Relationship between Violent Games and Violent Youth Behaviors - Research Proposal Example

Running Head: Research on Relationship between violent games and violent Youth Behaviors Name: University: Course: Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Abstract 3 OVERVIEW OF AND RATIONALE FOR RESEARCH DESIGN 4 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS 4 The BALLI Questionnaire 5 Rationale 5 Format of the BALLI Questionnaire 5 HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY 6 Piloting of the Likert-type Questionnaire 6 The respondent group to the questionnaire in the pilot testing phase 7 RESPONDENTS 7 Respondents to the Questionare 7 The respondent groups to the questionnaire in the actual experiment phase 8 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES 8 Data Collection Procedures for the Likert-Type Questionnaire 8 Research Findings 9 Conclusion 9 Evidence of the conclusion 10 Appendix 10 Abstract This proposal aims at tackling issues that involve violence especially among the young adult which has been witnessed not only in the United States but all over the world. It is clear that victims of abuse have a likely hood of being violent or indulge in criminal activities later in life compared to those who have not been involved in violence. It is also worth to note that domestic abuse as a result of poor parenting or divorces have different effects on young girls and boys. Boys tend to express their disappointment by being violent and turning violent even when they are still young. On the other side girls tend to hide them in themselves and in the process destabilizing their emotional feelings which later translates to lack of appetite and suicidal thoughts. The proposal aims at exploring researches by other people and comparing what was found out in the past with the current findings (Moffitt, 1993). Its purpose is trying to empirically examine whether there is a relationship between violent video games and the violent attitude of young people. More so, it is essential to note that other aspects of the community are generally affected by poor parenting and abuse which result to violence on young people. The society suffers as a whole since they loose young and productive people to drug and alcohol abuse. Increase in substance usage and irresponsible abuse of alcohol among the young adult is mainly because of poor parenting and child violence in early age. Such mistreatment has a larger impact that results in misbehavior at adulthood. Early sexual indulgement, transmitting of diseases and other forms of immorality are due to such treatments. There are however some extreme cases that are normally shown by victims of child abuse,such cases include crimes and other forms of violence that harm the entire community and the country as well. The purpose of this research is to empirically examine whether there is a relationship between violent video games and the violent attitude of young people(Maugin & Loeber, 1996). OVERVIEW OF AND RATIONALE FOR RESEARCH DESIGN As stated above, the purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between violent video games and the violent attitude of young people and to investigate the extent of congruency between this beliefs. Accordingly, this research falls in the category of 'non-experimental quantitative descriptive study'. Non-experimental quantitative descriptive designs are usually used with research in which quantitative independent variables (e.g. intelligence, aptitude, motivation, etc.) can not be manipulated, either because it is impossible to manipulate them or because it would be unethical to do so. This is why they are known as non-experimental studies. The study is quantitative because one of the goals is to assess the beliefs of youth and society regarding the effects of violent games. The study is descriptive because the overriding aim of it is to "provide an accurate description or picture of the status or characteristics of a situation or phenomenon" (Johnson & Christensen, 2004:347). The most common method of collecting data in such research is the 'cross-sectional' method where data are collected at "a single point in time or during a single relatively brief time period" (Johnson & Christensen, 2004:343). DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS For the sake of data collection and finding appropriate answers to the research questions, one data collection instrument was used by the researcher (see Appendices A for the actual instrument). This instrument is a Likert-type questionnaire that was originally developed and standardized by Horwitz (1985) to assess the relationship between violent games and violent attitudes displayed by the youth. The following sections will describe the rationale for, format, modifications and piloting of such an instrument. The BALLI Questionnaire Rationale Of the most important and useful quantitative and qualitative data collection instruments are questionnaires. Although there are many types of questionnaires, identifying the appropriate type usually depends, to a far extent, on the purpose(s) of it. In this study, the BALLI inventory which is a five-point Likert-type questionnaire was most suitable for the purpose of (1) collecting quantitative data from young people about their perception on violence and the level of exposure to violent games, and consequently, (2) providing descriptive data to find appropriate answers to the three Research Questions (i.e. What is the relationship between use of violent video games, and attitude towards violence; ‘Violent video games have a disadvantage relationship on people’s attitude of violence. (People play more violent video games, they have higher agreement of violence.); 'and ‘People play violent video games longer, they are easier to produce anger, revenge, and attack emotions.’ Another rationale for adopting this kind of scales lies in the high reliability of scores they provide and the variety of data they produce especially when they are appropriately developed and administered (Dornyei, 2003; Johnson & Christensen, 2004; Nard, 2006). Format of the BALLI Questionnaire The main purpose of the BALLI questionnaire was to collect such quantitative data as those concerned with youth and societal beliefs on violence. For this purpose, Horwitz's BALLI questionnaire (1985) was adopted by the researcher. The questionnaire consists of 3 questions namely (1) There is a relationship between use of violent video games, and attitude towards violence? (2 Violent video games have a disadvantage relationship on people’s attitude of violence. (People play more violent video games, they have higher agreement of (3) People play violent video games longer, they are easier to produce anger, revenge, and attack emotions. Moreover, it is a five-point Likert scale that touched the aspects of gaming and the effect its has on the youth. The students answered by choosing among five options: ‘I strongly agree', ‘I agree’, ‘Neither Agree nor Disagree’, ‘I disagree’ and ‘I strongly disagree’. To suit the study goals and setting, some modifications were made to the questionnaire. For example, the questions were 'multiple-choice' format rather than an 'agreement' one. They were. Another crucial modification was the simplification of the English language used in the questionnaire to guarantee the appropriateness of the instrument for the language and thinking levels of youths at their age stages. This, consequently, added to the validity of the data obtained as they were supposed to be basically attributed to the student’s beliefs (i.e. the data will not be affected by such internal validity threats as instrumentation, administration or sample maturation). At the final stage, the questionnaire was of one part. It included a brief introduction about the questionnaire, its goal and the items. HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY There is a direct relationship between violent video games and the violent attitude of young people. Youths who play violent video games have been found to engage in criminal cases such as theft, drugs, rape among others. Young people are exposed to violent and aggressive scenes from their early age thus developing into violent and aggressive citizens who act in inhumane manners. This can also lead to suicide and suicide attempts which are common in in such youth. Piloting of the Likert-type Questionnaire The aim of piloting a survey instrument, in general, is to obtain adequate feedback about how the instrument works and whether it meets the objective(s) it has been designed for. In this study, piloting the questionnaire, also, aimed to assess the assumed hypothesis and whether the directions and items were comprehensible to the respondents in order to make suitable alternations and refine the final version of the questionnaire. Therefore, the questionnaire was pilot tested on 20 students. The respondents included a similar number of males and females (i.e. a male and female) to avoid gender bias. The staff members were selected using convenience sampling. Each of the question s were asked to the group Table (3.1.) maps out such groups in detail. TABLE (3.1.) The respondent group to the questionnaire in the pilot testing phase I strongly agree' I agree Neither Agree nor Disagree’ I disagree I strongly disagree Questions Question 1 15 7 4 2 1 Question 2 13 12 3 1 1 Question 3 11 13 3 2 1 RESPONDENTS The target population of this study included Bond University students who are 18 to 25 years old. All participants are obtained by asking randomly in the library. Respondents are asked to complete a questionnaire with a chocolate or candy. A total of 30 respondents would be collected in this survey. This survey was operated in three days. Respondents to the Questionare 30 participants were selected at random for the purposes of the study. TABLE (3.2.) The respondent groups to the questionnaire in the actual experiment phase I strongly agree' I agree Neither Agree nor Disagree’ I disagree I strongly disagree Questions Question 1 12 8 6 1 3 Question 2 10 13 4 2 1 Question 3 13 8 7 1 1 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES Data collection began in Tuesday, November 16, 2010 and extended to Thursday, 18, 2010. Data Collection Procedures for the Likert-Type Questionnaire Distributed by hand, the questionnaire was administered to respondents at their convenience and began in May, 2010 and extended over June, 2010. The respondents were asked to read and rate each statement in accordance with the following 5-point scale: 'I strongly agree', ‘I agree’, 'Neither agree nor Disagree', ‘I disagree’ and ‘I strongly disagree'. In addition, they were requested to respond to the three questions by choosing from five options. The 5-point scale was used to identify the agreement degree for each item that reflected their beliefs and consequent relationship between violent games and the niolent behavior witnessed in young people. To ensure confidentiality and to conform to ethical guidelines for conducting research, the respondents were not required to write their names on the questionnaire; i.e. it was completed anonymously. Retrieving the questionnaires, the researcher analyzed them to determine the group’s response. Research Findings The research finding, indicate that indeed violent videogames had an effect on the behavior of those who played the games for long periods of time. Through the questions we were able to establish that there was causal relationship between playing shooting game as the first person (Major) and activity pattern characteristic of aggressive behavior. It was also established that Playing video games that has violent themes can increase the aggressive feelings, thought and behavior. Engaging in such games influences the player’s mind into violence the reason unto which several youths who happen to be the main consumers of these violent video games tend to be aggressive and engage in violent acts. The research touched on the experience of the students with violent video games and any past aggressive delinquent acts. In addition, the questions were also able to reveal the personal characteristic of aggressiveness amongst the respondents to determine how that related to the other variable. We found out that, students who had reportedly engaged in more violent behaviors had previously engaged in playing violent video games. Besides, this relationship was made even stronger by aggressiveness and students who spent longer times playing violent video games performed poorly in college (Bartholow & Anderson, 2002).Thus the authors concluded from this study that violent video games have an influence on aggressive behavior of some players in the perspective of real life through observation. Conclusion Several violent video games are characterized by masculinity and power. The character dominated by the video games acts a hero and is empowered to kill and take control of others such as in Mortal combat. Possession of power and male chauvinism is also represented in the video games. This manipulated the minds of the player who may later be motivated to act a hero in some instances in real life. In majority of the games, women are portrayed as sex objects (Mark, 2008). The male characters fight with the woman and rape her to show victory. This may also influence the perception of the male player towards women as sex objects (Bartholow & Anderson, 2002) For instance in the famous Grand Theft Auto, the gamer is haves sex with a prostitute and can later beat them up or kill her and get back his cash. Thus this puts in the minds of a player that it is right to rape just as it influences the players to engage in other forms of violence such as shooting (Mark, 2008). This may influence youths to engage in party rapes and such (Bartholow & Anderson, 2002). The cold blood murders and guts that are portrayed in these video games are also dangerous in the life of the youth. They may lose that humane feeling and may engage in cold blood murders such as shooting, stabbing or strangling of peers as their minds are polluted by the themes in the video games that they play. Hence video games are responsible for increased youth violence in our society. Evidence of the conclusion In the shooting incident that occurred in April 1999 at Littleton Columbine High School in Colorado, the participants, Dylan Klebold and Erick Harris enjoyed playing video games that had violent themes and this might have played a role in the violent act that they committed to their fellow students (Jack & Mark 2001). One of the shooters, Eric had even transformed a version of the violent game “Doom” and put it on his website. In this modified version, there were extra weapons and only two shooters with the other people in the game not being able to shoot back. Thus, Eric and his friend Klebold acted out this version on innocent fellow students. Appendix Instruction You are asked to answer 15 questions in a survey, which is conducted by Weiquan Yan. This is a communication research survey. You must be older than 18 years old to participate. This survey is in order to research the relationship between use of violent video games, and attitude towards violence. You will receive a chocolate or candy after participating in this survey. This is a complete voluntary and anonymous survey, all information you private will be only used in this study. Please feel free to ask the test administrator about any questions or concerns about this research. If this survey undesignedly causes psychological harm for you, please contact the BUHREC Ethics officer by buhrec@bond.edu.au. Ethics Protocol Number: RO 1011. Questions 1. I have played a video game in the last month. Not at all true of me 1 2 3 4 5 completely true of me 2. I have played video games, such as Postal 2, Grand Theft Auto 3, and Manhunt. Not at all true of me 1 2 3 4 5 completely true of me 3. I have played video games that have a PG or Mature Rating. Not at all true of me 1 2 3 4 5 completely true of me 4. I have played violent games more than other forms games. Not at all true of me 1 2 3 4 5 completely true of me 5. I have played video games for over 3 hours in a day. Not at all true of me 1 2 3 4 5 completely true of me 6. I have played video games for more than 5 years. Not at all true of me 1 2 3 4 5 completely true of me 7. I prefer to spend my leisure time on video games. Not at all true of me 1 2 3 4 5 completely true of me 8. I enjoy playing violent video games. Not at all true of me 1 2 3 4 5 completely true of me 9. I feel angry often. Not at all true of me 1 2 3 4 5 completely true of me 10. I think violence is a good method for people to solve problems. Not at all true of me 1 2 3 4 5 completely true of me 11. Sometimes I think people can use aggressive behaviors or language to communicate with others. Not at all true of me 1 2 3 4 5 completely true of me 12. Sometimes, I think people are easy being attacked by others. Not at all true of me 1 2 3 4 5 completely true of me 13. I think violence is a legitimate power for people. Not at all true of me 1 2 3 4 5 completely true of me 14. I think violence is powerful. Not at all true of me 1 2 3 4 5 completely true of me 15. I feel excited when I see some violent behaviors or content. Not at all true of me 1 2 3 4 5 completely true of me Read More