TO WHAT DEGREE

IS THE
AUSTRALIAN
PUBLIC AWARE
OF THE E-WASTE
GENERATED BY
THE GAIMING
INDUSTRY?

http://www.webtechpoint.com

GABRIELLE BROWN, JENNIFER NORRIE, SARAH ALDOUS & BRIANNA ITURRA

 Our group examined the Australian publics
awareness of the e-waste generated by
the international gaming industry.
 When defining ‘awareness’ we considered
the term to imply, the state or ability to
perceive, to feel, or to be conscious of
events. More broadly, the knowledge
and ability to recognise the e-waste
generated by the international gaming
industry.
 (ed (1998). Self-awareness : its nature and
development, 12-13. New York, NY:
Guilford Press)


A ‘gaming console’ is an
interactive entertainment
computer or modified computer
system that produces a video
display signal which can be used
with a display device (a
television, monitor, etc.) to
display a video game. This
becomes ‘e-waste,’ when it is no
longer useful for its intended
purpose.
  Our methodologies included:
— Face-to face structured interview (Sarah)

— Survey (Gabby)

— Focus Group (Brianna)

— One-on-one interview (Jennifer)

 Throughout this presentation we will be
looking at primary sources – the information
gathered from our methodologies – and tertiary
sources - those relating to our methodology

 Sarah’s Methodology
My methodology was face-to-face, structured


interviews to sales assistants at stores that sold

game consoles.


www.fastweb.com
 Fontana, Andrew 2000
 Fontana suggests that we live in an
“interview society.” Fontana goes on to
describe the context of a structured interview,
which includes:
— All respondents are asked the same
“prestabilised questions.” p 649
— “Generally little room for variations excepts
where open-ended questions may be used.”
— And that the interviewer controls the pace of
the interview.
—
— The interview layout was based on:
— Store information.
— Workers own game consoles collection.
— Products they sell at the store; most and most
returned items.
— Responses images
— Environment and game consoles
— Australian laws and awareness

 SHOPS INTERVIEWED:
• Gametraders – Nowra

• EB Games – Nowra

• Kmart – Nowra

• Domayne – Warrawong

• Joyce Mayne – Warrawong

• Harvey Norman – Warrawong

• Good Guys – Warrawong

• * went to JB Hi-Fi Wollongong but did not obtain

results
 INDIVIDUAL
INFORMATION:
• I interviewed seven people in total

• The age range was 19 – 45.

• The younger age group was found at Nowra

with the age range being 19-20 and the age
group at Warrawong being 22-45.

• There was a great difference in ownership of

Game consoles between individuals and no
clear pattern obvious in areas.
—
THE GENDER THAT I
INTERVIEWED:
CONSOLES OWNED BY
INTERVIEWEES
INTERVIEWEES WHO OWN
A Wii
 OF THOSE FIVE WHO
OWNED A Wii:
Three lived in Nowra and were between the ages


of 19-20.

• The age group of those who owned Wii’s were

between 19-22 and than had an outlier of 45.

• The 45 year old had a family with three kids.

—
STORE INFORMATION
• All stores sold PS3’s and Wii’s

• 6/7 stores sold Xbox’s (Good Guys – Warrawong

did not sell Xbox’s due to certain reasons)

• Only the three Nowra stores continued to sell

PS2’s.

• Gametraders – Nowra was the only store to

state that they sold second hand game
consoles.
—
WHAT WAS SOLD MOST AT
EACH STORE:
WHAT EACH STORE HAD
RETURNED THE MOST:
• 4/7 had Xbox’s returned the most

• 2/7 stated that the sold the most of that item,

but had it returned the most as well.

• Only the Nowra stores had Wii’s returned.

—
 THE X-BOX

Just Another Ego's photostream – Flickr . co

PARTICIPANTS THAT
OWNED AN X-BOX
 STATISTICS

 The website pcworld analysed SquareTrade

survey on Xbox returns and breakage. They
found that Xbox’s failure rate could be as high
as 35%. And that 33% of this failure is due to
the Red Ring of Death. But this was in 2008, so
have these numbers grown in years?
—
19 Male Kmart Nowra
20 Female EB Games Nowra
Owned: One Xbox
Owned: Two Xbox’s
RROD: Once
Broken: Twice

22 Male Harvey Norman

Warrawong
Owned: One Xbox
RROD: 10 – 15 times
* Never returned it
 TWITTER
• There is 3641 active Twitter accounts in
Australia.
• There is 75 million users world wide of Twitter,
though 21% of these accounts are active =
59250000 active accounts.
— Australians take up 0.00614511% of active
Twitter accounts world wide.
— The following statistics show the occurrence of
the phrase “Red Ring of Death” over a three
day period. It shows that Twitter is a means
of expressing ones identity and problems on
the Internet. Solutions to the problem eg:
Red Ring of Death than can be made by
other new media users.
NUMBER OF TIMES ‘RED RING OF
DEATH’ WAS ‘TWEETED’ ON
TWITTER
 PRODUCT IS WELL
MANUFACTURED?
— “I think its a soft ware issue. Its well built and all.
I think its just a common soft ware issue that all
of them have. The red ring of death is just a
common fault caused by soft ware problems.” –
Joyce Maine

— “I assume so “– Domayne

— “Yes”– Harvey Norman

—
 “Don’t know. Mainly xbox stuff. Like the 360,
accessories. 1/3 of people brought back there xbox.
Did you know that 2/3 of a persons first xbox is
returned. We had this guy who has returned his xbox
two or three times now. My mate had his caravan burn
down because of an xbox. He left it on pause over
night and it over heated and the caravan burnt down.”
– EB Games
—
 NUMBER OF X-BOXES
RETURNED TO THE STORE
— G a m e tra d e rs N o w ra – 1 5 % – 2 0 %

— Jo yce M a yn e W a rra w o n g – 3 o r 4

— G o o d G u ys W a rra w o n g – 2 o r 3

— D o m a yn e W a rra w o n g – 0 ( d o n o t a cce p t)

— K m a rt N o w ra – 0 ( d o n o t a cce p t)

— H a rve y N o rm a n W a rra w o n g – 4 o r 5

— E B G a m e s N o w ra – 2 0 % - 4 0 %

—
KNOWLEDGE OF THE TERM
E-WASTE
 THE
ENVIRONMENT

Stephendun – flickr . com

 DO YOU THINK GAMING
CONSOLS ARE
ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY?
 RESPONSES FROM THE
STORE INCLUDED:
— “I dont really know much about the make-up of a
console. But with the ps3 having a laser in it, i
would say no.” – Good Guys
— “Short term no. Long term possibly. Power wise
consoles dont use that much energy compaired
to other electronics. The only issue with them
would be the amount of metal and plastic, but
they could reuse that and there is always a way
to recycle plastic.”
- Joyce Mayne
— “Well most of them would have some sort of
chemical in them, like mercury, so probably not.”
– Domayne
— “Yeah, They are fun to play with so they are
— “To tell you the truth I couldn’t care less about
the environment. But I’ve read reports that
Sony is better than Nintendo with their
products.” – Kmart
—

— “Yes. But they are degrading in the

environment too” – EB Games
—

— “No.” - Gametraders

—
DO YOU THINK GAMING CONSOLS
EFFECT THE AMOUNT OF E-
WASTE?
— “ T h e a m o u n t o f g a m e s th a t th e kid s h a ve
d e fia n tly e ffe cts th e a m o u n t o f e - w a ste .” –
G o o d G u ys
—
— “ D e fin a tly , if w h a t yo u sa id b e fo re is w h a t e -
w a ste m e a n s, th a n ye s.” – Jo yce M a yn e
—
— “Most probably” – Domayne
—
— * Did not ask at Harvey Norman
— “ C u rre n t co n so le s n o . O ld o n e s m a yb e w o u ld
b e . Pe o p le ke e p th e m u su a lly a n d le a ve th e m
in th e ir cu p b o a rd s.” – K m a rt
—
— “To a certain degree.” – EB Games
—
— “Yes, personally I trade mine in. Most people out
there destroy the hardrives and keep parts. We
recycle in here. We have an xbox as our door
stop in the back. But I think are people are
unaware and just throw their stuff out.” -
Gametraders
—
CONSUMERS VS
COMPANY
 LAW KNOWLEDGE:
NONE
 AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC AWARE OF E-WASTE
ISSUES


— 5 / 7 S a id stra ig h t o u t “ N o .”

— 1 / 7 sta te d th a t it w a sn ’ t a m a jo r issu e , b u t
p e o p le w ill le a rn a b o u t it e ve n tu a lly
— 1 / 7 sta te d th a t th e y a re n o t a w a re o f ‘ e - w a ste ’
issu e s b u t th e y a re b e co m in g a w a re o f th e
ca rb o n fo o t p rin t

 PROBLEMS AND
SUCCESSIONS
 The data collected from the interviews was bound to have
problems and have some successful points about the
topic. The problems included:
— Rejection for answers by one of the stores.
— Not obtaining the results that I wanted or was
looking for mainly.
— After studying the Australian laws on E-Waste,
nobody knew of any of these laws.
— I thought that stores would be more aware of the
impact of games on the environment and would
have signs in at least one store about it.
 I Succeeded on the reliability of my results and
finding that an awareness of E-Waste issues,
mainly due to the gaming industry should be
made.
 CONCLUSION
 People did not know about e-waste or e-waste laws.
Most people reacted differently when asked if they
thought that game consoles were environmentally
friendly. It seemed like the interviewees had never
thought of that before. In answering the question the
Australian public especially workers at Gaming stores do
not have any awareness of the problems e-waste by the
international gaming industry. The other side of the
argument is that the Australian public does not have the
knowledge of the problem before asked, and there is not
enough information on E-Waste in Australia. The most
common way of awareness of e-waste to be heard about
is by word of mouth than by internet searches after an
individual becomes curious. I believe that the
information should be shown as television, Internet and
billboard advertising like normal waste recycling. Game
consoles defiantly contribute to the amounts of
electronic waste/e-waste in Australia and in the world
due to knowledge of individuals and no programs being
set up for this problem. But should it be the individuals
or companies responsibility for their e-waste?
GABBY’S METHODOLOGY:
SURVEY

Odegaard –
flickr . com
The survey interview is a structured interaction,
and not a conversation. But it is also not an
interrogation. How do we use technology to
achieve a goal of standardized survey
interviewing while still allowing respondents the
flexibility to express their views or provide
information in a form most appropriate to their
own circumstances?”
(Mick P. Couper, 2007)
 WHAT IS A SURVEY?
— A survey is normally based on a particular research question and
conducted according to a specific pattern.

— The question is divided into dimensions and those relevant for the
study are selected.

— It is important that all respondents should understand these

questions in the same way. Normally, though, different parts of
the population have a different understanding of the same
term. Also, different frames of reference are possible.

— By using indicators, these dimensions are operationalized and

transferred into the questionnaire.

— The final version of the questionnaire is subject to a pre-test and

afterwards submitted to the selected sample. Subsequently, the
data is transferred into a data processing program and
statistically analysed

— Each of these steps is prone to error and has to be conducted

meticulously to guarantee methodological quality.

(Möhring, Wiebke and Daniela Schluetz. "Interview, Standardized." The
International Encyclopedia of Communication. Donsbach, Wolfgang (ed). Blackwell
Publishing, 2008. Blackwell Reference Online. 11 May 2010
<http://www.communicationencyclopedia.com/subscriber/tocnode?
id=g9781405131995_chunk_g978140513199514_ss86-1> )
 STEP 1.
 DEVELOP THE
QUESTIONS

Don Moyer – flickr.com

 FORMAT
— Survey questions have to be clear and concrete, explicit, and nonsuggestive.

— Generally, there are two types of questions: open-ended and closed answered

— The format of response options to questions can affect the kinds of answers that respondents
give, and these different formats will be differently possible to implement in different
media.

— In a text-based self-administered interview, the respondent can see all the options at once
and may even consider them before reading the question (or may ignore them)

— Closed responses have been the norm in today’s surveys, as they are far easier to capture
and analyse than open-ended answers.

— There are various forms of closed questions. They may be simple alternative questions,
multi-choice questions with a range of possible answers, ranking scales to measure
order, or rating scales to measure intensity. The scale types can be classified as nominal,
ordinal, or interval according to the data level they produce. Scales are used to measure
attitudes, evaluations, and opinions but also activities. Using scaling techniques allows
the measurement of non-observable states “within” a person, such as hypothetical
constructs or emotions, preferences or evaluations. Rating scales may be presented as
verbal scales, numeral scales, or visualized versions.
 STEP 2.
GET CONSENT
 ETHICAL AND LOGISTIC CHALLENGES:
— Researchers conducting Internet studies face a myriad of ethical
and logistic challenges as they attempt to protect subject
privacy.
— Start with an assessment of the risks involved in your study. Would
it harm subjects if their participation was known? Would it harm
subjects if their specific responses or activities were known?
How controversial is your study and how likely is it that some
people may attempt to attack or undermine it?
— Develop your own set of pragmatic principles.
— Identify which data need particular protection; it is
counterproductive to secure data that will then be released to
the public.
— Separate sensitive data from nonsensitive data.
— Automate as much of the subject data monitoring as possible. This
step improves consistency in identifying potential problems,
such as repeat entries by the same subject. More important, it
reduces the likelihood of exposure
 (Joseph A. Konstan, B. R. Simon Rosser, Keith J. Horvath, Laura Gurak,
and Weston Edwards, 2007)
 I opened my survey with the statement:
 “The information gathered from this survey
will be used in a university assessment and
may be posted on the Internet. If you do not
wish to publically share certain information
then don’t hesitate to skip the questions which
you do not feel comfortable answering.”
 STEP 3.
DISTRIBUTE SURVEY
 COVERAGE
 Given the fact that e-mail addresses are
not listed for the general public and
cannot be generated at random, random
sampling is rarely possible.
 Because Web surveys rely on self-
administration, response rates are
usually lower compared to face-to-face
and telephone surveys
 Researchers are looking to develop new
survey modes that incorporate the
benefits of random selection procedures,
cost- efficient self-administration, and the
use of interviewers motivating and
convincing future respondents in the
introductory phase of a survey interview.
 (Vehovar et al., 2002)
 I DISTRIBUTED MY SURVEY
USING…

 I took advantage of new media social

networking sites as I sent a ‘private mail’
message to individuals whom I knew played
gaming consoles.
 STEP 4.
RECEIVE COMPLETED SURVEY
 RESPONSE RATE:
— Non-response bias is a low response rate creates
bias towards describing the sample, ignoring
those who did not respond.
— Recent studies suggest a rather small impact of
nonresponse rates on survey results.
— The response rate of a survey alone is not a
sufficient predictor of the magnitude of
nonresponse bias.
— Nevertheless, a decline of response rates increases
the probability of nonresponse bias for those
variables of interest that show a strong
correlation to the likelihood to respond.
— I sent out 25 surveys to people I personally knew,
of these 25, 15 replied with a completed survey.


 (Marek Fuchs, 2007, “Mobile Web Surveys: A Preliminary

Discussion of Methodological Implications,” Envisioning the Survey
 STEP 5.
ANALYSE DATA

 I began by uncovering some background

information of the participants.
 Occupation Of
Participants

h ttp :// th u m b s. d re a m stim e . co m

Age of Participants
 GENDER

h ttp :// ca th e rin e m a n a m e . file s. w o rd p re ss. co m

 I then examined their gaming habits.
 How Participants Were
Introduced to Gaming
Consoles?

h ttp :// w w w . w e b te ch p o in t. co m
Gaming Consoles Owned
By Participants
 How Long Participants Have
Been Playing Gaming Consoles
 How Often
Participants
Play
http://scrapetv.com
 I then began assessing the
quality of their gaming
consoles and whether the
gamers felt they were well
manufactured.
Problems with X-Box
Do The Consider Their Gaming
Console Well Manufactured?
 Next, I uncovered their
reasons for upgrading
and recycling habits
How Often Participants
Upgrade
Why They Upgrade?
Do They Recycle Old
Consoles?
If They Don’t Recycle, What
Do The Do With Them?
ALL PARTICIPANTS FELT
IT WAS THEIR
RESPONSIBILITY TO
RECYCLE THEIR GAMING
CONSOLES NOT THE
MANUFACTURES
 Finally, I asked them
about
 E-WASTE!
Have Participants Heard of
the Term E-Waste?
Do Participants Feel Their
Gaming Console Is
Environmentally Friendly?
Are You Aware Of Any Government
Policies Concerned With Reducing
the Amount of E-Waste?

0% 100%
Ye No
s
 CONCLUSION:
— Similar to Sarah’s conclusion, the survey participants were
generally unaware of e-waste and e-waste policies.

— Some participants said they were unsure if their gaming console

were environmentally friendly, yet one wonders whether they
were unsure or uninterested.

— No respondents claimed they felt their gaming consoles were

environmentally friendly yet they still did not participate in
recycling practices.

— All participants agree that it is their responsibility to recycle

gaming consoles, yet none of them do it.

— Many participants have experienced gaming console issues, e.g

red ring of death, but they still consider their console to be well
manufactured.

— Finally, the awareness of e-waste overall was extremely low with

not even half of the participants knowing what the term meant,
let alone how much impact the gaming industry has on this
issue.


BRIANNA’S METHODOLOGY:
FOCUS GROUP

http://getpaidcentral.com
 WHAT IS A FOCUS
GROUP?
 A focus group is a marketing research tool in which a
small group of people (typically eight to ten individuals)
engages in a rountable discussion of selected topics of
interest in an informal setting. The focus group discussion
is typically directed by a moderator who guides the
discussion in order to obtain the group's opinions about or
reactions to specific products or issues, known as test
concepts.
-Small Business Encyclopaedia


Greenbaum, Thomas L. The Handbook for Focus Group



Research. Lexington Books, 1993.

Nucifora, Alf. "Internet is Revolutionizing the Use of
Focus Groups." Memphis Business Journal.
September 9, 2000.

 DEVELOPING
QUESTIONS:
—  Green Gaming :Playing Video Games, the Eco-
Friendly way-ShawnS
— Trading in the Name of Conservation
 Downloads Cut the Waste
Rent for the Planet
— Shawn,S, 2008,Green Gaming: Playing Video
Games, the Eco-Friendly Way,
Accessed:15/4/2010
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/631389/g

—
 I STARTED DEVELOPING QUESTIONS
CONCERNING THE GAMING HABITS OF
EACH GAMER.

 -What consoles do you own?      

-How often do you play your console?

I then asked if they were aware of the
term E-waste and asked about their
recycling habits

— Has your console ever become redundant due

to failures or upgrades?
— Have any of you ever recycled any consoles in
the past?
— Do any of you rent, trade or download games?

I then asked questions regarding their

attitude toward ewaste and recycling.
 I chose to conduct a focus group because i knew i
could find enough people and sit them all down
at one time .
The Group consisted of  four boys and one girl.
I chose these four people because i know that
they are frequent users of different game
consoles. I wanted to include both male and
female responses.

male-21
female-18
male-18
male-18
male-16
RESULTS
 FROM 5 PEOPLE..
— 5/5 people have 2 or more consoles.

— 2/5 people have had failures on their consoles.

— 3/5 play at least 2 hours a day.

— 3/5 have traded, borrowed or downloaded

games.

— 2/5 have sold their old consoles.

 From 5 people..
— 13 game consoles

— 2 broken consoles

— 6 old unwanted consoles

— Over 45 hours of gaming

—
 OVERALL
 4 Australian males aged between 14 and
21.
1 Australian female aged 18.

4/5 of these gamers own two or more consoles

each.
The consoles are being played often. ( 3/5 say
they play at least 2 hours a day.)

They all claim to use PS3 and Xbox 360 the

most.

They are using up a lot of power. Also, the

game played most frequently by these 5 people
is Modern Warfare 2, which uses a lot more
power than other games, due to its graphics.
 So..how accurate was my
research?

 I believe the focus group worked well. I

have successfully found out about the degree
of awareness Australia's gaming population has
in regards to electronic waste. However,
although accuratly researched, the attitude
toward recycling and fixing the problem of
ewaste is poor.
 (3/5 do not see recycling as important)
 Improving My Research
— I would have liked to conduct more than one
focus group.
—

— I would have liked to include a wider range of

ages.

— I would have liked to include more females.

—
 topic of ewaste and
recycling..
 “Its not like you can get rid of the chemicals.
why bother..”
(male-24)

“I think its important. but not really for consoles.

only paper and plastic”
(female,14)

“I guess recycling it helps peoples mind be at ease.

but we are not really getting rid of the problem,
were just making it someone else's problem by
putting it in their hands.”
(male,32)

“Of coarse it’s important, but do people know how

to go about it?” (female 40)
CONCLUSION
JENNIFER’S METHODOLOGY
ONE-ON-ONE INTERVIEW
 REFERENCES
— ed (1998). Self-awareness : its nature and development, 12-13. New York, NY: Guilford Press

— BVLG, 2008. First state of the Twitosphere in Australia, weblog, accessed 13 May 2010 <http://twitterfacts.blogspot.com/2008/02/first-state-of-twitosphere-in-australia.html>

— Computerworld 2010, International Data Group inc., accessed 13 May 2010, <http://www.computerworld.com/>

— Fontana, Andrew 2000. The interview: from structured questions to negotiated text, in Denzin, Norman. K, Handbook of qualitative research. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, Calif. Sage Productions.
P. 645 –672

— Iturra, Brianna 2010. Assessment, weblog, accessed 13 May 2010, <http://uowblogs.com/digcbi205/>

— Mashable 2010, accessed 13 May 2010 <http://mashable.com/>

— Peckman, Matt 2009. Xbox 360 ‘Least Reliable’ Console, weblog, accessed 13 May 2010, <http://www.pcworld.com/article/171303/xbox_360_least_reliable_console.html>

— Trendistic 2007-2009, Flaptor, accessed 13 May 2010 http://trendistic.com/

— Möhring, Wiebke and Daniela Schluetz. "Interview, Standardized." The International Encyclopedia of Communication. Donsbach, Wolfgang (ed). Blackwell Publishing, 2008. Blackwell
Reference Online. 11 May 2010 http://www.communicationencyclopedia.com/subscriber/tocnode?id=g9781405131995_chunk_g978140513199514_ss86-1

— Graesser, A. C., Cai, Z., Louwerse, M., and Daniel, F. (2006), Question understanding aid (QUAID): a web facility that helps survey methodologists improve the comprehensibility of questions.
Public Opinion Quarterly, 70, 3–22.

— Joseph A. Konstan, B. R. Simon Rosser, Keith J. Horvath, Laura Gurak, and Weston Edwards, 2007

— Marek Fuchs, 2007, “Mobile Web Surveys: A Preliminary Discussion of Methodological Implications,” Envisioning the Survey Interview of the Future, p 77-94

— Kane and Macauley, 1993; Schaeffer, 1980; Tourangeau and Smith, 1996; Turner et al., 1998