Research Proposal: The Influence of Media on Aggression

Research Propasal: The Influence of Media on Aggression

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Research Propasal: The Influence of Media on Aggression

The most notable feature of the 20th and 21st centuries in regard to the social environment is the saturation as well as the advent of mass media. The newly created environment has seen televisions, videos, movies, radio, computer networks, and video games become the most dominant variables of our daily lives. Consequently, society spends a more substantial proportion of the day using them either at work or home thus their assumption of the daily routines has been a significant factor that influences all the aspects of life (Huesmann & Taylor, 2006). In other words, daily interaction with these factors has had and continues to have an enormous influence on the values, behaviors, and beliefs that have for so long been considered the norm of society. Although the positivity associated with the same, adverse consequences have been reported especially with regard to behavior and the health of whom the media has been exposed. Research conducted in the past century suggests that media exposure to violence has a directly proportional result on the viewer thus the need for more exploration.

Research Question, Aims, and Hypothesis

The proposed research question for this report seeks to investigate whether exposure to specific media can result in aggression. Finding the appropriate answers will be the main aim of this report to aid in the identification of contributing factors so that proper measures can be put in place to assist control this form of classical conditioning. This report also aims to fill the gaps left behind by past studies that have investigated the influence of media on violence. The hypothesis of the research will be as follows:

H1: Exposure to specific media impacts the aggressive behavior of individuals.

H2: People exposed to violence on Mass Media are more likely to be aggressive than those exposed to content with empathy.

Methods

This section is designed to discuss the research approaches that were used in the collection and analysis of primary data, and the participants who took part in the study.  The materials that were used and eventually the procedure that was employed to ensure that the information collected was sufficient enough to provide the answers being looked for as well as confirm or reject the proposed hypothesis.

Experimental Design

The basic experimental designs were chosen for this research paper, and they include repeated measures design, matched pairs design, and independent groups design. The repeated measures design was used in the study since it provides room for the same participants to be placed in all groups (Shaughnessy, Zechmeister & Zechmeister, 2000). In other words, the participants can take part in all the testable conditions of the experiment. This is significant in the study since it allows the researcher to record how each participant is affected differently by the conditions they are exposed to and whether others are more impactful than others. For instance, a participant’s aggressive behavior may be influenced more when exposed to strong materials while when exposed to emphatic material not respond at all. The design further ensures that the results are not a result of participant attributes but rather more confident independent variables (Shaughnessy, Zechmeister & Zechmeister, 2000). Since the same participants were used for more than one condition, this design was suitable since it does not require the recruitment of extra people to take part in the study; making them the control variable. Order effect will be the main limitation of this design since participants will be required to participate in more than one condition.

Independent group design was also used during the collection of the method since it gives room for different participants to take part in each experimental condition. The approach is also appropriate since the participants are the independent variables while the circumstances of exposures remain the dependent variables. According to Morris and DeShon (2002), the preference for this design results from the fact that the order effects are not observable since no participant will be used to investigate more than one experimental condition. The approach was further preferred since unlike the repeated measures design, it did not consume a lot of time. This was made possible since the experiments were done simultaneously and the results were collected appropriately. The limitation to this design; however, is that different participants will be required to participate in other conditions. Exposure to media as mentioned in the introductory part of this paper has a significant influence on the beliefs, values, and behaviors of individuals. Over time past research has observed that an impact of these three attributes shapes the characteristics of an individual; thus, the critical reason why matched pairs design was also used in this study.

The matched pairs design is used primarily since it incorporates some aspects of the independent groups approach but instead uses subjects who have the same characteristics. In the experiment, this method was used to categorize those who had already developed aggression disorders as a result of exposure to various media content while the other group comprised people who had not been influenced by the same materials in regard to aggressive behaviors. As reported by Morris and DeShon (2002) order effect was not observed for this approach also suggesting that participants were only exposed to one condition. The limitation of this design is as that of independent group designs which require different groups to be recruited to take part in other different conditions.

Participants and Materials

A total of 300 people participants were recruited for this experiment and put into three groups according to the three experimental designs above. Gender equality was observed in the selection process which targets individuals who were above the age of 20 years but below 40. Those who participated by chosen through random selection to prevent the occurrence of business since structured sampling has not been fruitful in providing the answers required. However, it is important to note that the sample was selected from those who had shown interest in participating in the experiment after Facebook and school poster advertisements. Upon successful recruitment, the participants were provided with a consent form to prevent ethical issues that may arise. The materials that were used during the experiment included video gamers to help understand the aggressive behavior of individuals whenever they reach various milestones, televisions to allow visualization of movies that have both positive and violent emotions, and questionnaires that the participants were asked to fill out immediately after the experiment was over. A pen and a piece of paper were used to write down some of the expressions observed during the sample’s exposure to the various contents.

Procedure

After the successful selection of the participants, they were divided into three groups to collect adequate information. The sample was then provided with a consent form to fill out before the commencement of the study. For the first few one hours, a dummy test was done to familiarize the participants with what the experiment entails after which they were allowed to reconsider their stand since the consent form allowed them to exit from the study at any time, they saw fit. When the experiment finally began, the participants were exposed to various media contents, and their behaviors were recorded during the sessions and after. Shortly after the investigation ended, they were asked to fill out a questionnaire about what they were feeling during the exposure and how the material they were watching might have influenced their behavior. The experiment was then concluded, and no disbursements were promised to the participants to address the ethical issues.

Discussion

The experiment was concluded successfully; however, it was not short of practical and ethical issues. Some of the ethical problems that dominated during the study include informed consent, beneficence, confidentially, anonymity, and privacy. Informed consent is a vital moral issue when investigating since it requires the participant to knowingly as well as intelligently permit an experiment they are about to undergo. This ensures that the participant's autonomy is protected and through beneficence, they are not subjected to any harm whatsoever. Anonymity as an ethical issue provides that the identity of the person taking part in the experiment is protected and that those handling them are to meet the required standards of confidentiality. Apart from doing the latter, they are supposed to ensure that even after the research is concluded, the names of the participants or demographic information is not available in the report or shared with anyone from outside.

The primary practical issue that was observed during the experiment was the power outage which delayed the test for nearly two hours. This was detrimental to many of the participants who had schedules to keep. Some of them even canceled their daily activities or classes to be part of the experiment thus explaining to them that it could not be postponed weighed down on them and some opted to leave. Despite the issues, however, the threshold for the study was still met by the majority although the gender equality factor was disrupted. The other practical problem was that some of the participants provided wrong answers in the questionnaires while some handwriting was difficult to comprehend; thus, the analysis of the collected data relied on the notes observed by the researcher.

References

Huesmann, L. R., & Taylor, L. D. (2006). The role of media violence in violent behavior. Annu. Rev. Public Health, 27, 393-415.

Morris, S. B., & DeShon, R. P. (2002). Combining effect size estimates in meta-analysis with repeated measures and independent-groups designs. Psychological methods, 7(1), 105.

Shaughnessy, J. J., Zechmeister, E. B., & Zechmeister, J. S. (2000). Research methods in psychology. McGraw-Hill.