CHAPTER 3

Methodology

This chapter represents the research design, sampling method techniques, source of data,

key informants and data gathering procedure , research instrument and data analysis.

Research Design

The Mixed Method specifically longitudinal and case study will be used in this

research to test the psychosocial implication of playing online games to children’s (8-12)

language development. It will describe the data and characteristics about what is being

studied. The idea behind this type of research is to understand and to study the development

of a particular person, group, or situation over a period of time.

Research locale

The study was conducted in Ilawod, Camalig, Albay having 30 randomly selected

children age 8-12 prior to the conduct of the study. The place was chosen by the researchers

because of its proximity to Barangay Ilawod to afford accessible data gathering and therefore,

more accurate results.

Sampling Method

A random sampling procedure was used for selecting the participants in this study.

This technique was employed to ensure a fairly equal representation of the variables for the

study.

A random sampling method was employed to collect information from 30 respondents in

Ilawod, Camalig, Albay who play online games. The chosen respondents can be out-of-school

or recently studying. The age range are from 8-12 years old. Being an online game player the

representation of the female gamer is less. That is why there is a disparity in the number of

samples of male and female gamers in present study. Any gender can be used as a sample and

the numbers of participants are fixed.

Source of Data

To accomplish the objective of the study both primary and secondary source has been

used. The primary data will be collected by a questionnaire from the children who play online

games. For this purpose of data collection, the questionnaire will be circulated among children

to collect information. Observation will also be done in gathering data from the children.

Through observation, the researchers will observe the effects of online games to children’s

language development. Face-to-face interview will also be used to further analyze the effects.

Interview will be given to both children and key informants.

 As internet is becoming more advance, fast and reachable to the masses; it has been

seen that much information that is not available in printed form is available on internet. The

researchers will gather information in internet as a secondary source. With the use of internet,

it can provide alternative data in conducting the study. It can also provide essential background

and help to clarify or refine research problem. Book are also used as reference of the

qualitative research guidelines.

Key Informants

The main Key Informants for the research “Psychosocial Implication of Online

Gaming on Children’s Psychosocial Development” are the Parents/Guardians and the

Computer Shop Owner of the Ilawod, Camalig, Albay. Additional Key informants will also

include the informants’ teachers, the other family members they communicate/talk to at home,

their friends, and their classmates.

A parent of the informant (children) knows the things their children do regarding

online gaming and knows how their language developed or evolved. On the other hand,

Computer Shop Owners have direct access on the children’s frequency of online gaming and

how well they behave/interact with other people. Furthermore these Main Key Informants

have the most knowledge about the children and can directly observe the behaviors of the said

subjects. Additional Key Informants were also stated to avoid results that are biased and

getting perspectives that are limited. It also allows the researchers to look at the varying

perspectives and issues and problems that may arise.

Face- to face interviews will be done between the researcher and these chosen Key Informants

to allow the free exchange of ideas and the informant can lend itself in asking more complex

questions and detailed responses.

Data Gathering Procedures

The researchers will allot vigorous time, effort and cooperation to answer the stated

problem.

Sending a letter of approval to the INHS Institution and to the chosen Key Informants and

Informants for the conduct of the study will be the first thing to do. The case- study will then

start 1 day after the approval and will last for 6 months. Thirty informants will be selected at

the chosen barangay.

The questionnaires will be the first data gathering procedure which will take place at

the start of the study. It is self- made and is consisted of logically arranged questions regarding

the Informants Demographic Profile, insight of Psychosocial and Online Gaming. A

questionnaire which is Likerts Scale-inspired will also be given to the informants to know

their acceptability regarding online gaming. The researchers assured the confidentiality of the

informants by the putting ‘Name’ as optional as stated in the questionnaire. In addition, the

questionnaire is in Mother Tongue / Bicol language to assure that the informants will

understand the given questions.

The 2nd data gathering procedure will be the conducting of interviews to the Key

Informants and Informants which will happen every two months. The researcher will also

select a technique to obtain the information from the informants but preferably Face-to-Face
interviews since it allows the researchers the free exchange of ideas and key informants lends

itself to more complex questions and thus, getting more detailed responses. Individual

Interviews and Focused Group Discussions will be done to collect the information needed.

The 3rd data gathering procedure will be the conducting of observations which will

happen every 1 month. The children will play online games and observations will be recorded

and noted by the researcher through the observation checklist.

Documentations and Videos will also be used to observe the language development of

the informants.

The researchers will also look into the Related Literature and Studies of the chosen

research. In addition reading of books and searching of websites with specific information

regarding the chosen problem will also be used.

The research instruments stated in the research methodology would also be taken into

importance and use to further complete the information needed.

The data gathered from these results will be then tallied, computed and interpreted by

the researchers. Along with primary data, secondary data will also be given consideration to

guide the researchers in the data gathering process and support the survey results.

Research Instrument

The researchers used unstructured questionnaires which will be distributed

individually to the informants. It is composed of 3 parts; the first part is the demographic

profile of the informants, the second part is questions assessing their understanding in
psychosocial and the last part of the questionnaires is their acceptability of the ideas and

realities of online games, using the Likerts Scale. The researchers also adjusted the language

in the questionnaires from English to Mother Tongue (Bicolnon) considering their age to

understand the questions.

The researcher will conduct individual interviews to the informants and the key

informants at the start of the study and every 2 months. FGD (Focus Group Discussion) will

also be added to the research instrument to observe the differences about the interview that

was conducted beforehand and adjusted their language use again and use Mother Tongue

(Bicolnon).The researcher will also find key informants to state their observation on the

informant’s behavior while playing online games. These key informants will be the informant:

parents, relatives, acquaintance, and the computer shops owner. After the survey and data

gathering, the data gathered will be tallied and computed to get the desired data.

Data Analysis

The questionnaires, the interviews to the informants and key informants, the focus group

discussion and observations would find out the effects of online gaming to children’s language

development. The result will be analyzed by the researchers without biasing either it is positive

or negative and just find out the effects on both poles.