MMORPG research: University of New Hampshire

[mattramsey]

Dear all,

My name is Matthew Ramsey and I am a social psychologist (and long
time gamer) with the University of New Hampshire. We are currently
running a study on gaming and would like you to participate.


All participants can enter to receive a $25 gift certificate.

The link is: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=oHBDmwHuC0ryuwyBCSc5KA_3d_3d


Thanks for your help!

Purpose:
With much of the recent research on gamming related to negative
outcomes (e.g., addiction and social isolation), we seek to examine
whether MMORPGs provide a social buffer against loneliness and lower
self-esteem in addition to providing a feeling of social support.
The UNH Institutional Review Board has assessed and accepted this
proposal. There will be no risks beyond those encountered in everyday
conversation. This study will be completely confidential. No names
will be connected with any answers or opinions. Participation in this
experiment will help assist research in psychology, which will
increase our understanding of the relation between online gaming and
social support.

[the wharf rat]

Post by mattramsey
My name is Matthew Ramsey and I am a social psychologist (and long
time gamer) with the University of New Hampshire. We are currently
running a study on gaming and would like you to participate.

Ummmmmm self selected samples aren't statistically valid. What's
the point?

[Don Woods]

Post by the wharf rat

Post by mattramsey
My name is Matthew Ramsey and I am a social psychologist (and long
time gamer) with the University of New Hampshire. We are currently
running a study on gaming and would like you to participate.

Ummmmmm self selected samples aren't statistically valid. What's
the point?

I suspect mostly the point is to come up with an idea that can
get funded so some team will stay employed a while longer, and
they probably have some ideas of what responses they expect to
see, and you're right that the responses will be skewed because
they'll mostly come from people who are inclined to answer such
surveys. But it's not as though they can force a representational
cross-section of MMORPGers to answer their survey.

And of course, if they're trying to compare MMORPGers to players
of smaller-scale games like PS3, they can hope many of the same
self-selection features will still apply, and they can still hope
to see some useful correlation.

But often these surveys feel like they have a result in mind and
are skewed so as to ensure the desired conclusion.

In any case, I figured I'd bollux their data nicely by responding,
since frankly I'm happily married, enjoy my job and RL gaming as
well as online games, which I figure (a) isn't the stereotype
they're looking for, and (b) normally wouldn't take the time to
respond to such a survey. So fine, have my data! :-)

-- Don.

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[Tony]

Post by Don Woods
-- See the a.g.e/EQ1 FAQ at http://www.iCynic.com/~don

This is kind of a tangent, but, wow, you're *that* Don Woods.

[Don Woods]

Post by Tony

Post by Don Woods
-- See the a.g.e/EQ1 FAQ at http://www.iCynic.com/~don

This is kind of a tangent, but, wow, you're *that* Don Woods.

Yup. My wife actually worked in the computer game industry as
an artist, and says whenever she went to a new company she'd
wait to see how long it took for some of the developers to come
around and go "you're married to *that* Don Woods?"

-- Don.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
-- See the a.g.e/EQ1 FAQ at http://www.iCynic.com/~don/EQ/age.faq.htm
--
-- Sukrasisx, Monk 77 on E. Marr Note: If you reply by mail,
-- Terrwini, Druid 60 on E. Marr I'll get to it sooner if you
-- Teviron, Knight 59 on E. Marr remove the "hyphen n s"
-- Wizbeau, Wizard 36 on E. Marr

[Tony Evans]

Post by Don Woods

Post by Tony

Post by Don Woods
-- See the a.g.e/EQ1 FAQ at http://www.iCynic.com/~don

This is kind of a tangent, but, wow, you're *that* Don Woods.

Yup. My wife actually worked in the computer game industry as
an artist, and says whenever she went to a new company she'd
wait to see how long it took for some of the developers to come
around and go "you're married to *that* Don Woods?"

Yeh, I've been on the user end of some of her artwork. It's truly a small
world.

[Dude Rawr]

Post by the wharf rat
Ummmmmm self selected samples aren't statistically valid. What's
the point?

Phishing

[Tim Smith]

Post by the wharf rat

Post by mattramsey
My name is Matthew Ramsey and I am a social psychologist (and long
time gamer) with the University of New Hampshire. We are currently
running a study on gaming and would like you to participate.

Ummmmmm self selected samples aren't statistically valid. What's
the point?

That's not fully correct. A better statement would be that self
selected samples are not valid substitutes for random samples. Whether
that is an issue or not depends on whether or not you are doing
something that needs a random sample.

Research trying to establish the existence of something, for example,
would probably not need a random sample, whereas researching trying to
establish how common something is would probably need a random sample.