FEAR
By Minoli and Nishamini
Question Used:
DEVISING A QUESTION
Out of the Options Below, What Would be Your Worst Fear?
- Speaking in Front of Crowds
- Isolation
- Heights/falling
- The Dark
- Death
- Germs
- Open Spaces
- Confined Spaces
- Failure
- Getting Hurt Physically
- Bugs/Insects
- None
- Other
The survey was separated into two sections, Teenagers and Adults.
DEVISING A QUESTION
Aim/Objective:
Our aim was to find out which fear was the most popular among
teenagers and adults. We wanted to separate the survey into two
sections, Teenagers and Adults, because we wanted to compare how
one age group may think differently to another.
OBTAINING THE DATA
We obtained our data by surveying teenagers from different classes
in school, and by surveying the public. We surveyed the public by
asking people at shopping malls, libraries and at home. We ended up
with a total of 362 teenagers and 449 adults. We surveyed using a
simple graph with all the fears listed on one side, and two columns
beside it where people, according to whether they were a ‘Teenager’
or ‘Adult’ could tally it.
OUR RESULTS
Teenagers
Fears
Teenagers
Adults
Adults
Speaking in
Front of Crowds
41
Isolation
25
40
Heights/Falling
46
43
The Dark
21
15
Speaking in Front of Crowds
Death
46
56
Speaking in Front of Crowds
Isolation
Germs
7
60
Isolation
Open Spaces
16
16
Heights/Falling
6%2% 12%
16%
7%
13%
12%
6%
5%
2% 13%
20
6%
Heights/Falling
The Dark
Death
The Dark
Confined Spaces
19
18
Germs
Open Spaces
Confined Spaces
Failure
Getting Hurt Physically
4%4%9%
4%
10%
10%
10%
3%
12%
13%
4%
4% 13%
Death
Germs
Failure
43
57
Open Spaces
Getting Hurt
Physically
55
43
Confined Spaces
Bugs/Insects
22
45
None
8
17
Other
13
19
Failure
Getting Hurt Physically
Bugs/Insects
ANALYSING THE DATA
Our results were somewhat consistent. After looking at our survey’s
results, we found out that ‘Getting Hurt Physically’ was one of the
most common fears amongst teenagers, whereas ‘Germs’ was more
popular amongst adults. We surveyed a total of 362 teenagers and
449 adults.
REPORTING AND PRESENTING
OUR CONCLUSIONS
We have drawn several conclusions from the data we have gathered:
- Teenagers were mostly scared of Getting Hurt Physically, Death
and Heights/Falling
- Adults were mostly scared of Failure, Germs and Death.
- Both Teenagers and Adults were scared of Death.
- ‘Germs’ got the least amount of tallies according to Teenagers.
- ‘The Dark’ got the least amount of tallies according to adults.
DISCUSSION AND SUGGESTED
IMPROVEMENTS
- We noticed a lot more people than we had first thought, chose the “Other”
option which meant that we should have given more options.
- We could’ve made our data even more accurate by substituting ‘Teenagers’ and
‘Adults’ to actual age groups. For example, 10 - 15, 16 - 21 and so forth.
- We can see that from the results, different age groups are concerned about both
similar and different things. Both age groups show that they’re scared of death.
This is interesting as this tells you that death may be a huge thing in society
today, and although it may not be thought about frequently, it is still a part of
people’s lives today.
- Germs are not considered as a great threat to teenagers, but according to the
survey, it is one of the top fears coming from adults. This is quite stereotypical
as children, are considered quite dirty and unhygienic compared to the average
adult.