Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Highlights
- The study’s objective was to examine the impact of video games for low-income adults on financial knowledge. This profile focuses on the Bite Club video game. The authors investigated similar research questions for another video game, the profile can be found here.
- The study used an interrupted time series design. Using data from a pre- and post-test, the authors compared the outcomes of individuals before and after playing the video game.
- The study found a relationship between the Bite Club video game and increased financial knowledge. However, the authors did not provide tests of statistical significance.
- The study receives a low evidence rating. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the Bite Club video game; other factors are likely to have contributed.
Intervention Examined
Bite Club Video Game
Features of the Intervention
A design team at the MIT Education Arcade collaborated with the nonprofit organization, Doorways to Dreams (D2D), to create a video game designed to improve users’ financial knowledge. Additional goals of the video game were to improve users’ confidence in their ability to save for retirement, pay down debt, and manage day-to-day expenses. During the game, a player is responsible for managing a day club for vampires and must balance the competing needs of paying off debt (used to start the club), buying things for the club that will generate money when patrons buy the goods or services, and saving for retirement. When the game starts, the player is 22 years old. The game has 15 rounds, and 3 years pass between each round, making the player 67 when the game ends. Bite Club is the fourth game created by these developers to increase financial literacy.
Features of the Study
The game was tested in three cities: Baltimore, Maryland; Cleveland, Ohio; and Houston, Texas. In each city, D2D identified one or more community partners to manage recruitment and testing. The study sample included 43 low-income adults. After arriving at the testing center, study participants completed a pre-test to measure their financial knowledge, including knowledge about interest rates and interest compounding, savings, and finance charges. After the game ended, or no more than 90 minutes after starting, participants completed a post-test which was identical to the pre-test. Pre- and post-test measures included seven true/false questions adapted from the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) Evaluation Toolkit. The study authors compared the pre-test and post-test scores of participants, reporting the percentage of participants that answered each item correctly at the pre-test and post-test, and the change between the two measures. However, the authors did not provide tests of statistical significance.
Findings
Knowledge and skills for financial decision making
- The study found a relationship between the Bite Club video game and increased financial knowledge.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
The authors compared the outcomes of participants measured before and after they played the Bite Club video game. For these types of designs, the authors must observe outcomes for multiple periods before the intervention to rule out the possibility that participants had increasing or decreasing trends in the outcomes examined before receiving the intervention. Without knowing the trends before receiving the intervention, we cannot rule this out. Therefore, the study receives a low causal evidence rating.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is low because the authors did not account for trends in outcomes before the intervention. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the Bite Club video game; other factors are likely to have contributed.