Answer :

Research Proposal

Topic: Impacts of Online Gaming on Teenagers Academic Performance

Abstract

Modern society is overwhelmed by technology and science. While technology has enhanced and enriched the lifestyle of the society in many ways a part of it is also responsible for giving rise to self-destructive habits. This is to be particularly noted in the domain of online gaming. Teenagers all over the world are gradually getting addicted to online games resulting in an unhealthy lifestyle. This is particularly affecting their academic performances. The study strives to explain the negative impacts that gaming has on the academic performances of teenagers. The study also discusses the few positive traits associated with online gaming such as the increase of visuospatial skills and enhancement of reading skills to a mild degree. The study, however, establishes how gaming has a negative impact on performances by a much higher degree compared to its positive outcomes. How society will be affected by these tendencies of teenagers has also been analysed and explained. The role of parents of teenagers addicted to gaming has also been outlined.

The study also defines the methods of data collections to be used for the research. The sampling to be taken for analysing the problem area has been described in details. The methods of analysing data whether qualitative or quantitative have been stated. Also why a particular method has been selected over others is explained. Ethical consideration that the researcher will undertake to protect the privacy of data has been described. The measures to be taken by the researcher to ensure the privacy of data have been discussed. A time and cost estimate have been calculated with respect to the multiple research activities. How gaming has affected the academic performance of teenagers in an adverse manner is the concept which has been explored extensively in this study. The study has strived to establish a relationship between gaming and performance of teenagers.

1. Introduction 

Today’s world is totally reliant on technology with almost each and every daily activity being linked to it. In a considerably short time, daily life has become immersed in social media, internet, 3-D animation and thrilling internet games. Perhaps the most affected area is the domain of internet and video gaming where the youth especially teenagers are becoming increasingly addicted and obsessed with them. All over the world, there have been reported death and killings by teenagers who have been deprived of playing games on the internet by elderly people. Surveys have continuously depicted that there has been a perennial negative impact on teenagers GPA due to playing excessive video games and not having adequate concentration and time to focus on academics. Teenagers addicted to gaming fared poorly in terms of GPA as it consumed the time required to prepare academically or do their home tasks. This implies that the overall gaming has a direct negative impact on the academic performance of teenagers.

2. Research problem 

Teenagers spending too much time on the internet and gaming is a persistent issue in contemporary society. In Australia itself, 67% of people play internet games (Hartanto, Toh & Yang, 2018). Their excessive concentration on gaming is not only affecting the GPA but also reducing their level of creativity which is essential for sustaining in general. The addiction of teenagers with gaming poses a serious threat to modern society. Without the proper development of an effective and intelligent young workforce, society will crumble in the near future. It is needless to state that a solid education is one of the pillars upon which society thrives. Without the required skills essential for a society to survive and thrive it will suffer consequently. It can give rise to violence and illegal activities in the society since without proper education teenagers will fail to realize the ethical concerns of the society. Lack of parental attention and guidance is also an important aspect since gamers mostly turn to these thrills when they lack sufficient affection in their personal lives.

3. Significance of the study

The research is significant for all those researchers who will in a future study this issue and their ultimate impact upon society. It will also benefit the students and the parents of the students who are depicting signs of being addicted to the internet. The research will also be significant to the general public who when made aware of the negative impact of gaming can take ethical and thoughtful steps to eliminate these problems from society. Parents not giving enough importance to this threat will gain more knowledge about it and take crucial decisions to secure the future of their children. 

4. Research questions 

The research questions unambiguously identify the specific areas of concern or issues related to the research. This research is focused on the following aspects.

RQ1: How online gaming impacts the academic performance of teenagers?

RQ2: Why the teenagers cannot abstain from online gaming?

RQ3: How parents should deal with the impacts of online gaming upon their children?

5. Literature review 

Children especially teenagers are showing an alarming inclination towards gaming due to the cheap thrills and a false sense of victory and accomplishments associated with them. Statistics gathered are truly alarming demonstrating that it is perhaps the most imminent threat to modern society. In a nation like Australia, 82% of the gamers belong to the 15-24 years age faction (Ruiz-Ariza et al., 2018). The average time spent on teenagers the world over on playing on the internet was calculated to be 20 hours each week. Researches show that gaming leads to high levels of aggression in teenagers which leads to a slump in academic performances and issues at schools. According to Felisoni & Godoi (2018), teenage students spending more time on gaming were reportedly scoring lesser scores in GPA and SAT. SAT scores could be ignored with the argument of being a unidirectional yardstick for assessing performances. GPA’s are however more transparent since they are able to firmly capture the data related to the overall performance of a student. Teenagers addicted to gaming have very small attention spans leading to them performing poorly in academics due to a huge lack of concentration. This trend of lacking in academic accomplishments is more apparent in male teenagers since they have a higher tendency to participate in gaming and lose track of time while being involved with it (Chen, Law, & Chen, 2018). One of the other reasons for derogatory academic performance with respect o gaming is that consumes the valuable time of teenagers. Excessive gaming reduces the time related to social interaction, homework and other school activities. Teenagers having their brains linked to gaming logics and accomplishments severely lack creativity and imagination. This is because gaming requires very little inclusion for the right side of the brain which is concerned with arts, imagination and creativity. The situation is rapidly spiralling out of hand since teenagers now do not just perceive games as any form of entertainment or distraction. Rather it is a mode of life without which they feel directionless and without a clear purpose. According to Choi et al., (2018), lack of essential originality in teenagers thoughts and impulses are leading them to copy others work mindlessly thus making them poorly equipped to handle the pragmatic aspects of life in future. 

It is, however, important to note that there are some studies and researches which oppose the above concept stating determinedly that gaming is conducted in moderate levels can enhance the IQ of teenage students. This, however, does not implicate that video and internet games are a solution for increasing the IQ of teenage students (Turner et al., 2018). Rather these researches emphasize on the fact that teenagers who play games in measured levels (a few hours per week) tend to have enriched academic skills as compared to teenagers who do not play internet games at all (Homer et al., 2018). There are also certain games which are closely associated with spatial skills which actually aid in teenagers affected by dyslexia to read and learn. There are some studies which go one step further and reiterate that interactive games can lead to a casual enhancement in the visual-spatial skills which is beneficial for the fields of engineering, technology, mathematics and science. There are also some complicated games which can enhance academic success by engaging teenagers in creativity, critical thinking and overall problem solving (Plass et al., 2019). These studies are creating a dilemmatic situation for parents who are not sure if they are doing some injustice to society by depriving teenagers of playing games. 

In between these counterarguments and arguments, some patterns have been identified which can guide the parents and society towards forming the appropriate steps for teenagers involved in gaming. A study conducted among 190,000 students by the International Students Assessment revealed a minimal negative effect on the academic performances of students playing video games (Yang, Lin, & Chen, 2018).  But this result was only related to the single domain of reading and this result was only for students who plated multiplayer games almost every single day. When compared to teenagers who did not play games at all these players had considerably lower scores in reading. This effect was not identified in teenagers involved in single player games. Multiplayer games compared to single player games are more associated with reduced performance in reading. Multiplayer games were the cause for a significant reduction in achievements especially in struggling students (Wichadee & Pattanapichet, 2018). Contrary to this limited use of single player games actually lead to moderately enhanced performances.  It, therefore, established that only single player games, if used moderately, can influence reading skills in a positive manner. Rest of the aspects of this research re-establishes the overall negative impacts of the games in mild to excessive levels.

Excessive use of games associated with multi players can put teenagers at a bigger risk of derogatory reading skills since teenagers are more inclined to replace the time allotted to reading with the thrill of game involving multi-players. According to Malaquias, Malaquias & Hwang, (2018), teenagers, particularly in the USA, spend at least 30% less time reading after the advent of video games. There is sufficient evidence which implies that playing these games at night time adversely affect sleep thus having a negative impact on the performance at school. Playing aggressive and violet games too affect the behaviour of teenage students redirecting their attention away from normal school activities. This is a serious threat to the society as of now since teenagers addicted to gaming will never develop the necessary education and skills required for a society to function efficiently in the future (Kim et al., 2018). The violence associated with gaming also implies that the future citizens of the world may develop a knack for violent and criminal activities without realising their significance or implications. A lack of physical activity will ultimately lead to low functioning of the brain due to lack of oxygen and blood flow. Parents should be extremely cautious while regulating the activities of their teenage children with respect to gaming. An overall denial of gaming rights can result in children demonstrating violent behaviour or anti-social tendencies. Parents must note that educational games, when played in mild levels, can actually increase the level of performance in a teenager (Dindar, 2018). Some nations are thus rightly banning some specific Leisure Suit Larry and Mortal Kombat. Video games such as. They should involve their children in physical, ethical and thought-provoking activities to prevent the future society from being dominated by people lacking professional, creative and interactive skills. As stated by Singh et al., (2018), the recent obsession and addiction to these games have to lead to various disorders identified by the World Health Organisation and teenagers should be made to concentrate more on developing hobbies. 

6. Research Methodology  

6.1 Research philosophy 

The research philosophy is a concept about the style in which data associated with a phenomenon must be collected, analysed and utilised (Kumar, 2015). There are three approaches to research philosophy which have been defined, Positivism, Interpretivism and Realism. 

The researcher will use Positivism Philosophy in this research to study the overall effects of gaming upon the academic performance of teenagers. As per Positivism approach reality is unchanging and can be described and observed from a viewpoint which is objective which means that the phenomenon is properly isolated. Positivism philosophy will help the researcher to get the information from the existing research idea and positivism deals with factual data and information based on the primary data (Mackey & Gass, 2016).  Positivism research philosophy will help the researcher to explain and predict the findings of the research. 

6.2 Research approach 

The research approach is a process that comprises of the steps related to the assumptions with respect to data gathering, interpretation and analysis (Martin-Sardesai & Guthrie, 2018). There are mainly three types of research approach, deductive, inductive and abductive. 

The researcher will use a deductive approach in this research where a formulated hypothesis will be used. Based on the existing concept and data about the topic, deductive approach will help to deduce the information from the existing literature. Deductive approach means finding the concept from specific to general. Deductive approach is helpful where set of hypotheses is predetermined that needs to be rejected or confirmed within the process of the research (Silverman, 2015). In the research topic area, a huge amount of existing data and information, already available, deductive approach will help to find the reasoning from particular to general. 

6.3 Research design 

A research method is a set of procedures and methods used in gathering and analysing measures related to the variables which are defined in the problem of the research. It is framework formulated to find answers to the questions associated with the research (Kumar, 2019). Research design is categorised into five types as defined below.  There are mainly three types of research design, descriptive, exploratory and explanatory. 

In this research, the researcher will use descriptive research design to comprehend the research problem. Descriptive research design method involves observing and describing the behaviour of a subject without influencing it. Descriptive research design will help the research to observe the respondents while collecting the data. This design the techniques aids the researcher in forming a link between two variables which are closely connected (Kumar, 2019). In this design, the researcher is only concerned with defining the case or situation which comes under her/his specific study. In this study, parents of the teenagers will be the subject of the research as the parents watch the teenagers closely. Descriptive research design will help to observe and describe the subject clearly. 

6.4 Data collection methods 

In this research, primary data collection will be used to gain a better comprehension of the topic. Primary data are mainly raw data which are collected from the respondents directly. A set of semi-structured interviews will be conducted among the mothers of teenagers to understand the impact that gaming has upon their academic performance. A total of 10 questions which are open-ended will be asked in the interview. Interview process will be face-to-face. The researcher will not follow the set of strict interview questions only as the researcher will allow himself/herself to ask more open-ended questions to longer the discussion. 

6.4.1 Sampling 

Researchers usually use characteristics of the general population in their studies. A population is an assimilation of individuals having some common characteristics. It is necessary to choose a specific sample of the population to conduct research since there are time and financial constraints which prevent a researcher from collecting data from an entire population facing the same issue (Kumar, 2019). It is the procedure of selecting a part of the population related to the research. The researcher will conduct interviews focussing on the mothers of teenagers a total of 10 in number. 5 of these mothers will be selected at random from an urban area and 5 of them will be chosen from a suburban area. Sampling technique of the research will be non-probability. 

6.5 Data Analysis 

Qualitative data type of analysis is used to gain a comprehension of motivations, opinions and reasons (Taylor, Bogdan & DeVault, 2015). It provides and unearths the trends pertaining to opinions and thoughts using semi-structured or unstructured techniques. The sample size of this method is smaller compared to other analyses. The researcher will use qualitative data analysis in this research to study a smaller sample population and derive the trends associated with them. The researcher uses will use thematic analysis within this research to identify the various themes residing in the collected data. Thematic analysis is one of the preferred methods for data analysis recording, examining and pinpointing themes within the collected data. It relies on the human experience from a subjective level. Collected data from the interview will be segregated into five themes to do the thematic data analysis. 

6.6 Ethical consideration 

This researcher will comply with the rules and regulations defined in the Privacy Act 2014 in Australia. Data regarding an individual’s date of birth, signature, name and telephone number will be strictly guarded during the course of the research (Legislation.vic.gov.au, 2019). 

The researcher will take strict measures to ensure that the data remains protected from unauthorised persons. He researcher will maintain the confidentiality. Data will not be disclosed outside of research purposes or settings. Improper divulgence of data will be prevented at all times. Files comprising electronics data will be protected by robust password policies at all times (Dindar, 2018). The researcher will take care to destroy all data related to the research once they are no longer required. Once the research is completed the researcher will take care to destroy data such as contact lists. The researcher will store data and specimens in locked cabinets. Master lists comprising of the crucial data related to the research will be destroyed by the researcher after the completion of all research-related activities.

7. Time and Cost Estimates 

Timeline of the research:

Cost estimate

The budget of the research will be around $2500 to complete this project within the specified time. The budget of the research is depended on the types of research; the researcher wants to perform whether it is secondary research or primary research. 

In order to conduct the literature review, the researcher requires money to access potential information from credible sources. This will cost around $600.

In this research, the researcher will conduct primary data collection to perform the whole research. In order to conduct the interview, the researcher needs to have the correct set of transcript and recorder. The face-to-face interview requires money to spend. The average cost of conducting an interview can be $800.

In addition, in order to access government reports, charts, graphs and statistics from the premium websites, the researcher requires money. This will cost around $400. 

Travel cost of the research will be $200 as the researcher has to travel from one place to another in order to collect the data and analyse the data. 

In addition, the printing of the materials and printing of the research reports and data are required. Printing cost of the research may cross $300.

8. Conclusion 

In conclusion, it may be stated that gaming is seriously influencing the academics of teenage students in an adverse manner. There are some researches which depict that educational game played by teenagers at moderate levels may positively enhance their skills of reading. However, the negative aspects of gaming outweigh the positive factors by a higher degree. The concentration levels of teenage students are reduced leading to poor performance in academics. Also, students invest much less time in studies opting for the thrills associated with online gaming. The intelligent impulses, creative skills and communicative skills of teenage students are gradually decreasing. It may be noted that this can consequence in them being poor decision makers in reality. An aggressive attitude is a result of playing violent online games. This is a threat to modern society since it can give rise to illegal and violent activities in the youth. The lack of a workforce without the essential professional skills is also one of the apparent outcomes. Parents should limit the time allotted to gaming to prevent such catastrophes in the future.