Mass Effect Our Study
Background Impact Home
Mass Effect General Overview: Mass Effect is an action role playing video game in a space opera setting. As Commander Shepard, every decision one makes can change everything around it, from the outcome of a mission to the fate of the entire galaxy. It is one of the most personal games one will ever play. Join Shepard and his crew as they try to save the galaxy from the reapers.
Our Study:
Do Century College students who played Mass Effect have better problem solving skills than people who don't play the Mass Effect series?
Hypothesis: We believe that Century College students who have played Mass Effect have better problem solving skills than students who don't.
Survey Questions:
1. What is your age?
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15-18
- 19-23
- 24-30
- 31-36
- 37-44
- 45-older
2. Circle your gender:
3. What is your current GPA?
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0-2.0 (D range or lower)
- 2.1-2.9 (C range)
- 3.0-3.6 (B range)
- 3.7-4.0 ( A range)
- Not sure
4. Are you a:
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Part time student
- Full time student
5. Which video gaming platform do you spend most of your time playing games on?
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PC
- Xbox products (Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One)
- PlayStation products (PlayStation, PS2, PS3, PS4)
- Nintendo products (Gamecube, Wii, Wii U, DS, etc)
- I do not use any of these gaming platforms (None, mobile games, Mac, etc.)
6. Which of the three Mass Effect game series have you played/experienced before? Circle as many as necessary.
7. If you have played the Mass Effect games, how much time have you put into them?
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0-2 hours
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2-10 hours
- 10-30 hours
- 30+ hours
8. Do you rethink your decisions after making them?
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Never
- Seldom
- Often
- Always
9. If you have a problem, do you think about other routes you could take to solve it?
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Never
- Seldom
- Often
- Always
10. For your problem solving process, is making a decision the last step?
The Results
In our first results, the age category of 
students at
Century College that presented a predominant data
are :
24 to 30: 39%
19 to 23: 23%
15 to 18: 12%
Our next results show a big gap between males and females surveyed at Century College, 65% of men interviewed vs. 35% women. Also, the most dominant GPA displayed in our survey is 3.0-3.6 (B range).
Addressing the subject of student enrollment at Century College, 65% of our survey belong to full time students vs. 35% of part time students. Furthermore, when asking students about which video platform they own, a majority responded PC (54%), following by Xbox Products such as : Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox one (25%), and placing lastly Nintendo products as : Gamecube, Wii, WiiU, DS (3%)
When we address the question of which of the three Mass Effect game series have you played/experienced before, our results were very interesting 45% of people said "have played multiple Mass Effect tittles" vs. 35% that said "haven't played any Mass Effect"
In our next question, we ask how much time students at Century College have spent playing Mass Effect
Problem-Solving Scores
In our last questions, we asked Century College students about their problem-solving skills. First, we addressed the question: Do you rethink your decision after making them? 65% answered "often" vs. 23% answered "seldom" . Our next questions was: If you have a problem, do you think about other routes you could take to solve it? 53% responded "often" vs. 37% that answered "seldom". Finally, we asked students at Century College if making a decision was the last step of the problem-solving process. We got 87% of students that responded "yes" vs. 13% that said "no".
Our Correlations
In our surveys, we realize the difference between males and females being surveyed. When we analyze results between males and females vs. playtime hours, we notice how males playing time is eight hours more than females. Also, the amount of time invested in Mass Effect in males is between 10-30 hours against 0-2 hours for females. When we see those results, one can realize that guys (males) at Century College invest more time in Mass Effect than girls (females)
The graphs below, we decided to make a correlation between the amount of playing time vs. problem-solving skill (*question 9) which refers of taking different routes to solve a problem. Looking at the graphs, one can notice how students that play Mass Effect between 10-30 hours tend to relate to the idea that "often" they take different routes to solve a problem. Why is that you might ask? well.. Mass Effect is a role playing game, so every time you make a different decision during the game; the result is completely different.
The last graph shows two different correlations between GPA results vs. Problem Solving Process. Century College students scored higher in GPA B range (3.0-3.6) with 55%, and when we asked if making a decision was the last step of the problem solving process 87% responded yes vs. 13% said no.
OUR CONCLUSION
On average , students at Century College who have played/experienced Mass Effect seem to have a better score on the problem-solving evaluation skill. It's probably safe to say that students who invest more hours playing Mass Effect have better problem-solving skills. The more levels one achieves on Mass Effect affects the decisions and problem-solving scale which seems very appealing among students. Also, one needs to take into consideration that the survey got a better score from males than females, and psychologically talking men seem to be less emotional than women which allows them to think clearly on the problem-solving scale.
What could we do differently
Background Impact Home
References:
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Comments (2)
Yia Yang said
at 8:39 am on Apr 18, 2014
ok these are some good research question. I can see that even if someone who hasnt heard of Mass Effect before can relate to the question and answer it.
Yolanda Hill said
at 11:45 am on Apr 18, 2014
Great questions Nick!!
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