[Melanie68]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked
Henry Jenkins, Director of Comparative Studies at Massachusets Institute of Technolgy; author, From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games; hardcore gamer.

I remember that study now. I'm glad you posted that article. Many researchers focus on the extreme examples of kids who play video games and then go out and commit real life violence without taking into consideration that these kids had problems beforehand. It has also become the norm that the news media glorifies these stories of school shootings, etc. so that it seems like it is more prevelant when it isn't.

It is always an inherent weakness in research in making sure your sample population is truly an randomly selected, unbiased selection of the population as a whole. It's difficult to do. So when these studies get published, many take them at face value and don't critically evaluate them.

EDIT: Also, the correlation vs. cause. Many studies (in many fields) show a correlation between X and Y but that is only the start. The next step (at least in my field) is to show mechanistically what is happen. If you start with X, what are the actual steps that lead to Y. Then, will you truly have a thorough understanding and can make informed decisions.

(I need to take off my science hat now... )