Graduation Year

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.A.

Degree Granting Department

Child and Family Studies

Major Professor

Raymond Miltenberger, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Kimberly Crosland, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Lisa Witherspoon, Ph.D.

Keywords

Active Gaming, heart rate, paired-choice preference assessment, rank order card sort, social validity

Abstract

Obesity in children is a nationwide problem. Physical activity is one way to help children stay fit and prevent obesity. Unfortunately, access to technology involving sedentary behavior is easier than ever. Fortunately, for this generation of students there is a way to combine physical activity and technology through exergaming. In order to encourage students to participate in exergaming, the students should be able to play games they prefer. The purpose of this study was to apply a paired choice preference assessment, rank order card sort, and social validity surveys to determine the preference order of six exergames for six elementary students and measure heart rates as the children played the six exergames. The results of this study show that children had different preferences as evident by the rank order card sort, social validity survey, and paired choice preference assessment. The pre-rank order card sort was significantly correlated with the paired choice assessment. On the other hand, the pre-social validity survey was not significantly correlated with the paired choice assessment.

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