Hi Rick- An interesting study. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. However, in addition to the ethical questions that you have raised I have some concern about the design. While the parents were clearly aware of the condition that their child was in it is unclear (at least to me) if the teachers were aware of condition. If the teachers were blind then their ratings should be objective evidence of the detrimental effects of these games. On the other hand, if teachers were aware of whether the child had been given a video game we might just be looking at experimenter expectation effect.
Even if the ratings were blind I would be cautious in interpreting these results. A decline in attention to school work might be just the effect of a novel distractor. What if a study showed that kids given a puppy spent less time on schoolwork? Would we warn of the dangers of puppies on developing minds? While this study is certainly better that most of the stuff (e.g. Anderson) out there it still falls short of the gold standard. Given the millions of kids who play video games I have a hard time buying into studies which suggest a severe negative impact. If this were true shouldn't we have seen a preciptous drop in SAT scores by now? Cheers, -Don. ----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Froman <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 7:24 am Subject: [tips] An interesting ethical research question To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> > In medical research, sometimes people are recruited into > experiments with the promise that, if they are in the control > group, when the experiment ends, everyone will get the treatment > if it is effective. That seems only ethical. > > But what about this case? > > Weis and Cerankosky (2010) recently published a study, "Effects > of Video-Game Ownership on Young Boys' Academic and Behavioral > Functioning: A Randomized, Controlled > Study<http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/02/17/0956797610362670>" > (link available only to subscribers or APS members) online before print in > Psychological Science (Feb 18) the abstract of which is as follows: > > Young boys who did not own video games were promised a video- > game system and child-appropriate games in exchange for > participating in an "ongoing study of child development." After > baseline assessment of boys' academic achievement and parent- > and teacher-reported behavior, boys were randomly assigned to > receive the video-game system immediately or to receive the > video-game system after follow-up assessment, 4 months later. > Boys who received the system immediately spent more time playing > video games and less time engaged in after-school academic > activities than comparison children. Boys who received the > system immediately also had lower reading and writing scores and > greater teacher-reported academic problems at follow-up than > comparison children. Amount of video-game play mediated the > relationship between video-game ownership and academic outcomes. > Results provide experimental evidence that video games may > displace after-school activities that have educational value and > may interfere with the development of reading and writing skills > in some children. > > They mention later in the article that parents were debriefed > but it isn't clear if they were made aware of the experimental > findings or just of the hypothesis and methods. > > So, is it ethical to give everyone a treatment that has been > found (in an experiment, not just a correlational study) to be > detrimental? And was the compensation offered not only coercive > but, based on the experimental findings, possibly detrimental to > educational outcomes? > > Rick > Dr. Rick Froman, Chair > Division of Humanities and Social Sciences Box 3055 > x7295 > [email protected] > http://tinyurl.com/DrFroman > > Proverbs 14:15 "A simple man believes anything, but a prudent > man gives thought to his steps." > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13157.966b795bc7f3ccb35e3da08aebe98f18&n=T&l=tips&o=1155or > send a blank email to > leave-1155-13157.966b795bc7f3ccb35e3da08aebe98...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=1164 or send a blank email to leave-1164-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
