A step forward in behavioral research using the full potential of technological advancement

• Grant number: 17/23247-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: January 08, 2018
• End date: June 07, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Experimental Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Júlio César Coelho de Rose
• Grantee: Julio César de Camargo
• Supervisor: Michael Edward Young
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Kansas State University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 15/25392-4 - Investigating the sustainable use of common resources by means of a video game, BP.DR

Abstract

Technological advancement can lead to the development of new instruments and procedures to investigate several behavioral and social processes. Research using video game-based tasks can be fruitful by increasing the engagement and immersion of participants, by avoiding biases coming from research setting, and by producing continuous measures of dependent variables. New procedures using video game-based tasks allow researchers to run remote data collection and to investigate the real-time interaction of participants into simulated social environments. All this advancement comes with some costs that researchers need to afford to produce reliable, impact-driven research. This proposal is based on the possibility of discussion and increase in knowledge regarding four main topics: technical constraints, experimental control, ethical implications, and new data analysis techniques. The aims include (1) identify the possibilities and limitations of the use of video game-based tasks for remote data collection and the real-time simulation of interactive social environments, and; (2) increase personal knowledge about new techniques of data analysis by taking classes with Professor Dr. Michael Young at Kansas State University.