ABC News Polling Guru Slams NIMF Game Addiction Data
ABC News Polling Guru Slams NIMF Game Addiction Data
April 22, 2009
On Monday Prof. Douglas Gentile of Iowa State University in conjunction with the National Institute on Media and the Family released the results of a new study which suggested that one in twelve 8-18 year-olds displayed symptoms of video game addiction.
As GamePolitics reported, the methodology behind the ISA/NIMF research was almost immediately called into question by Harvard's Dr. Cheryl Olson, co-author of Grand Theft Childhood and Oregon psychiatrist Dr. Jerald Block, an expert of the topic of video game addiction.
A report today by ABC News polling director Gary Langer (left) goes a step further, questioning Gentile's study for its claim of being "nationally representative within 3% [margin of error]."
Writing for his The Numbers blog, Langer explains:
The problem: This study was conducted among members of an opt-in online panel – individuals who sign up to click through questionnaires on the internet in exchange for points redeemable for cash and gifts. There are multiple methodological challenges with these things... but the most basic – and I think least arguable – is that they’re based on a self-selected “convenience sample,” rather than a probability sample. And you need a probability sample to compute sampling error...
This is far from an inconsequential issue. The public discourse is well-informed by quality data; it can be misinformed or even disinformed by other data. It is challenging – but essential – for us to differentiate.
Langer also heard from the study's author who admitted the mistake in calculating a margin of error:
Prof. Gentile got back to me... He said he was unaware the data in his study came from a convenience sample... and that, relying on his own background in market research, he’d gone ahead and calculated an error margin for it. “I missed that when I was writing this up. That is an error then on my part.”
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Posted 11/08/09 at 01:07am
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:06am
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Posted 11/08/09 at 12:24am
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
Posted 11/07/09 at 11:33pm
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:26pm
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:05am
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:03am
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:56am
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:45am
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:37am
JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
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Comments
"he was unaware the data in his study came from a convenience sample"
How could he not ****ing know? How can you conduct a study and not know where your data is coming from?
That was my thought exactly. Either he knew where the data came from and he went ahead and did his thing knowing that it was inaccurate, or he was given just the data and did his thing without questioning the source of the data.
Bad either way.
E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
http://www.theeca.com/chapters_oklahoma
So, he's either a deceiptful ass, or an incompitent one. What a reliable source of information.
FOOOOOX NEEEEWSSS
Apparently he never took a 'Research Methods' class?
According to the guy's website, he is planning to publish this increasingly smelly pile of expletive. I worry about any journal that would carry this 'study'....
Exactly. The guy is a shill.
He wasn't 'unaware'. It's likely that he was contracted to do this research by NIMF, and then told what result they wanted. He then went and obtained it, and now he's trying to cover his ass.
This smacks of a lack of professionalism and makes us all look bad.
At least it was pointed out. Gamers are getting the benefit of the doubt, which is nice really. Sometimes I see the headlines on GP and forget what that's like. =P
Wow, they're catching hell left and right for this. Nice to see such people being called out on it for a change.
Finally someone the news media calling bullshit on a bs game study.
http://www.magicinkgaming.com/
Liberal/non-american media seems to be on video games side sometimes. We will never see this on a program like Fox News.
Political/ideological leanings aside I wouldn't expect much from Fox anyway. Didn't they fire two reporters from one of their local stations for refusing to include false information in a report about RBGH?
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I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.
At least he admitted a mistake.
AFTER being called out on it.
--------------------------------------------------
I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
It's a start.
Well...he admitted it on some reasonably obscure blog (with no offense intended) which will be quickly forgotten. My question is whether he'll correct it as an addendum in the actual publication...if not generations of psychologists reading this will believe, incorrectly, that this was a "nationally representitive sample" when it is not.
What I don't get is why the ISA and NIMF feels the need to be so deceptive. I mean, on paper, their goals are actually pretty noble... I mean the NIMF is supposed to be a parental advisory for cripes sake...
So why the blown studies? Why the villifications? Are they just lazy, or are they actually trying to slander an entire medium?
Won't someone please think of the children!
Geezus...this kind of crap is just embarassing for social scientists...what is sad is that this is probably very common, not just in video game research, but in social science research everywhere. He got called out on it, but I wonder how many articles slip by, remain influential, without ever being corrected. I wonder even if this one will be corrected or if it will be allowed to be published as is with the claims that it is a "nationally representative" sample.
Hang on, am I misunderstanding this or is a psychological study being conducted by someone who does market research??
How are these things connected? One calls for in depth examination of human responses to stimuli and the other counts how many bars of soap were sold after they changed the logo.
What am I missing?
John Watson the founder of Behaviorism psychology went into advertisement after he left acadamics. Alot of the the principles of psychology can be applied to marketing.
He said he was unaware the data in his study came from a convenience sample...
What kind of a professor that doesn't know where the data come from. Somebody revoked his license to be a professor. He just violated his ethics. Also NIMF should be arrested for false information (if that is a criminal offense).
The problem: This study was conducted among members of an opt-in online panel – individuals who sign up to click through questionnaires on the internet in exchange for points redeemable for cash and gifts.
Nice for this guy to point out. Oh we should add Bribery on NIMF's crimes along with false information. Answer the questionnaires and get points for cash and gifts. You know, I bet the questionaires had if you answer and get the right answers you'll get money and you can spend it all. Yeah, that's bribery.
I'm glad Langer managed to answer those question. Now we can get true justice for gamers everywhere.
It's not a "legal" matter you can arrest someone for (and folks aren't licensed to be a professor). I'd guess this is a mistake, not a deliberate malfeasance...more boneheadedness. Still I'm curious if anyone is going to inform the editor of the journal, Psychological Science. It WOULD be ethical for them to make some kind of correction at the very least. I think that's the only real fix needed...but yes, leaving it as is, deliberately, with false information could certainly be construed as unethical.
Yeah, I'm sure he was "unaware" except that I'm pretty sure I remember him pulling the same crap in the past.
Wow...I wish that there was someone who would call out Dr Phill for his mistakes, like he is a TV Psychologist and every person on that show in the audience looks like they completely believe what Dr Phill is saying even if he is BSing.
If only we had people on Fox News asking the crew if their information was correct for every sensationalist news report.
But sadly that does not happen on TV because the people behind the camera manipulate things if they are pre-recorded, so therefore the people behind the camera can eddit the things that may doubt their credability.
But it is nice to see someone from the ABC news calling out the study for it's flaws. People need to hear two sides of the story including with someone neutral who has a close examine of the data and information and seeing how they both contradict against eachother.
It seems to me that more and more these "studies" that are conducted about video games are so rushed or poorly executed. I mean almost every video game study I have read about is called out on for some procedural error or even just for being completely biased. I am all for testing for this particular thing and if there is an issue to find regarding video games, so be it. But trying to bust my hobby so hard that you start grasping for evidence is getting a bit annoying. I mean really, "This study was conducted among members of an opt-in online panel – individuals who sign up to click through questionnaires on the internet in exchange for points redeemable for cash and gifts." I am no psychologist but this seems like one of the most unreliable sources for information one could find.
As I said, if there is a real problem to be found in gaming that is fine by me. But it is just insulting for gaming to be considered bad on the grounds of some half-assed test that proves next to nothing.