Levels of Violence to the Empathy among Mental Institution Workers

A Paper in Experimental Psychology

1st Semester 2017-2018

by:

Encabo, Cristine

Mendoza, Danica

Patenio, Anne Ellaine

Roldan, Kathleen

Submitted to:

Dr. Jemerson N. Dominguez

The design used in the study is Between-Subject design. Between-Subject design is used

when various groups will be tested into different treatments. Whereas in our study, we will be

having two treatments, low and high level of violence. The independent variables are

distinguished into videos showing low and high level violence while the dependent variable

is the empathy of the workers. The purpose of this study is to measure and differentiate the

level of empathy of the participants that will be exposed to violence. With between-subject

design, it will help the researchers eliminate different threats in conducting the study.

Participants

The population of interest for this research would be workers coming from Amazing Gift

of Recovery Rehabilitation Center located in Amadeo, Cavite. The participants are composed

of 30 workers raging from years old and include __males and __females. Informed consent

coming from University Research Office of De La Salle University – Dasmariñas were given

to Mr. Reuben Aquino to formally ask permission to conduct the experiment inside the

facility of Amazing Gift of Recovery Rehabilitation Center located in Amadeo, Cavite.

Ethical Consideration

The procedures/activities that will be conducted in the study are in accordance with

the guidelines of the University Research Office with the protocol code

DLSU-DERC-2017-007T. We can assure that all of the participants will not be subjected to

any kind of risks or harm. Informed consents will also be given to the participants to ensure

that their participation is voluntary and not forced. The privacy and anonymity of the subjects

will be highly valued, respected and kept confidential by the researchers. After the use of the
data, the researchers will guarantee that the results gathered will not be used for other

purposes.

Measure

The researchers made used of the tool named “Basic Empathy Scale for Adults” by

Jolliffe and Farirngton, 2006(See Appendix A). Through this tool the researchers would be

able to measure the empathy among the said participants.

Basic Empathy Scale for Adults consists of 20 questions focusing on the characteristics

of an empathetic person. The scale is answerable through a 5-point system scale wherein, 1

for Strongly Disagree, 2 for Disagree, 3 for Neither Agree nor Disagree, 4 for Agree, and 5

for Strongly Agree. The items in the questionnaire can be distinguished from the 2-3 factor

model/classification. This standardized tool is relevant in the research because it will confirm

if the participants will acquire the result the researchers would want to have.

Manipulation

The researchers used a standardized tool namely “Basic Empathy Scale for Adults” to

measure and differentiate the level of empathy of the participants exposed to violence.

Having participants from rehabilitation centers, the researches will be conducting the

experiment in Amazing Gift of Recovery Rehabilitation Center, Amadeo, Cavite. In line with

the experiment, informed consent from the University Research Office of De La Salle

University – Dasmariñas was given to the said rehabilitation center to formally ask permission

to conduct the experiment inside their facility.

The researchers will inform their participants about the confidentiality and anonymity of the

personal information that will be needed in the experiment and their right to discontinue from

being part of the study. The researches will not force their respondents to join if they are not
comfortable to do so and if they want to discontinue. The purpose of the study will also be

discussed to the head of the rehabilitation center.

Before the experiment proper, the researchers will match the participants' length of work

experience and type of job in order to balance individual differences across treatments and

control selection threat, and will be distributed into two groups with respect to the

independent variable, 20 workers will be exposed with low level of violence and 20 workers

in the high level of violence. Participants will be provided with informed consent and assent

form if they wish to withdraw from the experiment and to assure that their participation is

voluntary.

In the experiment proper, the medium of instruction will be English and Tagalog, in cases of

technical terms that the participants might find hard to comprehend. The participants will not

be told about the content of the video that they will be exposed to. The researchers will

distribute the tool for the administration of pre-test that will measure their empathetic

behavior. After administering the pre-test, the researchers will proceed to showing the 1 to

5-minute video clip to the participants and subsequently, the post-test will be given. When the

experiment proper is finished, the participants will go under debriefing where the researchers

will explain the nature of the experiment. The participants are allowed to ask any questions if

they have any.

Statistical Treatment

T test for matched groups is used in the study. It is used for the researchers to ascertain

the difference between the means among the two groups. This statistical treatment uses fewer

subjects and can achieve greater control over individual [Link] this research is

composed of one independent variable with two levels (low and high level of violence) and

we want to know the difference between the scores among the two levels after matching the
subjects and randomly assigning them to two conditions, this statistical treatment would be

best used in the study.

In this study, dependent independent t-test will be used since there will be two

experimental groups, that being the group exposed to low level of violence and the group

exposed to high level of violence. Dependent t-test will be applied on each group to measure

the difference between the scores from the pre-test and post-test while independent t-test will

be used in comparing the two groups. The researchers will compare scores from the same and

different group thus, both t-test is ideal for the study. Also, the objectives of the study will be

attained.