Research methods in criminal justice

¶ … Criminal Justice

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A hypothesis is a "specified expectation about empirical reality" (Maxfield and Babbie 11). The hypothesis of this study is that children who play violent and aggressive video games are more likely to exhibit adverse social behavior than those who play non-violent games.

The independent variable in the case of this study is the violence in the video games. The dependent variable is the aggression/violence of the child.

One of the goals of random assignment is that "groups created...will be statistically equivalent" (Maxfield and Babbie 266). Thus if groups are equivalent, then when the independent variable is applied to one, the result of that group either showing or not showing a change in behavior will be valid. If the children had been chosen for each group using specific criteria, then when the independent variable was applied to one group, it would be more difficult to tell whether any resultant change could be attributed to the variable itself or to other factors.

D.

Interviews have a few limitations, including the fact that there might be bias in the responses and people may be apt to either characterize his or her behavior as more or less aggressive than is actually the case. In addition, the interviews rely on honest reporting, which for various reasons may be difficult. For example, a student may be reluctant to report adverse behavior for fear that he will face repercussions, even when researchers tell him the contrary.

E.

The interviewer will have to be very clear before the study begins about the parameters of observation for all the participants and what constitutes aggressive or violent behavior, as this study relies on interviews conducted after the fact.

F.

One ethical concern is possibly inducing negative behaviors in minors. That is to say that if violent video games are bad for students, what will become of the students who are subjected to them for three months? Another concern is whether this game play will take time away from other important activities of the student and his or her family. In other words, if the study is inordinately time-consuming for the purpose of doing something non-academic or otherwise beneficial, is it responsible research to ask young people to participate?

G.

External validity concerns "whether results from experiments in one setting (time and place) will be obtained in other settings" (Maxfield and Babbie 122). One external concern is the use of a middle-class suburban neighborhood. If this study was done in an upper-class neighborhood, a rural neighborhood, an urban neighborhood, or a low-income neighborhood, the results might vary greatly. In terms of internal validity, the causality of aggressive video games for aggressive behavior might be difficult to prove given all the other stimuli that can potentially cause aggression in children (including violence in other media like music, television, and film, violent or aggressive living circumstances which may not be disclosed to the researcher, etc.).

H.

If boys are found to be adversely affected by violent games, it can not be immediately assumed that girls will respond similarly. More research would need to be conducted to determine whether there is a difference in female and male response to video games.