The revolution in technology has affected many aspects of lives and could have an impact on the aggressive behavior being witnessed in children. There are new media platforms such as Televisions and video games and their effect on children is being examined, bearing in mind that some children spend even more than 25hours in a week playing video games (Carnagey, Anderson " Bushman, 2007).
GAP
There seems to be no precise information with regards to what the effect of watching or playing violent games on children; the information is necessary to ensure that corrective measures can be taken if necessary.
Impetus
The study aims at assessing the impact which violent video games has on the aggression levels witnessed in children, and this would be compared with the observed effect of watching the same video game (Polman, De Castro " van Aken, 2008).
Research Question
Does playing or watching violent video games induce more aggression in children?
Hypothesis
Based on the literature review and the evidence provided by many researchers, one of the likely assumptions for this study is;
“The violent video games trigger higher aggressive behavior when compared to violent television programs.”
Probably this could be brought about by the fact that when a child is playing the video game, they become the character and tend to control their actions, where rewards are offered for successfully executing specific violent missions. On the other hand, watching programs which depict violence tends to be somewhat passive, and the child does not have any control over the characters (Gentile, Lynch, Linder " Walsh, 2004).
Independent variables
IV Age: The study will assess whether the age of children has any effect on aggressive behavior obtained from playing violent video games or watching
IV Time: The period spent playing video games or watching, and impact on children will be assessed
IV Gender: The study will analyze whether gender has a bearing on the aggressive behavior
Dependent Variables
DV Anxiety: filling questionnaires and observing behavior
DV Aggression: pulse measurement
DV Hostility: completing the survey
How the study is generalized
The study is aimed at representing the entire population. The evidence is that two different schools in the Netherlands are used, where four different classes are examined. The research further obtains samples of children who are of different ages. There are both girls and boys, and the study is done out of school to eliminate the laboratory effect.
Participants
The study included students from four classes who were picked from two schools in the Netherlands. The parents were requested for permission before their children were enjoined in the survey. The choice is to adhere to the ethical standards in research which specify that if a person is an adult, they can make their own decision of joining a study or not, whereas, for children, their parents/ guardians should make the decisions on their behalf. The parents were further given briefs with regards to what the study would entail and why it was important.
The sample included 57 children who represented 56 percent, where parents granted permission for them to be subjects in the study and three children who were only permitted to fill questionnaires by their parents. The definitive and analysis tests were carried out for the 56 children made up of 28 boys and 28 girls (Polman, De Castro " van Aken, 2008). In the sample, thirty-eight children were in fifth grade, whereas the remaining ones were in the sixth grade. The ages for the subjects were between 10 and 13 years. The items were equally tested across the different types of games.
Dependent Measures and scale of measurement
Aggressive tendencies: Nominal range
Anxiety: ordinal
Hostility: ordinal
Type of research
The research was qualitative as it evaluated a certain emotion in children and its trigger. Therefore, it tried to examine the reasons of motivations behind a particular occurrence. The other reason which makes the study qualitative is that there was a focus group and the sample size was rather small.
Validity of the measure
The efficacy of research is assessed in the manner in which the results or data from various measures represent the intended variables. The measures can be said to be valid because they test the children’s attitudes towards playing and watching video games (Bordens " Abbott, 2014. The children scores on various activities are further correlated with other variables used in the study. The validity is confirmed by comparing the measures with those utilized by other researchers on the issue of video games and their effect on aggressive behavior for children.
Reliability of the measure
In this aspect, the validity of this study is confirmed by the consistency witnessed across various times, across the multiple subjects and further across numerous researchers. The measures revealed that boys behaved more aggressively when compared to the girls. The test is entirely consistent with other work as evidenced by the literature reviewed.
Validity of the study
The study is valid because the researcher focused on controlling variables effectively. Regarding internal validity, the subjects were variable because both boys and girls were involved. The other aspect was that children of different ages took part in the study ranging from 10-13 years (Polman, De Castro " van Aken, 2008). The sample was small and quite manageable for a focused review. There was plenty of time given for the subjects, and this ensured that the right observations and data collection strategies could take place. Regarding external validity, the study assessed children from two different schools in four classes which provide a wide range of results. The other observation was that most of the tests were carried out of school and as such the study is externally valid (Gentile, Lynch, Linder " Walsh, 2004).
References
Bordens, K. S., " Abbott, B. B. (2014). Research design and methods: A process approach. McGraw-Hill.
Carnagey, N. L., Anderson, C. A., " Bushman, B. J. (2007). The effect of video game violence on physiological desensitization to real-life violence. Journal of experimental social psychology, 43(3), 489-496.
Gentile, D. A., Lynch, P. J., Linder, J. R., " Walsh, D. A. (2004). The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent hostility, aggressive behaviors, and school performance. Journal of adolescence, 27(1), 5-22.
Polman, H., De Castro, B. O., " van Aken, M. A. (2008). Experimental study of the differential effects of playing versus watching violent video games on children's aggressive behavior. Aggressive behavior, 34(3), 256-264.
