A computer-in-the-loop approach for detecting bullies in the classroom

Abstract

Bullying is a social phenomenon that is highly prevalent within the school population. To study this phenomenon, social scientists traditionally use questionnaires that are costly to administer and that cannot provide detailed information about children's interactions without causing a large amount of fatigue to the participants. An on-line computer game has been developed to aid social scientists in observing, in a non-intrusive way, children's behaviors and roles within their peer group. Participants solve a collaborative and an adversarial task, and are allowed to communicate only through a chat system. Observable data from the game, such as the amount of messages sent and received and points transactions, correlates well with questionnaire data while providing more detailed information about participants' interactions. The online game is a new tool that alleviates the cost of obtaining data and considerably reduces the fatigue of the participants while providing sound results. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.