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• Knowledge Base
• Methodology
• What Is Action Research? | Definition & Examples

What Is Action Research? | Definition & Examples

Published on 27 January 2023 by Tegan George . Revised on 21 April 2023.

Table of contents

Types of action research, action research models, examples of action research, action research vs. traditional research, advantages and disadvantages of action research, frequently asked questions about action research.

There are 2 common types of action research: participatory action research and practical action research.

• Participatory action research emphasises that participants should be members of the community being studied, empowering those directly affected by outcomes of said research. In this method, participants are effectively co-researchers, with their lived experiences considered formative to the research process.
• Practical action research focuses more on how research is conducted and is designed to address and solve specific issues.

Both types of action research are more focused on increasing the capacity and ability of future practitioners than contributing to a theoretical body of knowledge.

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Action research is often reflected in 3 action research models: operational (sometimes called technical), collaboration, and critical reflection.

• Operational (or technical) action research is usually visualised like a spiral following a series of steps, such as “planning → acting → observing → reflecting.”
• Collaboration action research is more community-based, focused on building a network of similar individuals (e.g., college professors in a given geographic area) and compiling learnings from iterated feedback cycles.
• Critical reflection action research serves to contextualise systemic processes that are already ongoing (e.g., working retroactively to analyse existing school systems by questioning why certain practices were put into place and developed the way they did).

Action research is often used in fields like education because of its iterative and flexible style.

After the information was collected, the students were asked where they thought ramps or other accessibility measures would be best utilised, and the suggestions were sent to school administrators. Example: Practical action research Science teachers at your city’s high school have been witnessing a year-over-year decline in standardised test scores in chemistry. In seeking the source of this issue, they studied how concepts are taught in depth, focusing on the methods, tools, and approaches used by each teacher.

Action research differs sharply from other types of research in that it seeks to produce actionable processes over the course of the research rather than contributing to existing knowledge or drawing conclusions from datasets. In this way, action research is formative , not summative , and is conducted in an ongoing, iterative way.

As such, action research is different in purpose, context, and significance and is a good fit for those seeking to implement systemic change.

Action research comes with advantages and disadvantages.

• Action research is highly adaptable , allowing researchers to mould their analysis to their individual needs and implement practical individual-level changes.
• Action research provides an immediate and actionable path forward for solving entrenched issues, rather than suggesting complicated, longer-term solutions rooted in complex data.
• Done correctly, action research can be very empowering , informing social change and allowing participants to effect that change in ways meaningful to their communities.

Disadvantages

• Due to their flexibility, action research studies are plagued by very limited generalisability  and are very difficult to replicate . They are often not considered theoretically rigorous due to the power the researcher holds in drawing conclusions.
• Action research can be complicated to structure in an ethical manner . Participants may feel pressured to participate or to participate in a certain way.
• Action research is at high risk for research biases such as selection bias , social desirability bias , or other types of cognitive biases .

Action research is conducted in order to solve a particular issue immediately, while case studies are often conducted over a longer period of time and focus more on observing and analyzing a particular ongoing phenomenon.

Action research is focused on solving a problem or informing individual and community-based knowledge in a way that impacts teaching, learning, and other related processes. It is less focused on contributing theoretical input, instead producing actionable input.

Action research is particularly popular with educators as a form of systematic inquiry because it prioritizes reflection and bridges the gap between theory and practice. Educators are able to simultaneously investigate an issue as they solve it, and the method is very iterative and flexible.

A cycle of inquiry is another name for action research . It is usually visualized in a spiral shape following a series of steps, such as “planning → acting → observing → reflecting.”

Sources for this article

We strongly encourage students to use sources in their work. You can cite our article (APA Style) or take a deep dive into the articles below.

George, T. (2023, April 21). What Is Action Research? | Definition & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 24 June 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/research-methods/action-research-cycle/

Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2017). Research methods in education (8th edition). Routledge.

Naughton, G. M. (2001).  Action research (1st edition). Routledge.

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CMAT6830: Action Research in Clinical Settings: Citing in APA format (7th edition)

• Introduction
• Finding Books and Media
• Finding Articles
• When the article isn't available...
• Citing in APA format (7th edition)
• Writing your Paper

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Sample citations

The attached document shows sample citations in APA (7th). The second page shows the layout for a reference list. Please note the spacing.

• APA Citation -7th ed.

Before you turn in your paper!

Before you turn in your paper compare the Reference List with the content of the paper.

• Make sure that ALL the items in the Reference list are cited in the paper, and
• ALL the items cited in the paper are in the Reference list.

All citations in the text and the Reference list should match.

General format for APA citations

Author's name: Last name, first initial, e.g. Banks, J. A.

Date of publication: Usually just the year in parentheses, followed by a period, e.g. (2008). When including additional information for newspapers, etc., start with the year, e.g. (2009, July 16). If no date is available, use (n.d.).

Title of article: Capitalize first word of title and subtitle. Period at the end, e.g. Conjuring cut scores: How it distorts our picture of student achievement.

Title of book: Italicize and capitalize first word of title and subtitle. Period at the end, e.g. Improving multicultural education: Lessons from the intergroup education movement.  

Journal information: Italicize and capitalize all important words in the title. Italicize volume number. Issue number goes in parentheses (not italicized). Include beginning and ending page numbers of journal article, e.g. Journal of Research in Reading , 31 (4), 20-28 .

With the exception of web site information or DOI's (Digital Object Identifier) all citations should end with a period.

Double space all citations in Reference list. Do not increase spacing between citations. Indent second line of citation to show separation.

Why and how to cite

A good scholar cites the source of information whenever using another person's ideas, opinion or theory. A good scholar also provides citations for any facts, statistics, graphs, or drawings that are obtained from another source. Quotations of another person's actual spoken or written word, and paraphrases of another person's spoken or written words should also be cited.

For additional information about citing sources and avoiding plagiarism, try any or all of the following:

• Basics of APA Style Created by APA--26 brief lessons, each less than two minutes long. Choose the lessons you need.
• Cheng Library's APA handout: Almost all you need to know in two pages!
• APA Citation Style -- Color Coded Guide Sample citations and other APA formatting information, developed by C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.
• APA Exposed This PDF of a popular APA tutorial from Harvard Graduate School of Education introduces viewers to the basics of APA style. While the tutorial is no longer available to non-Harvard students, this PDF provides help for learning APA conventions.

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• APA Style 7th edition
• APA format for academic papers and essays

APA Formatting and Citation (7th Ed.) | Generator, Template, Examples

Published on November 6, 2020 by Raimo Streefkerk . Revised on January 17, 2024.

The 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual provides guidelines for clear communication , citing sources , and formatting documents. This article focuses on paper formatting.

Generate accurate APA citations with Scribbr

Throughout your paper, you need to apply the following APA format guidelines:

• Set page margins to 1 inch on all sides.
• Double-space all text, including headings.
• Indent the first line of every paragraph 0.5 inches.
• Use an accessible font (e.g., Times New Roman 12pt., Arial 11pt., or Georgia 11pt.).
• Include a page number on every page.

Let an expert format your paper

Our APA formatting experts can help you to format your paper according to APA guidelines. They can help you with:

• Margins, line spacing, and indentation
• Font and headings
• Running head and page numbering

Table of contents

How to set up apa format (with template), apa alphabetization guidelines, apa format template [free download], page header, headings and subheadings, reference page, tables and figures, frequently asked questions about apa format.

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References are ordered alphabetically by the first author’s last name. If the author is unknown, order the reference entry by the first meaningful word of the title (ignoring articles: “the”, “a”, or “an”).

Why set up APA format from scratch if you can download Scribbr’s template for free?

Student papers and professional papers have slightly different guidelines regarding the title page, abstract, and running head. Our template is available in Word and Google Docs format for both versions.

• Student paper: Word | Google Docs
• Professional paper: Word | Google Docs

In an APA Style paper, every page has a page header. For student papers, the page header usually consists of just a page number in the page’s top-right corner. For professional papers intended for publication, it also includes a running head .

A running head is simply the paper’s title in all capital letters. It is left-aligned and can be up to 50 characters in length. Longer titles are abbreviated .

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APA headings have five possible levels. Heading level 1 is used for main sections such as “ Methods ” or “ Results ”. Heading levels 2 to 5 are used for subheadings. Each heading level is formatted differently.

Want to know how many heading levels you should use, when to use which heading level, and how to set up heading styles in Word or Google Docs? Then check out our in-depth article on APA headings .

The title page is the first page of an APA Style paper. There are different guidelines for student and professional papers.

Both versions include the paper title and author’s name and affiliation. The student version includes the course number and name, instructor name, and due date of the assignment. The professional version includes an author note and running head .

For more information on writing a striking title, crediting multiple authors (with different affiliations), and writing the author note, check out our in-depth article on the APA title page .

The abstract is a 150–250 word summary of your paper. An abstract is usually required in professional papers, but it’s rare to include one in student papers (except for longer texts like theses and dissertations).

The abstract is placed on a separate page after the title page . At the top of the page, write the section label “Abstract” (bold and centered). The contents of the abstract appear directly under the label. Unlike regular paragraphs, the first line is not indented. Abstracts are usually written as a single paragraph without headings or blank lines.

Directly below the abstract, you may list three to five relevant keywords . On a new line, write the label “Keywords:” (italicized and indented), followed by the keywords in lowercase letters, separated by commas.

APA Style does not provide guidelines for formatting the table of contents . It’s also not a required paper element in either professional or student papers. If your instructor wants you to include a table of contents, it’s best to follow the general guidelines.

Place the table of contents on a separate page between the abstract and introduction. Write the section label “Contents” at the top (bold and centered), press “Enter” once, and list the important headings with corresponding page numbers.

The APA reference page is placed after the main body of your paper but before any appendices . Here you list all sources that you’ve cited in your paper (through APA in-text citations ). APA provides guidelines for formatting the references as well as the page itself.

Creating APA Style references

Play around with the Scribbr Citation Example Generator below to learn about the APA reference format of the most common source types or generate APA citations for free with Scribbr’s APA Citation Generator .

Formatting the reference page

Write the section label “References” at the top of a new page (bold and centered). Place the reference entries directly under the label in alphabetical order.

Finally, apply a hanging indent , meaning the first line of each reference is left-aligned, and all subsequent lines are indented 0.5 inches.

Tables and figures are presented in a similar format. They’re preceded by a number and title and followed by explanatory notes (if necessary).

Use bold styling for the word “Table” or “Figure” and the number, and place the title on a separate line directly below it (in italics and title case). Try to keep tables clean; don’t use any vertical lines, use as few horizontal lines as possible, and keep row and column labels concise.

Keep the design of figures as simple as possible. Include labels and a legend if needed, and only use color when necessary (not to make it look more appealing).

Check out our in-depth article about table and figure notes to learn when to use notes and how to format them.

The easiest way to set up APA format in Word is to download Scribbr’s free APA format template for student papers or professional papers.

Alternatively, you can watch Scribbr’s 5-minute step-by-step tutorial or check out our APA format guide with examples.

APA Style papers should be written in a font that is legible and widely accessible. For example:

• Times New Roman (12pt.)
• Arial (11pt.)
• Calibri (11pt.)
• Georgia (11pt.)

The same font and font size is used throughout the document, including the running head , page numbers, headings , and the reference page . Text in footnotes and figure images may be smaller and use single line spacing.

You need an APA in-text citation and reference entry . Each source type has its own format; for example, a webpage citation is different from a book citation .

Use Scribbr’s free APA Citation Generator to generate flawless citations in seconds or take a look at our APA citation examples .

Yes, page numbers are included on all pages, including the title page , table of contents , and reference page . Page numbers should be right-aligned in the page header.

To insert page numbers in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, click ‘Insert’ and then ‘Page number’.

APA format is widely used by professionals, researchers, and students in the social and behavioral sciences, including fields like education, psychology, and business.

Be sure to check the guidelines of your university or the journal you want to be published in to double-check which style you should be using.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Streefkerk, R. (2024, January 17). APA Formatting and Citation (7th Ed.) | Generator, Template, Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved June 24, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/format/

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Verbs are direct, vigorous communicators. Use a chosen verb tense consistently throughout the same and adjacent paragraphs of a paper to ensure smooth expression.

Use the following verb tenses to report information in APA Style papers.

Verb tense is covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Section 4.12 and the Concise Guide Section 2.12

From the APA Style blog

Check your tone: Keeping it professional

When writing an APA Style paper, present ideas in a clear and straightforward manner. In this kind of scholarly writing, keep a professional tone.

The “no second-person” myth

Many writers believe the “no second-person” myth, which is that there is an APA Style guideline against using second-person pronouns such as “you” or “your.” On the contrary, you can use second-person pronouns in APA Style writing.

The “no first-person” myth

Whether expressing your own views or actions or the views or actions of yourself and fellow authors, use the pronouns “I” and “we.”

Navigating the not-so-hidden treasures of the APA Style website

This post links directly to APA Style topics of interest that users may not even know exist on the website.

Welcome, singular “they”

This blog post provides insight into how this change came about and provides a forum for questions and feedback.

Copy of Writing, Citing, Tutoring, and Studying Resources: APA

• Study Support This link opens in a new window
• Subject Support This link opens in a new window

Changes in APA 7th Edition

• LIst of Changes from OWL From Purdue Online Writing Lab: "The seventh edition of the APA Publication Manual contains a number of updates and additions designed to make APA style more useful for students, teachers, and other educational stakeholders. While there are too many changes to list here, we’ve chosen to focus on the changes that are most pertinent to students and teachers. These include changes to the ways academic papers are formatted, changes to the ways sources are cited, and more."
• Introduction to the 7th Edition of APA Manual

APA 7th Edition Citation Examples for Online Sources

General Information for References Page

• References pages are double spaced with no extra spacing between entries.
• The word References is centered and bolded.
• Arrange all entries alphabetically by author.
• Apply the hanging indent to all entries: first line begins at the margin, subsequent lines begin ½ inch from the margin.

Online Sources Examples

An  Article with DOI assigned  

Nelson, A. M. (2014). Best practice in nursing: A concept analysis.  International Journal o f Nursing Studies ,  51 (11), 1507-1516 .  http://d oi .org/ 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2014.05.003  

An Article with no DOI assigned   

Urban , E., & Palmer, L. B. (2016).  International students' perceptions of the value of U.S. higher e ducation.  Journal o f International Students ,  6 (1), 153-174.   

An  Online  Journal  Article Not in a Database  

Gunn ,  M .  A.,  Koeplin , J. P., Lorton Jr., P. V., Kane, K., & Masterson, N.  (20 16 ).  The presence of Jesuit values in a selection of University of San Francisco courses: The students’ perspective.   Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal ,  5 (1),  55-75.

                http://epublications.regis.edu/jhe/vol5/iss1/9  

An Article from a  Newspaper or News Service  

Davis, J.  H.  (20 15 ,  Dec 10 ).  President Obama  s igns  i nto  l aw a  r ewrite of No Child Left Behin d .   The New York Times . http://www.nytimes.com  

Book or eBook  

Shi, L. (2014).  Introduction  to health policy .  Health Administration Press.   

Web page on a web  site   with author  

Fagan, J. (2019, March 25). Nursing clinical brain. OER Commons. Retrieved September 17, 2019, from https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/53029-nursing-clinical-brain/view  

A  Web Site  with Group Author  

American Psychological Association. (20 20 ).  APA Style .   https://apastyle.apa.org/  

Dictionary  

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Culture. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved September 9, 2019, from  https://www.merriam webster.com/dictionary/culture  

Film or video  

MacCulloch ,  D . (Writer /Presenter ) , Bancroft ,  G . (Director/Producer) , & Salt, S. (Director/Producer) . ( 2010 ).  Diarmaid   MacCulloch’s  a history of Christianity  [ Film ].  BBC  Productions .  

YouTube or streaming media  

Harvard University. (2019, August 28). Soft robotic gripper for jellyfish [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch v=guRoWTYfxMs  

Books   McDonald, G. (2015).  Business ethics: A contemporary approach.  Cambridge University  Press.   B ook Chapter   Roberts, J. (2015). Mindfulness for all in action. In  S. Walker  (Ed.),  Psychosocial interventions in mental  health  nursing  (pp. 63-80).

     Sage Publications.    Newspaper Articles   Pollack, A. (2016, July 16). New patents aim to delay generics of biologics.  The New York Times , B1,    B4.   Encyclopedias   Falola , T. ,  & Jean-Jacques, D.  (Ed s .). ( 2016 ).   Africa: An e ncyclopedia of  culture and society  (Vols. 1 ‐ 3 ).    A BC-CLIO .  

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APA Handouts

• APA 7th Edition Reference Examples Printable handout of APA Reference Examples
• APA Note on DOIs & URLs A guide to including DOIs & URLs in the References section.
• APA In-text Citations An overview of how to use in-text citations following APA guidelines.
• APA Student Template A student template to use to format a paper in APA 7th Edition
• APA Student Paper Setup Guide A guide to help you setup your paper in APA 7th edition from APA Style Blog

APA Style Guides & Tutorials

• APA Style Instructional Aids APA Style tutorials, handouts, and samples from the American Psychological Association.
• APA Style Blog The APA Style Blog is the official companion to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. It is run by a group of experts who work with APA Style daily. They publish weekly posts addressing writing, publishing, and APA Style.
• Purdue OWL: APA Formatting and Style Guide Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL) guide to formatting and citing in APA Style.

APA Style Manuals

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.)

Call number: BF76.7 .P83 2020

Multiple copies are available in the Dayton Memorial Library. If you need assistance, please contact the Research Help Desk.

Free Citation Generators

The library does not guarantee the citations created by the following services. It is suggested that all citations are thoroughly checked after creation.

EasyBib- Free MLA citation generator.

Mendeley - Free, downloadable "reference manager".

Zotero-   Free, open source tool to help you collect, organize, and cite your research sources.

KnightCite - Maintained by the Heckman Library at Calvin College. Cite in APA, MLA, and Chicago.

UCSU Citation Builder - Created and managed by NCSU Libraries. Cite in APA, MLA, and Chicago.

Reference Management Tools

• Zotero Basics This is a 3 part tutorial by Kimberly Kemp, Research & Instruction Librarian introducing the basics of using Zotero to manage your references and citing while you write.
• Mendeley Basics This is a 3-part tutorial on the basics of using Mendeley by Research & Instruction Librarian Kimberly Kemp.
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Free APA Citation Generator

Generate citations in APA format quickly and automatically, with MyBib!

🤔 What is an APA Citation Generator?

An APA citation generator is a software tool that will automatically format academic citations in the American Psychological Association (APA) style.

It will usually request vital details about a source -- like the authors, title, and publish date -- and will output these details with the correct punctuation and layout required by the official APA style guide.

Formatted citations created by a generator can be copied into the bibliography of an academic paper as a way to give credit to the sources referenced in the main body of the paper.

👩‍🎓 Who uses an APA Citation Generator?

College-level and post-graduate students are most likely to use an APA citation generator, because APA style is the most favored style at these learning levels. Before college, in middle and high school, MLA style is more likely to be used. In other parts of the world styles such as Harvard (UK and Australia) and DIN 1505 (Europe) are used more often.

🙌 Why should I use a Citation Generator?

Like almost every other citation style, APA style can be cryptic and hard to understand when formatting citations. Citations can take an unreasonable amount of time to format manually, and it is easy to accidentally include errors. By using a citation generator to do this work you will:

• Save a considerable amount of time
• Ensure that your citations are consistent and formatted correctly
• Be rewarded with a higher grade

In academia, bibliographies are graded on their accuracy against the official APA rulebook, so it is important for students to ensure their citations are formatted correctly. Special attention should also be given to ensure the entire document (including main body) is structured according to the APA guidelines. Our complete APA format guide has everything you need know to make sure you get it right (including examples and diagrams).

⚙️ How do I use MyBib's APA Citation Generator?

Our APA generator was built with a focus on simplicity and speed. To generate a formatted reference list or bibliography just follow these steps:

• Start by searching for the source you want to cite in the search box at the top of the page.
• MyBib will automatically locate all the required information. If any is missing you can add it yourself.
• Your citation will be generated correctly with the information provided and added to your bibliography.
• Repeat for each citation, then download the formatted list and append it to the end of your paper.

MyBib supports the following for APA style:

Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.

Reference management. Clean and simple.

How to format your references using the Educational Action Research citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Educational Action Research. For a complete guide how to prepare your manuscript refer to the journal's instructions to authors .

• Using reference management software

Typically you don't format your citations and bibliography by hand. The easiest way is to use a reference manager:

• Journal articles

Those examples are references to articles in scholarly journals and how they are supposed to appear in your bibliography.

Not all journals organize their published articles in volumes and issues, so these fields are optional. Some electronic journals do not provide a page range, but instead list an article identifier. In a case like this it's safe to use the article identifier instead of the page range.

• Books and book chapters

Here are examples of references for authored and edited books as well as book chapters.

Sometimes references to web sites should appear directly in the text rather than in the bibliography. Refer to the Instructions to authors for Educational Action Research .

This example shows the general structure used for government reports, technical reports, and scientific reports. If you can't locate the report number then it might be better to cite the report as a book. For reports it is usually not individual people that are credited as authors, but a governmental department or agency like "U. S. Food and Drug Administration" or "National Cancer Institute".

• Theses and dissertations

Theses including Ph.D. dissertations, Master's theses or Bachelor theses follow the basic format outlined below.

• News paper articles

Unlike scholarly journals, news papers do not usually have a volume and issue number. Instead, the full date and page number is required for a correct reference.

• In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by name and year in parentheses :

Here are examples of in-text citations with multiple authors:

• Two authors: (Bekerman and Einav 2015)
• Three authors: (Nam, Park, and Ko 2012)
• 4 or more authors: (Stone et al. 2007)
• About the journal

• Other styles
• Current Opinion in Microbiology
• Chemosphere
• Computational Cognitive Science

Zuckerberg claims social media isn’t harmful to mental health—here’s what the science says

• Social Media and Internet

Appeared in The Hill

By Mitchell J. Prinstein, PhD

The following article appeared February 9, 2024, in The Hill .

Last week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the Senate Judiciary Committee that there is no link between social media and negative mental health outcomes among young people.

Zuckerberg’s statement was met with disbelief by many on the committee, who are all too familiar with stories of children enduring cyberbullying, extortion over explicit photos, and social media posts that glorify or encourage harmful and unhealthy practices. Moments later, he then had to face the parents of children who had been harmed by that same social media and apologize to them.

To support his claim, Meta later referred reporters to the American Psychological Association’s 2023 Health Advisory on Social Media Use in Adolescence (PDF, 431KB) as evidence. We agree with Zuckerberg when he said that it’s “important to look at the science”—as psychologists, we have actually done so. And as APA’s chief science officer and a longtime researcher into the impact of social media on kids, I can say that Zuckerberg cherry-picked data to suit his purposes.

The APA advisory, which was based on the best available science, showed that social media is related to psychological harm through online discrimination, prejudice, hate and cyberbullying. Research also has found that young people face serious risks when they are exposed to content about self-harm, harm to others or eating disorders. But what is key to know is that the advisory also outlined the science behind why certain features, functions and content on social media can be harmful to young people, whose brains  have not yet fully developed .

The potential for harm is baked into Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms if young people use them as intended. Counts of followers or likes exploit children’s innate desire for social reward and their need to feel accepted by their peers. The endless scroll of posts challenges children’s ability to limit their social media use and time spent on screens before brain development in neural inhibition centers have fully developed. Friending and direct messaging functions may expose minors to predators. Research also shows that ongoing engagement on social media platforms are the primary cause of youths’ sleep deprivation, which has substantial consequences for adolescents’ mood, academic performance, and even the size and function of their developing brains.

Social media can have some benefits, such as promoting socialization, emotional intimacy and peer support, especially for kids from marginalized groups or who live in isolated areas. But we all need to be aware of the shortcomings and dangers of social media if we want our children to safely access those benefits.

Social media companies could do much more to minimize harm for young people, and dismissing the mental health dangers while standing in front of grieving parents and Congress didn’t help make their case. Zuckerberg said “no one should have to go through the things that your families have suffered”—it’s in his and the other tech CEOs power to make that a reality, by building in more age-appropriate controls, removing harmful content, making their data more available to outside researchers, and educating both young people and their parents about the risks of their products.

The adolescent years are crucial for brain development. The way that the teen brain matures makes this entire life stage a risky period for social media use, which social media developers must take into account. While social media is not the cause of the youth mental health crisis, it is exacerbating mental health concerns in many young people during their teen years, simply by using these platforms in exactly the way they are intended to be used.

This problem will not be solved by limiting access to these apps on mobile devices. Real change requires modifying the features and functions of the social media apps themselves, and for tech developers to prioritize the psychological health of children more than making a profit from the data they extract from minors.

The majority of the social media CEOs who faced the Senate committee this week declined to voice support for any of the proposed solutions making their way through Congress. They do so at their peril. These companies have demonstrated a lack of will to police themselves; it is past time for social media companies to implement processes to protect our kids.

How many more times will Zuckerberg apologize before real change is made?

Mitch Prinstein, PhD, is chief science officer of the American Psychological Association.