Caveats and Further Considerations

This was an exploratory, hypothesis-generating 7-week independent research project completed via the Monroe Scholar Program at the College of William and Mary. Due to limitations in time and resources, data was collected from a limited sample size (3 episodes for each of 10 shows) and coded by one person, making it prone to biases. Future studies based off the ideas generated from this study should cover more episodes from each show. Moreover, having multiple coders and using computer programs to identify cuts and incidents of fantasy, violence, prosocial behaviors, and interactivity would improve the accuracy of the data obtained and allow for more complex data analysis and significance testing.

​

The ten shows analyzed in this study also varied in targeted audience age (despite all being "children's shows"), with shows like Sesame Street and Cocomelon targeting ages 2+ and shows like The Owl House targeting ages 8+. Differences in levels of pacing, fantasy, violence, prosocial behaviors, and interactivity may have partly arisen from these differences in target audience.

​

Experimental research could build off of this study and quantitatively measure the effects of viewing each of these ten shows on children's executive function. These measurements could then be compared to the ranking that was hypothesized based on past literature and the informal data collected in the present study. Experimental research supporting the show ranking that was hypothesized in this study would also support the concept of pacing, fantasy, violence, prosocial behaviors, and interactivity as mediators on television's effects on executive function development. One could then develop a rubric based on this ranking for evaluating children's television shows, where higher scores would indicate greater likelihood of promoting executive function.