Research Proposal

“Most children aged three to seven in Singapore spend more than the recommended amount of time looking at screens for recreation – exceeding a research group’s guideline of not more than one hour, with many even getting two hours a day on weekends. The findings from a survey by KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) were released on Friday (Jan 21) together with a new set of activity guidelines for young children aged seven years and under. The survey of 340 parents from September to October last year found that time allocation for physical activity, sleep and recreational screen viewing were “suboptimal” among young children. There was a general lack of awareness, with more than half of the parents wrongly estimating the recommendation durations of time for physical activity and recreational screen use, said KKH.”

Assuming the role of a research assistant working at KKH, you are tasked to prepare a research proposal that aims to investigate the potential consequences of allowing children to have more screen-time, within the context of Singapore. This would then allow the hospital to educate parents on the rationale for adjusting the amount of screen-time that their children have, and to be able to effectively diagnose problems that may potentially have resulted from having more/less screen-time.