secondary research

Media Violence

While some games have educational content, many of the most popular games emphasize negative themes and promote:

• The killing of people or animals
• The use and abuse of drugs and alcohol
• Criminal behaviour, disrespect for authority and the law
• Sexual exploitation and violence toward women
• Racial, sexual, and gender stereotypes
• Foul language and obscene gestures

Studies of children exposed to violent media have shown that they may become numb to violence, imitate the violence, and show more aggressive behaviour. Younger children and those with emotional, behavioural or learning problems may be more influenced by violent images.

Spending excessive time playing these games can lead to:

• Less time socializing with friends and family
• Poor social skills
• Time away from family time, school work, and other hobbies
• Lower grades
• Less reading
• Less exercise and becoming overweight
• Decreased sleep and poor-quality sleep
• Aggressive thoughts and behaviours

https://www.aacap.org/aacap/families_and_youth/facts_for_families/fff-guide/Children-and-Video-Games-Playing-with-Violence-091.aspx

•               Over the past 30 years there has been extensive research on the relationship between televised violence and violent behavior among youth. Longitudinal, cross-sectional, and experimental studies have all confirmed this correlation. 

•               Televised violence and the presence of television in American households have increased steadily over the years. In 1950, only 10% of American homes had a television.

•               The typical American child will view more than 200,000 acts of violence, including more than 16,000 murders before age 18

•               Children spend on average 7 hours a day of media in general.

•               Violent video games increase violent thoughts, emotions physiological arousal and creates stress.

https://allpsych.com/journal/violentmedia/

·             Recent research has shown that connections between children playing violent video games can cause later aggressive behavioural problems. 

·             In retrospect studies have also shown a twelve percent increase in aggressive behaviour after watching violent television as well.

·             Research has also shown heavy viewers, which is four or more hours a day, put in less effort at school, have poorer reading skills, play less friendly with friends, have fewer hobbies and activities, and are more likely to be overweight.

·             An industry report estimates that 80% of the audience for the Call of Duty series is male, and 21% is aged 10-14. Going by the 18 rating on the last three entries, that means at least a fifth of the game’s vast audience shouldn’t be playing.

·             More than 90 per cent of children and teens play video games, and researchers say the majority of those games contain some type of violent content.

·             Studies at Middlesex University found that children became more aggressive the longer they played violent computer games. Children as young as four often play games which, if the images were in a film or video, would be against the law.

• Children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others.
• Children may be more fearful of the world around them.
• Children may be more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways toward others.

Validity and Reliability

When doing research, you need to consider validity and reliability. Research is reliable in two different ways: it is reliable when you receive research from a professional in the subject because they have a depth in the understanding. Another way is that the information formed by the professional is not biased because it is checked and reviewed by other professionals. Validity is basically how reasonable your findings are. It also gives value to your findings and makes it more convincing to the reader. You need to make sure that the website you’re collecting is reliable and trust worthy.

Audience Theories

Hypodermic Needle: The hypodermic needle model (also known as the hypodermic-syringe model, transmission-belt model, or magic bullet theory) is a model of transmission recommending that an intended message is directly received and thoroughly accepted by the receiver. The mass media in the 1940s and 1950s were recognized as a strong effect on the behaviour change. People are passive and are having a lot of media material shot at them.

Reception Theory: The reception belief a kind of reader response literary theory that highlights the reader’s reception of a written text. The theory expresses that media texts are encoded by the producer meaning that whoever produces the text fills the product with values and messages. The reader can interpret the text in one of the three ways: Dominant or preferred reading, negotiated reading or oppositional reading.

Uses & Gratification Theory: This theory was made by Elihu and Blulmer and launched the uses and gratification approach when he came up with the idea that people use media to their assistance. In addition, it stated that the audience consumption was based on highly active audience choices & personal preferences. Individuals have different uses for texts, & instead of mindless entertainment, we all expect to get something from it.

Copycat Theory: The copycat theory associates to something which is broadcasted in the media that creates a lot recognition, resulting in other people to emulate, or copy this to have equal level of attention.

Desensitisation Theory: The desensitisation theory assumes that the more violence viewers are revealed to in the media over a duration of time, the less sensitive we become to it. Moreover, the audience’s reactions grow weaker when they are exposed to more death and sex too.

Catharsis: Catharsis is an emotional effect experienced by people who use the media to purge or cleanse negative emotions, such as fear or anger.

Cultivation Theory: The theories attention is more on how the media affects people’s attitudes rather than actions. Over exposure to films/television shows can blur an audiences sense of reality. This theory was invented by George Gerbner. 

6 Research Methods

Limitations and Opportunities

Survey

Survey is one way to receive primary research for the investigation into violence and children. The survey will include questions about what types of games they play, why they like playing those games and more. The limitations of using a survey is that it is time consuming and they don’t want to spend a great deal of time answering questions. Another limitation is that the surveys with closed-ended questions may have a lower validity rate than other question types. The opportunities about using a survey is that you can get a wide range of people to answer the questions and a faster way to deliver them using the internet. Another opportunity is that with questions being asked, there’s the opportunity to extend your answer.

Observation

Observation is another way of receiving primary research for the investigation into violence and children. Observation is when a person is monitoring and witnessing one’s actions or behaviour or an event. The limitation of an observation is that the person you’re observing may be acting fake and not how they usually act, they’ll act in a certain way when there is company. The opportunity about observing is that you get to witness first-hand the actions or reactions of the person observing.

Experiment

Experiments is also part of the primary research category for the investigation into violence and children. The limitation of experiments is that the experiment testing may not be accurate in terms of how many times you test something, unfair results. The opportunity of experiments is that you make the experiment yourself and therefore control how it goes.

Academic Sources

Academic sources are a way of obtaining secondary research for the investigation into violence and children. The limitation of an academic source is that despite the peer review system idiotic and plagiarized material has been published and the language may be difficult to interpret. The opportunity of an academic source is that you get information from professionals.

News reports

News reports is one of the ways of getting secondary research for the investigation into violence and children. The limitation of news reports is that not all the information you collect is not fully trust-worthy or reliable. The opportunity of new reports is that the content applies to this country.

Website

The limitations of using a website to get your research from is that the website may have been edited by random people, for example, Wikipedia. Also, the website may be answers from a different country. 

Defining the Purposes-Keywords

Primary Methods

Primary research is a new research, carried out to answer specific issues or questions. It is basically research collected by yourself. There are different ways of collecting and receiving primary research and the different ways are Surveys, which is asking many people a series of questions in order to congregate information about what they think or do about the given topic. Focus groups are groups that are assembled to discuss about the given topic. Interviews are one on one conversations where one person is asking the other person questions. Observation is when someone is in the process of watching or monitoring something or someone. Questionnaires, which is technically the same thing as a survey but at the end of the questionnaire there aren’t automatic statistics that are gathered after it. And Lastly Experiments, which are interactive procedures that are done to make a discovery, test a hypothesis or demonstrate a known fact.

Secondary Methods

Secondary research is already made information found on a website, academic sources, journals or information from experienced university professors. There are different ways to collect secondary research and this includes news reports, “Big” websites, newspapers magazines and journals. Academic sources are things like books from the library. News reports are things from the guardian or other news sources. The advantage of getting secondary research is that it is information that has already been produced and some have been produced by professionals, but a disadvantage is that not all research information is reliable or trust worthy.

Qualitative

Qualitative is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions and motivations (opinions). The pro of qualitative research is that it is great for test purposes. There's range and plenty of information not possible with quantitative data alone. The con of qualitative research is that moderators are more prone to accusations of bias and personal subjectivity.

Quantitative

Quantitative is a formal, objective, systematic process in which numerical data are used to obtain information about the world. (Statistics). The pro of quantitative is that it allows a broader study, involving a sizable number of subjects, and amplifying the generalisation of the results. The con of quantitative research is that it requires the researcher to form a hypothesis prior to conducting any tests.

Sample

A sample part or quantity intended to show what the whole is like. A sample is a group of people that you use for your primary research.

Open Questions

An open question is likely to receive a long answer. Open questions tend to get more information out of a person because the question is trying to get the person to extend their answer. Open questions are mostly used in interviews and some surveys. They ask the respondent to think and reflect. They will give you opinions and feelings. They hand control of the conversation to the respondent.

Closed Questions

A closed question can be answered with either a single word or a short phrase. Closed questions tend to be simple to answer because it doesn’t really try to get much information out of you; they’re mostly used in surveys and questionnaires. They give you facts. They are easy to answer. They are quick to answer. They keep control of the conversation with the questioner.