Lego Research Project - Research Paper Example

Executive Summary

Through this research process, our team seeks to identify how to increase the usage of LEGO products in children ages 5 to 8 and determine the factors by which this can be accomplished. To begin with, we are interested in knowing the perceptions of digital technology and toy brands available on the market and how these items impact a childs ability to interact socially and academically with their peers, parents, teachers, and other persons of authority. To do this, our team will collect information by way of a survey. A survey will allow us to capture quantitative information from a sample population to obtain statistical data that can be measured via SPSS to determine correlations, cause and effect, and other applicable factors. In addition to this information, our team is seeks to discover how digital toys help children in this age group interact with peers and people of authority while focusing on their engagement and interest in newer technology. Interviews will be conducted to obtain this qualitative data, as focus groups would be too expensive and could potentially leave more questions than answers due to lack of participant honesty and candor.

Moreover, interviews will help us retrieve the answers to our questions in a way in which participants can answer openly in a safe and non-judgmental environment. Finally, our team would like to discover how toy trends affect play preference and in which toys children ages 5-8 are most interested. To do this, our team will conduct observation of children in this age group to see which toys are most played with, what their reactions are when the objects taken away, and what draws children to these particular items. In summary, all of this research combined will lead the team to understand how and why children ages 5 through 8 tend to lose interest in LEGO products and what the company can do to retain and expand their overall consumer base.

Problem Definition and Approach

Outcome Variable - Understanding children's toy preference so as to avoid a "drop off" of customers.

V1 - Children's perceptions toward digital toys.

V2 - Parental perception (we can remove the teacher aspect) of toy's ability to promote engagement.

V3 - What toys children naturally gravitate toward?

Research Questions

RQ1: How do childrens perceptions towards digital toys influence how they pick a toy for play (toy preferences)?

RQ2: How does parental perception of engagement influence the toy that a child plays with?

RQ3: What toys children gravitate toward?

Main Development Point

MDP: In light of our research, interest is trending from traditional to digital toys. What new technologies does LEGO need to stay ahead of these digital trends to attract 5-8 year old non/light users?

MRP: How do digital toys affect or improve social factors such as interaction and engagement with peers, parents and authority of 5-8 year old children at play?

Hypothesis

To increase play from light users and convert non-users to heavy consumers of LEGO products, the company must enhance digital toys and videogames to encourage engagement and social interaction in children ages 5-8 (connects to the outcome variable).

Research Method & Approach

Academic and Peer Review Research to set up Model

Surveys-quantitative

Interviews-qualitative

Observations-qualitative

SPSS analysis

Academic and Peer Review Research to set up Model

Technology changing how children interact with each other and with authority

Less diciplinedLess respectful

Less attention span

Reduction in physical fitness

Sociability

Anger management

Correlation between children who experience learning through play and social skillsets

Compulsivity to IT usage

Digital hypocracyParents unable to unplug from own digital devices

Children mimic parents

Digital toys more popular at even younger ages

Method 1 Surveys

Our first research method seeks to address RQ1: How do children's perception towards digital toys influence how they pick a toy for play (toy preferences)?

RQ2: How does parental perception of engagement influence the toy that a child plays with?

In order to determine the answer to this question, our team will survey parents of 5-8 year olds and elementary school educators, including teachers, specialists, and administrators. Our goal is to discover how play has changed, positively or negatively, in terms of trends, as well as how digital technology has changed the methods by which children interact with each other and authority figures like parents and teachers. Additionally, we seek to discover how digital technology impacts learning, attention span, physical fitness levels, sociability, and anger management in younger children. This data is quantitative, and can be measured numerically through SPSS.

Method 2 Interviews seeks to address

RQ1: How do childrens perceptions towards digital toys influence how they pick a toy for play (toy preferences)?

RQ2: How does parental perception of engagement influence the toy that a child plays with?

Goal of Method

Candid dialogue about impact of digital technology in 5-8 year olds

In depth, heart of the matter discussions on subject matter

Family play discussions

Qualitative

Method 3 Observations

Our third research question asks: RQ3: What toys children gravitate toward?

To determine the outcome, our team will conduct observations of children ages 5-8 years of age and, in turn, find a correlation between children who experience learning through play activities and their social abilities and skillsets. Additionally, we seek to observe preferences in games and toys, as well as whether their gender has an innate impact on their choice of entertainment. From there, we will be able to develop a summary of what children find to be of the most entertainment value.

Observation 1 - OhiroloThe younger children were more unlikely to share whether the toys were traditional nor technological toys. However, regardless of age, tech toys engender non-sharing. On a general not, the attention span of the children was short while playing with traditional toys, but longer when on the digital tech toys.

In terms of interaction the younger kid interacted more with the traditional toys than the older kids, while the girls were more interactive with their digital devices.

Observation #2 Marla

Want to build things with blocks, Lego, games in general dragon, house, tablet, map, and need more ideas and what to do afterward

Age 8 female very distractible, social media focused, vanity, peer pressure. Decrease socially interacting across all ages while playing with digital. Anger issues increasing with girl during play. Reduction in imagination, learning to get along with others, digital distance. Need a goal or reason to play, an end game

Observation #3 Antoinette

The boys like learning and reading even when playing. They play Minecraft and were very thorough when explaining the game. They quickly learn games and figure out ways to advance to the next level without my instruction.

When playing with traditional games or toys, they make up rules if they are unsure about how to play (i.e. making up rules on how to play with Pokemon cards). However, they have active imaginations, so they are successful in games that allow them to explore and create like Minecraft.

I already knew that kids easily learn how to use technological devices by observing my nephews since their birth. I always thought that the way they played using digital technology was similar to how they play using traditional toys, but they use different skills and tactics when playing with traditional toys vs. digital toys. Both digital and traditional toys allow them to use their imagination and creativity, but they are used in different ways.

Girls more focused on digital toys and social sites than boys

Use different skills when playing traditional versus digital toys

Sharing reduces with digital toys

Attention span reduces with digital toys

Significant differences even within the 5-8 year old age brackets

What should we ask after conducting observations? Are digital toys maturing kids earlier? How are the sexes different in toy preferences from digital to traditional? Peer pressure and bullying issues? What particular aspects of digital technology allow children the ability to be imaginative and creative that is different from the way they play with traditional toys? Does digital technology impact how children currently play with traditional toys or has their way of playing with traditional toys always stayed the same?

The goals will be to determine aspects of digital technology encourage children to access a level of creativity and imagination that currently isnt accessible from just playing with traditional toys. To learn whether or not the influence of digital technology impacts how children play with traditional toys and if they use skills they learn from digital technology in the way they play. If so, companies like LEGO, can take certain aspects children learn from playing with digital technology and apply them to their traditional toys.

1.Organize your findings according to your theoretical model.

Choose best tests and Run SPSS on surveys to apply to model

Conduct interviews

Compile interview data

Compile observation data

How do your findings match up? Did you find anything surprising? Under what conditions does the model seem to hold up? What might that mean for your recommendations?

Everything we have compiled (surveys, SPSS tests run, interviews etc) has to go into appendix of final paper as well, so post everything we do into google folder.

2.Think about how you might go about telling the story of your research endeavor. What do your clients need to know in terms of how you approached the problem? What will provide you credibility as researchers? How do you want them to use your findings and data?

3.Draw a map of your story.

Create powerpointVisualize the way that you plan to walk your client through the series of decisions that you have made. Remember, it is important to make this story simple enough to follow and be memorable, but complex enough to handle the nuance and interesting findings in your data.

Results

Recommendations

Limitations

Conclusions

Backup

References

Acker, A., Nyland, B., & Niland, A. (2015). The relationship between children's learning through music and the use of technology. Australian Journal of Music Education, (1), 64-74.

Bird, J., & Edwards, S. (2015). Children learning to use technologies through play: A digital play framework. British Journal of Educational Technology, 46(6), 1149-1160. doi:10.1111/bjet.12191

Edwards, S. (2016). New concepts of play and the problem of technology, digital media and popular-culture integration with play-based learning in early childhood education. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 25(4), 513-532. Szymanski, M. (2002). Marketing toys by devel...