gender differential paper IJCRB

ijcrb.webs.com
JUNE 2011
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS VOL 3, NO 2
Subrahmanyam (2000) recommended that there is a dire need to assist the parents as well as
policy makers to ensure the constructive use of computer by the children and to reduce the
frequency of computer usage for unenthusiastic purposes to minimize the negative impact of it.
Subrahmanyam et all. (2001) argued that if children spend moderate time on computer, it can
enhance their social skills. Communication skills can be developed by spending time on net,
such as surfing time on the use of e.mail service. Kraut et al. (1998) explored that the excessive
use of internet makes the teens and adults less social. Greenfield (1996), Okagaki & Frensch
(1994) and Subrahmanyam & Greenfield (1996) suggested that playing video games enhance the
spatial skills among the children. Buchman & Funk (1996) argued that there are several types of
video games available which are nonviolent in nature but majority of the children like to play
violent games on computer. They have reported that 59% of girls studying in grade four and
73% of boys studying in grade four play violent games as their favorite games. Bushman &
Anderson (2002), Subrahmanyam et al. (2000) and Gentile et al. (2003) concluded that playing
violent games promotes aggressive and negative thoughts among children and express the most
aggressive behavior whenever they come across a disagreement by any person around them.
Gentile et al. (2004) wrote that the use of aggressive video games for extensive periods of time
by the students leads towards low academic performance in schools. Gentile & Anderson (2003)
claimed that frequently accruing atrocious acts in the video games on computers may increase
antagonistic attitude among students. Walsh (2000) have conducted a research on the students
studying in grade 8 to 12 and concluded that 90% parents have no check upon the children’s
purchase of video games. Anderson & Dill (2000) expressed that video games help the children
to identify and select their favorite personalities as the characters of the games. This role playing
guides the children towards the imitation of their favorite characters in their real life. In other
words this leads them towards the idealism. Subrahmanyam et al. (2000) wrote that
conceptualization and replication of presented staff on computer makes the child hard to adjust
in the real world and child can’t differentiate the real life from the word of imagination. Gentile
et al. (2004) have explored the timings of playing video games on computer by the young girls
and boys and have concluded that the young girls spend an average of 5 hours in a week on
playing video games on computer whereas these timing increased up to an averaged of 13 hours
in a week in case of young boys. Subrahmanyam et al. (2000) that spending amplified amount of
time on Internet get raises the feelings of isolation and desperation among children.
The objective of the study was to examine the effects of computer technology on Pakistani
children from the perspectives of their parent. Study was delimited only to the private schools
located in urban areas of Rawalpindi District, and capital Islamabad of Pakistan.
METHOD OF THE STUDY
The study was qualitative as well as quantitative in nature. The mixed method approach was
followed because “to expand an understanding from one method to another, to converge or
confirm findings from different data sources” (Creswell 2003).
All the parents of children studying in grade four in private schools of Rawalpindi and Islamabad
were considered as the population of the study. Sample of the study was selected in two phases:
In the first phase, through random sampling technique, eleven private primary schools were
chosen. In the second phase, through purposive sampling, from each school, ten students of
grade four who had a computer at their home were selected. Finally parent of those students
were approached for the purpose of data collection.
A self-developed questionnaire consisted of seventeen items was used to collect data from the
parents. The questionnaire have two portions, one was developed on five point-Likert scaling
system whereas the other was included the statements offering a number of options to the
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