1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Information The impact of computer games on students is an issue that raises a lot of concerns among the stakeholders in the education sector. Most of the parents and teachers have linked the poor performance of students with the obsession of the students to these electronic games (Schmidt & Vanderwater 2008, P. 3). However, views from different schools of thoughts have identified electronic games to be one of the most efficient ways which students can spend their leisure time if well-coordinated (Craton 2012, p. 1) Nevertheless, these games are very addictive particularly to the young as they find them interesting more than books. In addition, in the past few years, interactive electronic media has advanced rapidly. Moreover, the technology is now majorly used as entertainment by youths (Craton 2012, p. 1). Most of the students in our modern society prefer to spend their leisure time on their computers rather than playing in the field (Allison, et al., 2006, p.1). With the growing trend of education that is computer based where notes from lecturers are read using computers more and more concern is increasing giving into consideration that the same computers are equipped with the computer games programs that are tempting to students than reading (Craton 2012, p. 1). Moreover, education research has evolved to that it is based more on the internet making the student spend more time on their computers than their books. Like any other institution, in Liverpool international college in the UK, there are also concerns about the effects of the video games on the students academic performance. Acquiring the general knowledge on the impact of the games on the students can help the administration to decide the right course of action to take. In addition, the study will contribute to knowing whether the games also affect the students social life. To determine the game playing habits of LIC video game players. To determine the time taken by student to play video games in a day compared to studying. To determine whether gender is a factor in game playing habits and what their effects are. 1.3 Research Questions What kind of video games do LIC students play, and when do they play them? To what extent do LIC students believe that video games playing affect their academic performance? To what extent do results vary according to gender? 2.1 Introduction This chapter focuses on the secondary sources of information for the study. Certain criterion was employed to help the researcher focus on particular details. The following criteria was applied- research covering information on; the personality types, the perception of achievement and how it relates to video game playing and lastly the learning approaches associated with video game playing. 2.2 Personality types Society in general, has always associated poor performance in education with playing video games. A study conducted in 2012 involving 671 college students, collected information about their history of school performance and video games usage. The study found out that there is a link between video game playing and students Grade point Average (GPA). Interestingly, the findings varied by gender. In addition, the students who play video games testified that they often preferred playing the games to doing homework (Burgess, Stermer, and Burgess, 2012, p.1). Like in the previous study where findings varied by gender, they also varied in this study conducted by Eow & Baki (2009), which found 91.3% boys gamers and 54.1% girl gamers (p. 1082). The study found that the players spent approximately 8.47 hours per week playing the video games. All in all, the study seemingly endorsed the suspicions of both parents and teachers that video game playing ate into the academic performance of the students, as it found out that there is an impact between video game playing on students poor academic performance. However, the same study cautioned against always pointing a finger towards video games as the relationship that was found was quite weak, indicating that there are other factors besides video games that could be affecting students performance. In another study involving 438 video game players, it was found that the players elicited various behaviors that were characteristics related to addiction (Oggins and Sammis 2012). In the study, players mentioned that their playing interferes with other activities such as work and socializing. The same report is supported by research findings of the American Psychological Association APA which in its study found out that video games, especially violent video games have a positive effect on the behavior of its players with reported increase in aggression, decrease in pro-social behavior, empathy and sensitivity to aggression (Anderson & Karen 2000, p. 722). In the study by Oggins & Sammis (2012), they also found some negative signs such as tolerance and withdrawal symptoms. However, some of the participants thought it was not possible to be addicted to the video games. The survey reiterated that playing a lot was related to computer games addiction (Oggins & Sammis 2012, P.1), an issue which could negatively affect other daily activities, such as studies, sleeping, among others, by eating into their time. 2.3 Perception of Achievement Nonetheless, some studies indicate that performance can be improved depending on the type of the games played. A study that examined the impact of mathematical video games on learning suggested some positive relationship. The study involved 58 participants from urban middle schools and each individual was assigned experimental condition (Plass et al 2013, p. 1). In the study, it was found out that the overall math fluency improved significantly. The major weakness of the studies is that they focus on the students in the lower primary and high school, hence raising doubts whether the same can apply to students of higher learning, such as college and university students given that majority of them are adults. Additionally, the influence on students in college by these games on social interaction is expected to be lower compared to children. Moreover, in colleges, given that most of the students are adults who have abilities to be rational in their thinking; the influence caused by violent games is expected to be lower as compared to influence on children and growing teenagers. Therefore, conclusion on the effect of video games on academic performance of college students cannot be entirely relied upon by using the current literature. 2.4 Learning Approaches A study by Eow & Baki (2009) that aimed at finding the relation between computer games and students academic achievements found out some positive results. The survey interviewed 236 form one students from a Malaysian Secondary School. The research was inspired and stimulated by the rising number of students and children in general who play video games. It is not even a wonder that the study found out that a whopping 75.8% of the participants agreed that they were gamers. The American Psychological Association (APA) in their 2013 study of the impact of video games on school going children found out that playing video games, including violent shooter games, may boost childrens learning, health and social skills (APA, 2013, Para. 1). These findings came about that time when the debate on the effect of video games had intensified and the public left in confusion wondering which side holds water. But the negative side of video games, especially on the academic performance was almost endearing, thus causing the notable opponents of video-games, including some group of parents, teachers and the government, to gain ground in this debate. But the recent comprehensive study by the APA shows otherwise, that indeed, allowed to play video games in a controlled manner, students could exponentially improve their academic performance. While still acknowledging the past research indicating the negative effects of gaming, such as aggressive behavior and addiction, the APA study adopted a more balanced perspective which focused on the psychological impacts the technical side of video games causes on gamers. The APA study found out that; one, although video game playing is mostly associated with laziness, it actually boosts the gamers cognitive skills, such as perception, spatial navigation, memory and reasoning, among others (APA, 2013). And two, that these cognitive skills impact are most common among the violent video game players, as it is in such games that the cognitive skills of, say, remembering the shooting buttons, the kick buttons, the running and hiding tactics, are engaged, thus enabling the gamer to sharpen such skills which do come in handy even in real life. According to the study, This has critical implications for education and career development, as previous research has established the power of spatial skills for achievement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, (APA, 2013, Para 4). 2.5 Conclusion Available research on this topic indicates that as much as there are negative effects of video games implicated on school going children and their academic performance, some positive effects on the same are also evident. Among the notable negative impacts include addiction caused by too much playing video games such that the players eat into their study time. However, in the contrary is the finding that video games, especially the action packed violent games, have the potential of improving the gamers cognitive skills, important in their academics. The essence of this paper is thus to untie this knot by using LIC students. The hypothetical argument raised here is that video game playing does not lead to poor academic performance, rather it alleviates them. 3.0 Methodologies 3.1 Introduction This chapter dwelled on the method of conducting the research, from the approach used, the type of research design employed, to the methods of data collection, ethical issues to be considered, the limitations of the study and finally how the presentation is to be made. 3.2 Research Design The research was mainly descriptive meaning that it focused on describing the relationship between video game playing and the academic performance of Liverpool International College students. The description was concrete rather than abstract meaning that it went further in finding out not only the said relationship between the video game playing and academic performance, but also other relationships, such as that of the gender factor. The research design used in this research was qualitative research. According to Denzin & Lincoln (2003, 4-5) qualitative research refers to a situated activity that locates the observer to the world. Qualitative research method not only helped the researcher to collect opinionated data, it also helped him understand the underlying issue of video games and academic performance better. Qualitative research method involves the analysis of both primary and secondary sources of information (Hox & Boeije 2005, p. 595). Secondary sources include empirical studies, mainly past published research in journals and textbooks, while primary sources include data collected up-close and candid from the subjects, mainly by using questionnaires. This study drew information from both the primary and secondary sources, where in the secondary sources it used both text books and peer reviewed articles; and in the primary, it mainly used questionnaires. The secondary sources must include relevant information to the study, that is, information related to the impact of video games on academic performance. Sources holding the statistics of video games players, especially students and the pattern of their behavior on how they allocate time for studies and time for play were of high importance for this study. Also of interest in this study, was the information talking about the gender disparity between male video game players and female video game players and some of the possible reasons how those differences could be translated into the academic performance. The questionnaires were open-ended to help the researcher get all the opinion from participants because these types of questionnaires are not limited to yes or no answers. Moreover, through open-ended questionnaires, personal feelings about the gamers were known as they engaged in the interview. In addition, individuals will also have an opportunity to explain some of the experiences they have had in life through video game playing. Furthermore, the study focused on the intensive analysis of the effects of the video games to students in Liverpool college hence quantitative analysis will limit the study. The questions were structured in a manner that drew meaningful information from the respondents for the purpose of the research objectives. 3.3 Research Methods A population of n= 60 students was randomly selected for the aim of collecting the primary information. For the purpose of gender parity 50% was male and 50% female. 3.3.1 Focus Groups Focus groups refer to a specified group or niche that researchers in a study focus on with an aim of obtaining representative information for the entire study area. In order to arrive at a focus group, preliminary interviews were conducted to further subdivide the group. Here, the population was divided into those that play video games occasionally and those that play on regular basis. The assumption here was that at least all respondents have played a video game and that they at least play it occasionally, either on their phones, their TVs or on their computers. 3.3.2 Questionnaires The questionnaires were dished to designated points within LIC where the respondents will be subjected to a 20-minute session of answering the questions. The first point was the gate and parking area; the second point was in the students meeting areas such as around the cafeteria area, while the third one will be at the hostel area and passage to the hostels. The questions were open-ended so as not to limit the individuals opinion. The participants were first recruited and told about the study so as to make sure that the answer the questions relevantly to the topic. All the relevant questions in regard to the research objectives and questions were included in the questionnaire questions. The data was analyzed and presented by means of suitable statistical techniques, including tabulation, graphs and pie-charts. The following process was followed in the entire data analysis procedure: the first 1 week was spent designing the study questions and objectives; the following 3 weeks collecting primary and secondary information; the next 1 week evaluating success of the study; and the final 3 weeks analyzing and presenting the final information. 3.5 Ethical Consideration To respond to examination performance and experience is private information. Some individual felt uneasy to answer to that given that they may share some information about their friends. Thus, the first ethical issue to be considered was that of ensuring the researchers have gone through the right procedure, including applying and getting the approval of the Institutional Review Board (IRB), and also the application and approval of the LIC for interviewing its students. Almost similarly, the researchers also informed the whole student fraternity about the ongoing study and voluntary participation is highly encouraged. Secondly, to guarantee safety and privacy issues of the participants, need of their names on the questionnaires was to be optional and also approaching them was done in a polite manner. Moreover, individuals were recruited before they participated so that to ensure they know the topic and what is expected of them, essentially in handling the respondents. Thirdly, the collection of secondary information was also done professionally, essentially by considering legal issues, such as copyright, through correct citations and references. Finally, the researchers agreed to take responsibility of any arising issues related to the study. Research limitations refer to the characteristics of design or research methods that affect the interpretation of findings of that research (Lebaree, 2009). They are generally the constraint factors that influence the researchers decisions into applying particular methods or design of the research. The first limitation in this study is the financial constraints which limited the researchs ability to cover as much respondents as possible. As much as the research also wished to cover the entire LIC School, it was very expensive to print all copies for each student. So the research will have to focus on a specific focus group of a limited number of respondents n = 60 students. Time was also a limitation in this study, as there was only about two months to complete. Although there is sufficient studies on the research topic, the same is highly sensitive to changes in the society, thus subject to constant research reviews that required the researcher to have up-to-date information. The problem is this up-to-date information was not readily available from the school library. However, the researcher attempted to avoid this limitation by relying more on the relevant, but reliable internet sources, such as journal articles, peer-reviewed articled and published books. 3.7 Conclusion The study will focus primary information drawn from LIC, which will comprise of the personal opinions of the respondents. This information will form the basis of the research mainly because it will contain the directly required information for meeting the research objectives and also answering the research questions. However, it will also apply the secondary information from past studies to prop the current findings and hypothesis. Comprising of 60 students, the respondents will be randomly picked for both ethical reasons and accuracy of facts required by the study. Bibliography Allison, SE, Wahlde, LV, Shockley, T, & Gabbard, GO 2006, The Development of the Self in the Era of the Internet, American Journal of Psychiatry, 381-385 Anderson, CA and Karen ED 2000, Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life, Journal of personality and social psychology vol. 78, no. 4 p. 772. APA (2013). Video Games Play May Provide Learning, Health, Social Benefits, Review Finds. Retrieved June 3, 2016 from http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2013/11/video-games.aspx Burgess, SR, Stermer, SP and Burgess, MC, 2012, Video game is playing and academic performance in college students, College Student Journal, vol. 46, no. 2, p.376. Craton, J, 2012, The Effect of Videogames on Student Achievement, http://www.acsd.org/article/the-effect-of-videogames-on-student-achievement/ [Accessed 20 Feb. 2016]. Denzin, NK & Lincoln, YS 2003, The Landscape of Qualitative of Qualitative Research: Theories and Issues, 2nd ed. London, Sage Publications. Emes, CE, 1997, Is Mr. Pac Man eating our children? A review of the effect of video games on children, Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 409-414 Eow, YL and Baki, R, 2009, Form one students engagement with computer games and its effect on their academic achievement in a Malaysian secondary school, Computers & Education, vol. 53, no. 4, pp.1082-1091. Hox, JJ and Boeije, HR, 2005, Data collection, primary vs. secondary, Encyclopedia of social measurement, 1, pp.593-599. Labaree, RV 2009, Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: Limitations of the Study. Research Guides. Viewed June 2, 2016 <http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/limitations> Milani, L, Camisasca, E, Caravita, SC, Ionio, C, Miragoli, S and Di Blasio, P, 2015, Violent Video Games and Childrens Aggressive Behaviors, SAGE Open, vol. 5, no. 3, p.215. Oggins, J and Sammis, J, 2012, Notions of video game addiction and their relation to self-reported addiction among players of world of war craft, International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, vol. 10, no. 2, pp.210-23 Plass, JL, OKeefe, PA, Homer, BD, Case, J, Hayward, EO, Stein, M and Perlin, K, 2013, The impact of individual, competitive, and collaborative mathematics game play on learning, performance, and motivation, Journal of educational psychology, vol. 105, no. 4, p.1050. Schmidt, ME and Vandewater, EA, 2008, Media and attention, cognition, and school achievement,The Future of Children,vol. 18, no. 1, pp.63-85.
Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.
[order_calculator]