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The other seven people, who smoked, said that they did not smoke in front of
their parents. Also included in the survey were two open-ended questions
regarding whether or not the participant had ever known someone who has
contracted any sort of disease as the result of smoking. Of the twenty-four
surveys only one participant answered these questions. The respondent was a
female, of the age of twenty-five, and also reported smoking. She stated that
one of her cousins had passed away from lung cancer as the result of smoking two
packs of cigarettes a day. She stated that this information does impact her
smoking habits, she says that she plans to quit before having children. What was
surprising in this survey was that there was only one participant who felt the
need to answer the last two open-ended questions. Was it that they other
participants felt that this information was too personal? Was it that making
them think of someone that they have lost as a result of smoking hits too close
to home? This should be looked into for further research. Studying the
statistics of whether or not losing a family member or friend will impact
smoking behaviors. As for the interpretation of this data, I am not qualified to
draw any conclusions or correlation’s as to what these numbers mean. One
correlation I would like to make involves the eight non-smokers involved in this
survey. All eight reported having non-smoking parents. This information leads to
what previous studies have indicated, that parental smoking habits do, in fact,
have some sort of bearing on children’s smoking habits. Further Research
Reviewing the information that was collected during this survey, it seems as if
parental smoking habits do for all intensive purposes have an impact on child
smoking habits. But it may not be the parental smoking habits alone that cause
smoking.
Further research should be done to take into account peer smoking habits,
family smoking habits, and restrictions on smoking at home or in school. After
conducting my research I found shortcomings in my survey that were not discussed
during the peer revue. Questions that should have been included in this survey
were, Why did you start smoking? , Do you have siblings that smoke? , Are you
allowed to smoke in your home? , and Do a majority of your friends smoke?
Another question that was missing from this survey was, Do you want to quit
smoking? It seemed particularly relevant that all sixteen smokers questioned
during this study have tried to quit. All may have been unsuccessful, but more
research should be done on why people want to quit and why they do not follow
through with this healthy alternative to smoking. It is clear that much more
research is needed in this area. Much more research should be done to find a
correlation between losing a family member or friend to a smoking-linked disease
and either quitting smoking or not starting at all. This research report is only
one in a long list of research to find out why adolescents begin the habit of
smoking. The question still remains with a long list of possibilities, but no
real concrete answer as to why. Appendix A- Research Survey Thank you for taking
the time and participating in this survey. My name is Janine Cecconi and this is
an assignment for a Research Methods class. All information given in this survey
will remain confidential. Please feel free to skip any question that makes you
feel uncomfortable. Thank you again for participating. 1. Are you male or
female? 2. How old are you? 3. Do you smoke? 4. If yes, how many cigarettes per
day do you smoke? 5. How old were you when you had your first cigarette? 6. Who
was it that gave you your first cigarette? 7. Do your parents smoke? 8. How did
your parents react when they found out that you smoked? 9. Have you ever tried
to quit? 10. If yes, what methods did you use? 11. Have your parents ever tried
to quit? 12. If yes, what methods did they use? 13. Do you smoke in front of
your parents? 14. Do you know anyone who has contracted any sort of disease as
the result of smoking?(if yes, explain) 15. If so, has that information had any
result on your decision to smoke or not to smoke?
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