Rated M for Monkey: an Ethnographic Study of Parental Information Behavior
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RATED M FOR MONKEY: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF PARENTAL INFORMATION BEHAVIOR WHEN ASSESSING VIDEO GAME CONTENT FOR THEIR CHILDREN Diana Harrelson, M. S. Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS May 2016 APPROVED: Shawne D. Miksa, Major Professor William Moen, Committee Member Christina Wasson, Committee Member Suliman Hawamdeh, Chair of the Department of Library and Information Sciences Costas Tsatsoulis, Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Harrelson, Diana. Rated M for Monkey: An Ethnographic Study of Parental Information Behavior When Assessing Video Game Content for their Children. Doctor of Philosophy (Information Science), May 2016, 213 pp., 2 tables, 24 figures, references, 59 titles. Following the decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (2011), which struck down the state of California’s appeal to restrict the sale of games deemed to have “deviant violence” to those 18 or older and the court’s recommendation that parents use the ESRB Ratings System instead, this ethnographic study sought to better understand what parents thought of laws on video games and how they used the recommended ratings system. A total of 30 interviews using semi-structured open- ended questions were conducted and analyzed to reveal what parents thought of laws on video games, how they used the ESRB Ratings System to assess video game content, and what other methods they used for video game content assessment in addition to the ratings system. This research utilized Dervin and Nilan’s (1986) sense-making methodology as a way to learn how parents bridged their knowledge gap when it came to learning about video game content and how they made sense of the knowledge gained to determine the content appropriateness for their children. Analyses of the collected data provided the foundation for a model on the effects of the parent-child relationship on parental information behavior. Copyright 2016 by Diana Harrelson ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks go out to my committee, Shawne Miksa, Christina Wasson, and Bill Moen, without whom I would have neVer been able to successFully deFend and complete this dissertation. Additional thanks go out to my Family including my husband, SGT. Robert Hubbard, a soldier in the U.S. Army, and my twin sons, Robbie and Liam, who were born just beFore I started on the research. You all have been quite the inspiration and motiVation to complete this work. Go Team Hubbard! Appreciation is extended to the ESRB For their permission to reproduce the ESRB Ratings System in Appendix B. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................. III Chapters 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY .......................................................................................... 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 Background oF the Study ........................................................................................ 4 Statement oF the Problem ...................................................................................... 5 Purpose oF the Study .............................................................................................. 5 SigniFicance oF the Study ........................................................................................ 6 On Parental InFormation Behavior and Its Interconnectedness with Parent-Child Interactions ............................................................................................................ 9 DeFinition oF Terms ............................................................................................... 10 Parents ...................................................................................................... 11 Children .................................................................................................... 11 Households ............................................................................................... 11 Video Games ............................................................................................. 11 Console and Handheld Games .................................................................. 12 Computer Games ...................................................................................... 12 Mobile Games ........................................................................................... 13 Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................ 13 iv Research Questions .............................................................................................. 15 Research Methods ................................................................................................ 15 Delimitations ........................................................................................................ 16 Assumptions ......................................................................................................... 17 Chapter Summary ................................................................................................. 17 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................ 18 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 18 Video Game SelF-Regulation in the United States ................................................ 18 Video Games and the Senate ................................................................... 19 Video Game LegislatiVe Attempts in the United States ........................................ 20 Courts oF Appeals Rulings ......................................................................... 20 SCOTUS Hearing ........................................................................................ 30 Pundits on the SCOTUS Ruling .................................................................. 32 SCOTUS Decision ...................................................................................... 34 Use oF Research in Court Cases on Video Game Legislation ................................ 35 Research in Appellate Cases ..................................................................... 35 Research Presented to the SCOTUS .......................................................... 38 Implications oF the SCOTUS Use oF Research ........................................... 40 Parents and Video Game Research ...................................................................... 43 Parents' Needs and Media Ratings ........................................................... 43 Parent Focused Video Game Research Studies ........................................ 45 V Parents and InFormation Behavior ....................................................................... 48 InFormation Behavior ............................................................................... 48 Studies on Parental InFormation Behavior ............................................... 50 Chapter Summary ................................................................................................. 52 3. RESEARCH DESIGN ............................................................................................................ 54 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 54 Selection oF Participants ....................................................................................... 55 Chain-ReFerral ........................................................................................... 56 Data Collection ..................................................................................................... 57 Crafting Questions For Data Collection ..................................................... 58 Ethical Considerations .......................................................................................... 59 ConFidentiality .......................................................................................... 60 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................ 60 Research Participants ........................................................................................... 61 Demographics ....................................................................................................... 62 Parent and Household Demographics ...................................................... 63 Child Demographics .................................................................................. 64 Chapter Summary ................................................................................................. 65 4. DATA RESULTS AND ANALYSES ......................................................................................... 66 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 66 Research Questions .............................................................................................. 66 vi A BrieF ReView oF the Entertainment SoFtware Ratings Board Ratings System .... 67 Research Question 1 ............................................................................................. 68 Question 1 ...............................................................................................