FEAR

By Minoli and Nishamini

DEVISING A QUESTIONQuestion Used: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- OtherThe 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 DATAWe 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 RESULTSFears Teenagers Adults

Speaking in Front of Crowds

41 20

Isolation 25 40

Heights/Falling 46 43

The Dark 21 15

Death 46 56

Germs 7 60

Open Spaces 16 16

Confined Spaces 19 18

Failure 43 57

Getting Hurt Physically

55 43

Bugs/Insects 22 45

None 8 17

Other 13 19

12%7%

13%6%

13%2%5%5%12%

16%6%2%

Teenagers

Speaking in Front of CrowdsIsolationHeights/FallingThe DarkDeathGermsOpen SpacesConfined SpacesFailureGetting Hurt PhysicallyBugs/InsectsNoneOther

4%9%10%3%

12%13%4%4%

13%

10%10%4%4%

Adults

Speaking in Front of CrowdsIsolationHeights/FallingThe DarkDeathGermsOpen SpacesConfined SpacesFailureGetting Hurt PhysicallyBugs/InsectsNoneOther

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.