Using ANOVA to examine video games' influence on aggressive behavior

ANOVA Test

The focus of this proposal is to use the analysis of variance (ANOVA) to test whether the video games influence behavior. There has been a general public concern on the risk factor of video games on the youth's behavior especially children under 18 years of age. Science Daily (2013) shows that video games are the risk factors to aggression and criminal behavior. Despite this assertion, there still a paucity of valid and reliable academic research on the risk factors of video games on behavior. This proposal attempts to fill the gap by using ANOVA to test whether the video games influence behavior.

Do video games influence the aggressive or criminal behavior?

ANOVA is an appropriate statistical test for the proposal because it will be used to test for a significant difference of two means. Using the ANOVA for the proposal, the researcher will be able to produce valid and reliable results by comparing the two means of sample data of the participants who believe that video games change behavior and participants who do not believe that video game change behavior. Thus, ANOVA is a statistical testing tool to answer the research question.

Statistical Notation Null and Alternative Hypotheses

Null hypothesis Ho: There is no statistical significance that the video games influence the aggressive or criminal behavior.

Alternative Hypothesis H1: There is a statistical significance that the video games influence the aggressive or criminal behavior.

Identification of Types of Errors

The proposal identifies type-I error and the type-II errors for the study. The type-I error reveals the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis while in actual fact, the null hypothesis is true. The value of alpha reveals 95% confidence when there is a 5% probability of rejecting the null hypothesis. On the other hand, type-II error is the probability of accepting the null hypothesis while in fact the null hypothesis is false. (Jackson, 2012). The type -- II error will occur in the proposal if the study accepts that there is no statistical significance that the video games influence the aggressive or criminal behaviors, while in actual fact, there is a statistical significant.

Results

The proposal will use ANOVA statistical tool to test the effect of video games on behavior. The ANOVA test is appropriate for this study because it will assist the proposal to compare the two means, which will assist in investigating whether the video games influence individual aggressive or criminal behaviors. However, the study believes that the video games could influence an aggressive or criminal behavior of individuals if they are used to watch video games every day. The study will test the hypothesis to draw a valid conclusion using ANOVA statistical tool, which will assist the study to produce a valid interpretation of the research findings. The study will use regression analysis to provide the analysis of variance that will be used to determine statistical significant between the video games and aggressive or criminal behaviors.

Discussion

Bias is a systematic error that could influence the outcome of the proposal, and the researcher believes that there could be a bias that could affect the validity of the results. Bias may affect the proposal if larger number of participants watches video games that could influence the criminal behaviors. However, the researcher will systematical design the questionnaires to identify potential bias from the respondents. The results of the proposal will deliver several practical importances.

First, the proposal will enhance a greater understanding of the public on the risk factors associated with video games. The proposal will assist parents to understand the effect of video games on their children. (Office of the Surgeon General, 2001). Moreover, the proposal will make the policy makers to understand the impact of video on aggressive behavior, which will make the policy makers to take appropriate steps to control the contents of video game delivered to the public. Finally, the proposal will enhance a greater understanding of the academic community on the risk factors associated to the video games.

Reference

Jackson, S.L. (2012). Research methods and statistics: A critical thinking approach (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Office of the Surgeon General. (2001).Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. USA.

Science Daily (2013). Violent Video Games Are a Risk Factor for Criminal Behavior and Aggression, New Evidence Shows. Science News.