[game_edu] Research methods in games

[Malcolm Ryan]

Dear Games Researchers,

One of the things I find both exciting and difficult about doing academic research in games is the diversity of research methodologies we bring from our various academic backgrounds. Personally, I am from a computer science background and was trained in the model of CS research: build a prototype to solve a problem, test it and gather data to compare it against other existing methodologies. This is simple as long as you are addressing objectively measurable properties of software, but naturally it becomes more complex when you add a human player to the mix, especially when you are trying to measure something as nebulous as 'engagement'.

Since delving into games research, I have started encountering (and even producing) research which does not fit in the narrow model of CS. I'm interested in knowing what other research methods are out there and what their standards of quality are. What disciplines do they come from? How must we adapt them to our own? Do we have any novel methodologies of our own?

I wonder whether it wouldn't be worth creating a guide to games research methods, categorising and contrasting the different approaches. Does anything like this already exist? If not, would anyone be interested in contributing to such a document?

Malcolm