Scientific Method Applied:

[BSG]

I am looking to conduct a study of my own. No, I am not looking to be as inhumanly perfect as I can. Some data will be better than any data. Once I put my findings out, as the scientific process has shown, someone can easily dismiss my findings if they conduct their own. Scrutiny is science.

Help me develop this hypothesis so that it remains reasonably testable. Yes, I could do a very very comprehensive experiment, but I don't have the resources. What can I do that is within bounds of a small budget, and is as unbiased as possible?


Question:
Can one be influenced by a video game?

Hypothesis:
Children with developed cognitive abilities will exhibit behaviors of projection regardless of a media’s context. This projection will likely be inherently violent due to social context.

Experiment:
An equal number of boys and girls ages 5-10 will be given 3 media experiences in which their reactions will be recorded. The children will be sampled in isolation, groups of 3, and with an adult present.

Media 1: Television

Children will be asked to watch a video of a protagonist having a menial item taken from them by an antagonist. The video will then ask how the protagonist is going to react.

Media 2: Picture Book

Children will be shown a picture book about bullying. The last page will ask them to draw or explain the rest of the story.

Media 3: Videogame

Children will be asked to play a videogame in which the antagonist is Noah who is traveling through his arc, collecting animals. Goats are pacified with food projectiles. (Re-skin of doom engine.)


I am NOT a practiced scientist! I am simply trying to apply the scientific method.

[Jabrwock]

Shouldn't the situation in each media portrayal be the same to allow for the "context" of the action to be independant of the media?

For example:

-A video where the protagonist is bullied
-A story about the protagonist being bullied
-A video game where your character is bullied

or

-A video where the protagonist bullies someone else
-A story about the protagonist bullying someone
-A video game where you bully an NPC

or

-A video game where you attack a (clearly defined) bad guy vs a video game where you attack a good guy.
-A video where you watch a good guy attack a bad guy, vs a bad guy attacking a good guy
-A story about a good guy attacking a bad guy vs a bad guy attacking a good guy

That way you can better judge if their reaction to the stimuli is a result of their expectations of how things are "solved" in each medium.

[Xlorep DarkHelm]

There should also be a base-case done -- where an individual actually experiences those situations in real life. Otherwise, there could be doubt as to the validity of the rest of the cases.

While we're at it, don't forget about listening to a song about bullying or being bullied, or playing a roleplaying game about it.

[Jabrwock]

While we're at it, don't forget about listening to a song about bullying or being bullied, or playing a roleplaying game about it.Yes, good point. Especially the roleplaying one. Because that's why they claim games are so harmful, because you can "roleplay" the bad guy...

[robbway]

You really want to separate your test cases as much as you can afford. I know this thread is old, but you should include a control group with no media input. Just the kids in a room. All objects in the room should not have media, like words, non-neutral pictures, etc. Things like a ball or a blank scribble-pad with pencils would be pretty neutral.

You should also
note the behavior of each child before the test, during the test, and after the test.
make the time limit the same for all cases. Maybe 15 minutes?
Document your testing methods and data for repeatibility. You want another researcher to take your report, reenact your experiment, and come up with the same results. That way, if the results differ, there has to be a variable introduced that you didn't anticipate.
If you can afford it, use a double-blind method where you, the researcher, do not know which child was in what case.


Keep in mind that psychological testing is always biased. You want to determine if your data leads to your conclusion and matches or disproves your hypothesis.