Cai - Section 02

Kyle Xue - Section 01
Candice Zhang - Section 01

MDM 4U1
Unit 15-16 Project
Mr. Waud

Yes=60%
0.6x50=30 people
No=40%
0.4x50=20 people
Mean/Mode
The mean, and mode were calculated on excel by using
=average(number1:lastnumber), =median(number1:lastnumber), and
=mode(number1:lastnumber). The mean was calculated for the number of
hours spent, since the survey asked the exprimee to answer a range from 5
to 7, or 7 to 9 hours, the numbers were calculated by finding the average of
the two numbers. Therefore, 5 to 7 will be 6 hours. After, the numbers were
all averaged and became the mean. The median and the mode were
calculated using a similar way.
The mean number of hours is 6.7. This shows that many students have
spent time on technology for about 5 to 7 hours. Since many children use
technology in order to play video games or check their homework, the
answer is not a surprise. Every student may be online simultaneously in
order to chat and communicate with one another, or discuss a homework
assignment that may be due. However, the average of children who were
cyberbullied in the survey was 9/50. In the survey, at least 5/9 of the
students who were cyberbullied spent more than 9 hours a day on
technology. Therefore, technology does have an effect on cyberbullying.
The number of technology spent on the devices affect the likelihood of being
cyberbullied.
The mode of the number of hours on technology is 9, while the mode for
victims who faced cyber bullying is 9 hours. There is a huge coincidence in
this case. Since many people spent more than 9 hours, they had more of a
chance to be cyberbullied than the people who spent less than 9 hours. In
this case, the hypothesis can be proven true. The number of hours on
technology affects the number of victims who face cyberbullying. Since
more people are on the internet for a long time, they will have a greater
chance of receiving a derogatory message due to the number of people they
will meet: the longer the time, the more people a person will meet on the
internet.
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Allen Cai - Section 02

Kyle Xue - Section 01
Candice Zhang - Section 01

MDM 4U1
Unit 15-16 Project
Mr. Waud

Spread
Standard deviation: 2.625153057
This was calculated using Excel. All the data had been inputted into column A. Since the information is all
in ranges, the average of each range is used in the calculations. 1-3 hours became 2, 3-5 hours became
4, and so on, with 9+ hours becoming 10. After, using a function on Excel, the standard deviation was
calculated by =STDEV(A1:A50).

Variance: 6.891428571
The variance of the hours of using technology is calculated in the same method as the standard deviation.
The function =VAR(A1:A50) was used and resulted in the final answer. Another method of calculating the
variance is simply to square the standard deviation, which would result in the same answer.

IQR: 4
After ordering the data numerically, Q1 = 6, Q2 = 8, Q3 = 10. Q3 - Q1 = 10 - 6
= 4. This gives the interquartile range of all the data. The median of all the
data is about 8 hours. The range of data is also spread out fairly evenly, as
the IQR is 4, and 8 is also the median of the first quartile and the third
quartile.
Percentile: 25th = 6; 50th = 8; 75th = 10
The percentiles are calculated in a similar manner as the quartiles. The data
are ordered numerically, and then the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles are
found.
Z-Score: P(x < 9 hours) = 0.8106 or about 81.06% of people use less than 9
hours of electronics
P(x<9) = P((9-6.7) / 2.625153057)
= P(0.88)
= 0.8106
Correlation Coefficient: (Referring to Online vs Offline graph)
Regression, Interpolation & Extrapolation (Graph 6)
Correlation coefficient (r): 0.37181829961188
Mean x (xx ): 0.6078431372549

Allen Cai - Section 02

Kyle Xue - Section 01
Candice Zhang - Section 01

MDM 4U1
Unit 15-16 Project
Mr. Waud

Mean y (y): 0.17647058823529T

Intercept (a): 8.3266726846887E-17
Slope (b): 0.29032258064516
Regression line equation: y=8.3266726846887E-17+0.29032258064516x
For the number analysis, scroll to Analysis and see Graph 5
Variables
There is an outlier in Graph 6. Since the results are so different and varied,
the points are spread apart. The variables are dependent since the likelihood
and the chances increase if a student is being bullied or not. For Graph 1,
the variables are continuous since many of the values do not have to be
whole numbers. For example, spending 3.5 hours on technology than
spending 4. For graph 2, the variables are discrete since they must be whole
numbers: there is not one half of a person or so. For graph 3, the variable
can be discrete since a person can be 3.5 years of age. Graph 4 has a
categorical variable, since it can have a number of values in order to assign
it into a category because it is qualitative data. Graph 5 and 6 are both
discrete variables since there cannot be half or a three quarter person, there
must be whole numbers in order to classify the number of people being
cyberbullied.
Analysis:
Graph 1:
The first graph is comparing the technology use to the chances of becoming
a bully. There were 0 victims of cyberbullying when the students used
technology less than five hours. However, as the hours increased, the
number of perpetrators increased too. On the graph, there were 4
perpetrators who targeted victims that used between 5 to 7 and 7 to 9 hours
of technology (8 in total, 4 in each group). However, there were five
perpetrators that targeted victims who used more than 9 hours of
technology. Therefore, the correlation is simply as the more time a student
spends on technology, the higher chance they will become a victim. The
cause is how much time the student spends on technology, and the effect is
the chance of becoming a victim. Therefore, the cause and effect of the
graph can be described as the more a student uses technology, the more

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Allen Cai - Section 02

Kyle Xue - Section 01
Candice Zhang - Section 01

MDM 4U1
Unit 15-16 Project
Mr. Waud

they will be a target for a bully. Cyberbullies target victims on the internet,
and since a person uses the internet more and posts more photos or videos,
the cyberbullies can find them easier due to the frequently updated posts.
Graph 2:
There have been 12 people who become bullies after being bullied, or about
24%. 18 people have never been bullied or a victim, or about 36%. 19, or
about 38%, people have only been victim, and 1 person, or 2%, have only
been bullies. This shows that about 36% of people have never been involved
in any situation at all, and a total of 62% of those surveyed have been a
victim of any one time. Of these 62%, About 38.7% have become
perpetrators. This number is fairly large, and there is a fair chance that a
victim will become a bully in the future. On the contrary, 26% of all those
surveyed have been bullies at one point or another, and about 7.7% of these
bullies have never been a victim. This is an astoundingly minute number,
which indicates that the majority of those bullied have been a victim in their
past.
Graph 3:
The lowest datum in the graph is 0, which is also equal to the first quartile of
the set. The second quartile, which is also the median of the set, is about
6.5. The third quartile is 16.5, and the high datum in the set is 20. This gives
a general idea of the age range of those that were surveyed. The
interquartile range of the set is 16.5. According to this graph, most of those
surveyed that have admitted to being a victim of cyberbullying are within a
wide range of ages. This means that anybody can become a victim of it, as
everyone will likely use an electronic at one point or another. This means that
everyone will have a chance of being cyberbullied at some point in their
lives.
Graph 4:
From the data, there are 30 people of 50 became the victim of bully, 9 of
them got cyberbullied and 21 of them got other bullied. So the proportion
between cyberbullied and bullied is 9:21, there are more actual bullied than
cyberbullied. Besides, there are 5 of 9 people who got cyberbullied spent
more than 9 hours a day on technology. Because they spent more time on
social media, no wonder there are more chances to get cyberbullied. There
are 14 of 50 people bullied others.
Graph 5:

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Allen Cai - Section 02

Kyle Xue - Section 01
Candice Zhang - Section 01

MDM 4U1
Unit 15-16 Project
Mr. Waud

This is a weak positive linear correlation and it will be stronger if we survey

more. It is positive because it is likely that someone get bullied offline might
be easier to get cyberbullied. Maybe that is because of their words or
something else which will influence and cause others want to bully them.
Perhaps they were bullied by others and they felt self-abasement. They are
no longer dare to get angry. It lead them look like very weak and others want
to bully them.
Graph 6:
According to the graph and data, we can figure out that the main reason for
bullying is revenge. Especially for girls, all girls that bullied said revenge
which means this is a full result of what the girls did. The boys bully more
due to irritation. Judgement, trolling and power are also the reasons to bully
others but it is less frequent. The other 2 genders said they bully for food,
however, they putted "other" to mess around with the result. As the result
shows, mainly boys cyberbully and bully.

Discussion:
There are various reasons as to why people decide to bully others. By
becoming a perpetrator, one is capable of working their way up the social
and popularity class (about.com). As well, people can get more power
(nobullying.com) and simply feel like they can control the lives of others.
Bullies also tend to ignore the consequences of their actions, and simply just
act without thinking (yourselfseries). According to the results of this survey,
it was discovered that the main reasons for bullying other people was
because of a strong irritation towards the victim, or because they wanted to
have revenge. This is similar to the secondary research that was done, as
most of the people surveyed simply just did not like the victim and wanted to
hurt them in some way.
Victims of bullying also face many psychological problems as a result of
being bullied. They have a lowered self-esteem of themselves, and may even
have suicidal thoughts or attempts, and feel extremely angered, frustrated,
or sad with themselves and other (cyberbullying.org). Teenagers are
ultimately forced to face many psychological issues, such as isolation and

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Allen Cai - Section 02

Kyle Xue - Section 01
Candice Zhang - Section 01

MDM 4U1
Unit 15-16 Project
Mr. Waud

depression. This can affect the students school work ethics, and also
segregate them from the rest of their peers. According to the survey, a
majority of those who have been bullied in the past were very upset because
of the incident, which goes along with the secondary research conducted.
However, there are also those who did not care about the incident and
simply shrugged it off, and those who overreacted and ended up hurting the
bully physically as well.

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Allen Cai - Section 02

Kyle Xue - Section 01
Candice Zhang - Section 01

MDM 4U1
Unit 15-16 Project
Mr. Waud

Bias
Sample:
Mainly grade 11 students took part in the survey, with only up to three 12th
graders. The whole population is affected because there may be different
results from 9th and 10th graders. Focusing on one grade is not a good
indicator for the whole population as students are in different grades, and
therefore, spend times on different utilities. For example, a grade 12 may
spend more time on units than spending time on the internet, so the results
will be different. Also, a better sample of the population will indicate better
results. Some students may have been cyberbullying although they use less
than 5 hours of technology. A better sample would have provided more
stable conclusions between correlationships of the data.
Measurement:
Due to the sample, there may be an overestimation and an underestimation
of the results. As explained, more grade 11s were surveyed, and more males
were surveyed too. If an equal amount of females and males were surveyed,
the correlation between the gender and the reasons for cyberbullying may
have been more accurate. Since there is more males, more responses are
received from one gender than the other, which leads to a skewed
conclusion. This will lead to measurement inaccuracy and a biased result.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the main factor that increases the chance of becoming a
victim to bullying is an increased usage of technology. In todays society,
computer and Internet usage is constantly increasing, through the purposes
of completing homework assignments, playing games, and for socializing.
With this new added innovation into ones lives, it also increases the risk of
becoming bullied, especially online.
Overall, bullies also tend to resort to this method of cyberbullying because of
the anonymity that comes along with the shield of a computer screen, and
the fact that all this can be portrayed to a greater audience with the help of
an electronic. By teaching teenagers and children at a younger age about
the dangers and usage of electronic devices, they can help protect
themselves and others from becoming a victim to cyberbullying, and will
likely not become a perpetrator in the future.

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Allen Cai - Section 02

Kyle Xue - Section 01
Candice Zhang - Section 01

MDM 4U1
Unit 15-16 Project
Mr. Waud

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Allen Cai - Section 02

Kyle Xue - Section 01
Candice Zhang - Section 01

MDM 4U1
Unit 15-16 Project
Mr. Waud

Works Cited List

"Cyberbully - Protect Your Children from Online Bullying." Cyberbully. Web. 31
May 2016.
"11 Facts About Cyber Bullying." DoSomething.org. Web. 31 May 2016.
Hardcastle, Mike. "Teen Advice on Cyber Bullies." Dating & Relationships.
About.com, 28 Apr. 2016. Web. 31 May 2016.
<http://teenadvice.about.com/od/schoolviolence/a/cyberbullying1.htm>.
"STOP Cyberbullying: What Is Cyberbullying, Exactly?" STOP Cyberbullying:
What Is Cyberbullying, Exactly? Web. 31 May 2016.
<http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/what_is_cyberbullying_exactly.html>.
"Your Self Series - Teens." Teens. Web. 31 May 2016.

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