Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of the computer and video gaming on the academic success of the school children. The literature review of this study is most directly based on the scholarly journal articles considering the correlation of the gaming activities of students and their academic performance; apart from the journal articles, the literature review includes several news and magazine articles. Namely, the reviewed literature connects the two activities (studying and computer gaming) in a variety of ways and reports that in most cases, playing computer and video games encourages the students to spend less time on their homework and as a result, demonstrate a poorer performance during standardized testing (Dewar, 2013).
At the same time, some sources point out that the impact produced by computer and video gaming on the students’ academic success is not always negative. For instance, according to Gibbs (2016), the learners who are engaged in gaming regularly show better results in such disciplines as math, science, reading, than the students who do not play computer and video games. In that way, this study uses the results of the previous researches and surveys to elaborate on the topic and find the possible connections between gaming among school children and their academic performance.
The study is anticipated to either support or oppose the findings of the previous research. Also, this study may find some new correlations between gaming and learning and thus provide the basis for future exploration. In turn, it may facilitate a better understanding of the connection between computer gaming and school performance that will contribute to new ways to combine the two activities and incorporate one into another. This tendency has the potential to benefit the education of the future.
Research Questions, Hypothesis, and Objectives
The purpose of this research is stated in the forms of questions and objectives.
The research questions of this study are the following:
- In what way do computer and video gaming of the learners during their leisure time correlate with their academic performance?
- How does the number of hours the students spend playing computer and video games correlate with their GPA in different subjects?
- How does the number of hours students spend playing games correlate with the number of hours they spend doing homework?
The research objectives are the following:
- To determine the positive and negative effects of gaming of the students on their academic success
- To identify the disciplines where the learners benefit from their gaming hours
- To identify the disciplines where the students’ performance is diminished due to the hours of leisure gaming
Literature Search
To search for the literature related to the selected research topic, I plan to use versatile databases (such as Ovid and ProQuest) as well as Google Search and Google Scholar. The scholarly journal articles will be prioritized as the sources for the literature review. However, such sources as magazines and news articles will be used for additional information and a wider scope. The sources will be searched using keywords; some of them are “computer gaming”, “video gaming”, “effect on academic performance”, “students”, and “learners”.
First of all, the sources whose titles and topics match the selected research question will be selected. Secondly, all the sources will be sorted based on their dates, and only the most recent ones will be prioritized. To be more precise, the sources published before the 1990s will be considered irrelevant and outdated. Further, ten of the most suitable sources will be selected for the review; and the preference will be given to scholarly research articles (both qualitative and quantitative) so that the majority of works in the review are academic and trustworthy.
The preliminary sources chosen for the literature review are listed below with the brief descriptions:
- “Gaming frequency and academic performance” by Ip, Jacobs, and Watkins.
The article researched the behavioral patterns of studying among college students and found that many sacrifice their studying activities to dedicate more time to games (Ip, Jacobs, & Watkins, 2008).
- “Gender Differences and Related Factors Affecting Online Gaming Addiction among Taiwanese Adolescents” by Ko, Yen, Chen, Chen, and Yen.
The authors focused on the gender-related factors of the game playing habits of the adolescent school students and found that gaming was more popular among male participants (Ko, Yen, Chen, Chen, & Yen, 2005).
- “Video-Games Do Not Negatively Impact Adolescent Academic Performance in Science, Mathematics or Reading” by Drummond and Sauer.
The article researched the effect of video games on the learners’ performance in reading, math, and science and found insignificant correlations (Drummond & Sauer, 2014).
- The Impact of Video Games on Student GPA, Study Habits, and Time Management Skills: What’s the Big Deal?” by Weaver, Kim, Metzer, and Szendrey.
- “A Study of the Influence of Gaming Behavior on Academic Performance of IT College Students” by Ku, Kwak, Yurov, and Yuva.
The authors found that the GPA is affected in a statistically significant manner by computer gaming (Ku, Kwak, Yurov, & Yurova, 2014).
- “The Effect of Videogames on Student Achievement” by Craton.
The article researched the behavioral patterns of studying among college students and found that many sacrifice their studying activities to dedicate more time to games (Craton, 2011).
- “Video Games and Academic Performance” by Khadra, Hackshaw, and Mccollum.
The study aims at finding patterns in game-playing and academic success and establishes no particular correlation between the two activities (Khadra, Hackshaw, & Mccollum, 2013).
- “The effects of video games on school achievement” by Dewar.
The author cites the findings of previous research that connects gaming with the hour’s children spend doing homework, and the overall cognition and thinking behaviors (Dewar, 2013).
- “Academic Effects of Video Game Playing on Children” by Lister.
The work lists various effects of gaming on academic success and states that multiple factors determine the quality of the final impact (among them there is the length of play, the types of games, the hardware used, and the contents of the games) (Lister, 2016).
- “Positive link between video games and academic performance, study suggests” by Gibbs.
The article cites the findings of a study that compares gaming with solving puzzles and complex tasks that create a positive effect on the learners by improving their problem solving and logical thinking skills (Gibbs, 2016).
Research Design
The study design of this study will be causal-comparative. It will focus on the participants’ academic performance comparing the results of 2 groups of students – the children who play games regularly (every day for several hours) and the students who do not play games at all or spend a significantly shorter time doing it. The data will be collected including the number of hours students spend playing daily for a lengthy period and their GPA in different subjects. The numbers of the two groups will be compared to establish correlations and patterns. The independent variable is represented by the hours of game playing, and the dependent one is academic performance (GPA).
The threats to validity are inaccurate data about hours of gaming. Confidentiality will be the factor for encouraging the participants to report accurate numbers. Generalizability will be impacted by the income level of the participants as wealthier families have more devices and better games that may create different effects from cheaper and simple ones. A separate set of questions targeting the kids of games played will be added to consider this factor.
References
Craton, J. (2011).The Effect of Videogames on Student Achievement. Web.
Dewar, G. (2013). The effects of video games on school achievement. Web.
Drummond, A., & Sauer, J. (2014). Video-Games Do Not Negatively Impact Adolescent Academic Performance in Science, Mathematics, or Reading. PLoS One, 9(4): e87943.
Gibbs, S. (2016). Positive link between video games and academic performance, study suggests. Web.
Ip, Jacobs, & Watkins. (2008). Gaming frequency and academic performance.Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 24(4), 355-373.
Khadra, R., Hackshaw, C., & Mccollum, L. (2013). Video Games and Academic Performance. Web.
Ko, C., Yen, J., Chen, C., Chen, S., & Yen, C. (2005). Gender Differences and Related Factors Affecting Online Gaming Addiction among Taiwanese Adolescents. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, 193(4), 273-277.
Ku, C., Kwak, M., Yurov, K., & Yurova, Y. (2014). A Study of the Influence of Gaming Behavior on Academic Performance of IT College Students. Gaming Behavior and Academic Performance, 1(3), 1-11.
Lister, J. (2016). Academic Effects of Video Game Playing on Children. Web.
Weaver, J., Kim, P., Metzer, R., & Szendrey, J. (2013). The Impact of Video Games on Student GPA, Study Habits, and Time Management Skills: What’s the Big Deal? Issues in Information Systems, 14(1), 122-128.