Research Proposal Draft

“Exergames and Female Representations: Implications for Adolescent Females”
Research Proposal

Introduction
Video games represent prominent cultural media influencing daily lives with more and more youth and adults playing games regularly. More than 53 percent of adults, age 18 and above, play video games, and about one fifth of those play every day. About 97 percent of American teens play video games (PIP, 2009). Similar to traditional media forms such as television, magazines and newspapers, video games are not neutral products or communication means. They portray social mores and ideals inherent in their given societies, making them ideal test beds to investigate cultural representations and societal reproductions.

Much work has been done on the social and cultural representations and impacts of those representations through traditional media (Hall, 1997; Byrd-Bredbenner, 2003). More recently, researchers have investigated the cultural and social representations and impacts through newer media forms such as video games (Wilson & Peterson, 2002). However, little is known about the cultural and identity representations and their impacts on audiences through exergames, a fairly new and quickly emerging genre of video games.

Exergames are games that encourage physical activity, movement and kinesthetic learning. Although exergames require different playing styles than traditional video games, the social practices in video game play, and the culturally rooted nature of exergames and their effects on audiences, particularly young women, is an important area of exploration (Dubels, 2009; Buckingham, 2008). The purpose of this study is to investigate female representations in exergames, and the implications of these representations for adolescent females. Specifically, this study will investigate the implications of these representations on identity, self-esteem, self-efficacy, engagement and motivation in female adolescent gamers. This study will offer important considerations of female representations in popular cultural media, such as video games and the emerging exergame arena. The research questions guiding this study are as follows

1. How are females represented physically, emotionally, intellectually, agency, in the top-selling exergames?
2. How do repesentations of females in exergames affect female adolescent players? (emotional affect, identidy, power, agency)
3. How do these representations affect specific things like self-efficacy, self-esteem and motivation?










Literature Review
There have been numerous studies documenting the representation of the female body in traditional media and the negative impacts those representations have on the body image, self-esteem and self-perception in the American female population, particularly in adolescents (Byrd-Bredbenner, 2003). In comparison to the average American women, women across all spectrums of the media are increasingly represented as disproportionate in body size (usually being too thin and with large busts). These representations can have numerous negative implications for females who aspire to those body proportions and are therefore unhappy with themselves and their body images if they cannot achieve those proportions.

Def. of body image from Byrd-Bredbenner??
Definition of self-esteem, identity, self-efficacy??

XXX is defined as…

Much of the work on female representations in the media has generally covered television and traditional print media such as magazines and newspapers. However, more work continues to emerge regarding the same considerations of female representations in newer media such as video games.

Video games represent prominent cultural media influencing daily lives. Like other media, video games portray social mores and ideals inherent in their given societies. While considerable research has documented the social and cultural representations of women and their effects in traditional media, and more recently, research has turned to similar issues surrounding video games (Wilson & Peterson, 2002, Byrd-Bredbenner, 2003). However, little is known about the cultural and identity representations and impacts of exergames, a fairly new and quickly emerging genre of video games.

Why identity construction through video games, particularly exergames, is important:

Adolescence marks an important time for youth and their formation of identity. During this time, youth develop their one sense of self, become more aware of their abilities, strengths and weaknesses, and begin to celebrate their unique character qualities. However, while identity is developed individually, it is impacted, negotiated and confirmed through social interactions with others (Buckingham, 2008; Ericksen, 1968). This important period of identity formation is especially critical in adolescent females, who are overwhelmingly susceptible to idealized body images portrayed throughout the media (Byrd-Bredbenner, 2003). Female adolescents are also introduced to certain “female” qualities through video games and exergames, making female representations in exergames an important area of exploration.

On one hand, video games and exergames offer youth opportunities to explore identity formation and creations, often allowing players to create or “try on” their own character through body size, clothing and even characteristics. This flexibility in “identity play” is important, but still garners a closer look. If character options are limited or help to propagate negative female representations, especially idealized body size and image, this is an important area to consider.

Identity Performance/Performitivity:
Judith Butler

Technolgoy NOT neutral and especially not video games.
Even so, there are some important limitations to all this. Media content is, of course, not
necessarily neutral or reliable: it represents the world in particular ways and not others, and
it does so in ways that tend to serve the interests of its producers. Activities such as chat and
game play are heavily bound by systems of rules, even if the rules are not always explicitly
taught and even if they can sometimes be broken or bent. The structure or “architecture”
of software itself (for example, of links on the Internet) imposes very significant constraints
on the ways in which it can be used. And the social worlds that users enter into as they
participate in these activities are by no means necessarily egalitarian or harmonious. For all
these reasons, we need to be wary of simply celebrating young people’s “informal” experiences
of media and technology, and there are good reasons to be cautious about the idea of simply
extending those experiences into the more “formal” context of the school.
























Research Design
My study will explore female representations in exergames and their impacts on adolescent females. This section will outline the primary research questions guiding this study, as well as my reasons for conducting a qualitative investigation using the case study approach in comparison to other methods.

The research questions guiding my research design are as follows:
1. How are females represented in the top-selling exergames?
2. How do representations of females in exergames affect female adolescent players?
3. How do these representations affect specific things like self-efficacy, self-esteem and motivation?

Qualitative Investigation
My study will be qualitative in nature because this approach will best answer my research questions.
Site MacNealy and Creswell hwere
A lot of it asks us to interpret what we see – some of the

Case Study
Case studies represent one approach corresponding to qualitative research and often encompass several data collection techniques including focus groups, journals, interviews, observations, etc. (get source on this).
Creswell, MacNealy
Context is key here

This project which

For my project, I plan to first perform a textual analysis of female representations in the top 10 exergames (best selling) in the U.S. I will also collect interview, observation, blog/video diary data regarding the gameplay of these participants to investigate identity, self-esteem, motivation and other social factors involved in playing such games.

Individual interview with girls, split them into 2 focus groups and textual analysis of blog and video artifacts.

Researcher Roles
In a qualitative study, the researcher is an active participant….
I will be leading research sessions, interviewing participants, designing questions for their blog/video diary responses…


Participants/Recruitment
I will recruit a convenience sample 6-8 adolescent females, age 12-14, from the university community and partnerships through the NMSU Learning Games Lab where I am a research coordinator. I will use a case study approach with textual analysis of interviews, observation and blog/video diaries regarding the gameplay of these participants to investigate identity, self-esteem, motivation and other social factors involved in playing such games. I will run the research similar to other LGL research sessions with structured research activities including targeted gameplay, discussion and individual responses to gameplay. Research participants will meet four hours a day on weekdays over a 2-week period.

Data Collection
The data collection for this study will occur in 2 phases. First I will do a textual analysis of the 10 top selling exergames in the US, specifically investigating the female representations in these titles. Next, I will run a two-week session with research participants in which I will observe daily exergame play with these exergames, specifically noting player comments, reactions, feedback, character design, etc. I will also have structured questions regarding their gameplay activities for participants to respond to each day via their blog and video diary. Sample questions will include the following:
Describe the games you played today? What were the 3 best things about this game?

What are 3 things you would improve about this game?

How would you describe the character selection in this game? How did effect your gameplay?


Theoretical Framework Guiding Investigation
The main theories guiding my research design will be as follows:
• Performitivity (Judith Butler)
• Identity Formation/New Technology (Buckingham/Ericksen)

Equipment and Facilities
The research will take place in NMSU’s Learning Games Lab, a research facility created to investigate gaming preferences and trends for the Media Productions group, which develops educational games for a variety of audiences. The group keeps the lab well equipped with the latest gaming technology and software. Additionally, the LGL staff are accustomed to running research sessions with a variety of audiences regularly, making this an ideal space to complete this type of research. Most recently, the group was funded to investigate the physical and psychosocial impacts of exergames, so researchers purchased the most recent exergames on the market to test on audiences, so the most recent exergames will be available to test on my research participants.

Human Subjects/IRB Compliance
Research participants will be asked to carefully evaluate and sign an IRB-approved, consent form describing the purpose of the research, as well as the potential risks and benefits of their participation in the study.

Limitations and Restrictions to Research Design and Subject Pool
Because I am using a convenience sample, the backgrounds of my research subjects will be limited, and will not be an accurate representation of a larger sample. The backgrounds of my subjects will likely be similar geographically, economically and racially, as many will be recruited from the university community. They will likely be predominantly white, with parents who are a part of the university setting and likely educated within that setting.

However, given this limited pool of research subjects, this study will likely offer interesting results for further exploration and research opportunities.




Significance
What I will do in the future…
Think about how it will benefit me – where this will lead in my career – how this will feed my dissertation, I think this will contribute to the body of game theory, feminist approaches to new media…