Updates
New questionnaires, start of the longitudinal study, and draws for vouchers
Hi all, I am happy to announce my first major update since setting up the website.
The main changes are the following:
This section (it used to be called "Updates") is now called "Details". The updates section is instead turned into a progress blog and this space will be used to provide more details on the progress, or might be turned into an archive (or might get deleted later on, depending on how much I end up using it).
Based on the feedback I got and a quantitative analysis of the responses I have made several changes to the game usage questionnaire. It got restructured, I was able to remove ~13 questions (because their content seemed to be covered sufficiently by other questions or because they were not relevant for the new underlying model), and you can now choose a singleplayer option at the beginning (which simply means that the pure online-game questions won't be shown).
You now also can see your scores on the different factors and compare them to the average of responses of others at the end of the questionnaire.
The wellbeing questionnaire was scrapped entirely. I did not really like the questionnaire, the results were not conclusive, and I did not have a lot of participants. I have replaced it with two short and well established questionnaires that don't have exactly the focus I wanted, but are close enough.
Besides that, the real study is now online (thank you to all of those who participated in the pilots)!
It consists of two questionnaires which take about 10 minutes each and can be taken independently of each other. One is a combined questionnaire on your personality, wellbeing, and demographics (I also slightly adjusted the demographics section), and the other one is the new game usage questionnaire.
At the end of whichever one you take first you will get a random unique number (called de-identifier) which you will be asked to provide whenever you take questionnaires for this study. It lets me connect your responses without being able to connect it to a name or e-mail address.
This study is longitudinal, which means I would like to ask you to complete these questionnaires every 3-4 months until the end of 2019. The reason is that I am mainly interested in seeing if change in one aspect (e.g. how you use games) coincides with a change in your wellbeing (or the other way around). If you participate multiple times you will not need to complete the demographics or personality parts again.
However, you would be asked to go through a brief selection of yes/no questions that lists possible reasons for changes in your wellbeing or usage of games.
And, last but not least, you will be able to enter a draw for one of 20 vouchers worth NZ$50 (or nearest local equivalent, currently about US$35) when you complete both questionnaires. There will be three of these draws (one in February, May, and September) and if you participate multiple times (at least three months apart each) you can enter multiple draws (and your chance to win is increased for each participation; x2 and x3 for the second and third participation, respectiveley).
The main changes are the following:
This section (it used to be called "Updates") is now called "Details". The updates section is instead turned into a progress blog and this space will be used to provide more details on the progress, or might be turned into an archive (or might get deleted later on, depending on how much I end up using it).
Based on the feedback I got and a quantitative analysis of the responses I have made several changes to the game usage questionnaire. It got restructured, I was able to remove ~13 questions (because their content seemed to be covered sufficiently by other questions or because they were not relevant for the new underlying model), and you can now choose a singleplayer option at the beginning (which simply means that the pure online-game questions won't be shown).
You now also can see your scores on the different factors and compare them to the average of responses of others at the end of the questionnaire.
The wellbeing questionnaire was scrapped entirely. I did not really like the questionnaire, the results were not conclusive, and I did not have a lot of participants. I have replaced it with two short and well established questionnaires that don't have exactly the focus I wanted, but are close enough.
Besides that, the real study is now online (thank you to all of those who participated in the pilots)!
It consists of two questionnaires which take about 10 minutes each and can be taken independently of each other. One is a combined questionnaire on your personality, wellbeing, and demographics (I also slightly adjusted the demographics section), and the other one is the new game usage questionnaire.
At the end of whichever one you take first you will get a random unique number (called de-identifier) which you will be asked to provide whenever you take questionnaires for this study. It lets me connect your responses without being able to connect it to a name or e-mail address.
This study is longitudinal, which means I would like to ask you to complete these questionnaires every 3-4 months until the end of 2019. The reason is that I am mainly interested in seeing if change in one aspect (e.g. how you use games) coincides with a change in your wellbeing (or the other way around). If you participate multiple times you will not need to complete the demographics or personality parts again.
However, you would be asked to go through a brief selection of yes/no questions that lists possible reasons for changes in your wellbeing or usage of games.
And, last but not least, you will be able to enter a draw for one of 20 vouchers worth NZ$50 (or nearest local equivalent, currently about US$35) when you complete both questionnaires. There will be three of these draws (one in February, May, and September) and if you participate multiple times (at least three months apart each) you can enter multiple draws (and your chance to win is increased for each participation; x2 and x3 for the second and third participation, respectiveley).
LFM: Pilot study on game usage
I have developed a questionnaire based on the categories identified in the interviews, and now need participants to test that questionnaire.
The points of this test are:
The points of this test are:
- checking my analysis (e.g. did I miss something relevant? Did I focus on something unimportant? Did I over-, under-, or misinterpret something?)
- gathering more input that goes beyond the number-limitations of qualitative sampling (e.g. how representative were the interview participants?)
- seeing which (sub-) categories actually belong together (e.g. are the connections different than I think?)
- determining if I should add, change, or delete items in the questionnaire (e.g. because they are worded badly or are irrelevant)
You can download the flyer for the game usage pilot questionnaire to forward to friends/guild mates below (or just share the study's link with them).
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First stage of the model (c) by me
In have finally finished analysing the interviews, which concludes the first part of my study. Based on the analysis, it seems there are 7 main categories (with several sub-categories), that are relevant for describing and distinguishing how players use games.
Interesting to note: The seven emerged categories are basically game-independent, meaning they can be applied to pretty much any multiplayer online game; most of the categories could even be relevant for singleplayer games, too.
Main categories:
In-game behaviour: e.g. social behaviour; playstyle
Choice of content and setting: e.g. who you play with; what kind of content you choose
Involvement/Attitude towards game: e.g. how focussed one is on the game
Subjective experience of gaming: e.g. how gaming is experienced
Game related activities: e.g. analysing the game, meeting or talking with others
Allocation of RL resources: e.g. time aspects; the priority of the game in daily life
Intention: e.g. referring to the intention one has while playing
Interesting to note: The seven emerged categories are basically game-independent, meaning they can be applied to pretty much any multiplayer online game; most of the categories could even be relevant for singleplayer games, too.
Main categories:
In-game behaviour: e.g. social behaviour; playstyle
Choice of content and setting: e.g. who you play with; what kind of content you choose
Involvement/Attitude towards game: e.g. how focussed one is on the game
Subjective experience of gaming: e.g. how gaming is experienced
Game related activities: e.g. analysing the game, meeting or talking with others
Allocation of RL resources: e.g. time aspects; the priority of the game in daily life
Intention: e.g. referring to the intention one has while playing
LFM: Pilot study on wellbeing
Wellbeing turns out to be a complex term, and defining or determining it is even more difficult.
The idea of "wellbeing" I am referring to, so called psychological wellbeing, means more than just day-to-day happiness, and focuses on peoples' "positive functioning", or how well they are feeling more generally regarding various aspects of their lives.
While there have been different questionnaires for this over the past 30 years, these are either not well suited for a diverse audience, or have very limited informative value. That is why I have developed a new questionnaire, in an attempt to make up for the weaknesses of each.
To validate if that questionnaire works, and to adjust the questionnaire in an informed way, I need MANY more participants completing it before I can use it in my main study.
The idea of "wellbeing" I am referring to, so called psychological wellbeing, means more than just day-to-day happiness, and focuses on peoples' "positive functioning", or how well they are feeling more generally regarding various aspects of their lives.
While there have been different questionnaires for this over the past 30 years, these are either not well suited for a diverse audience, or have very limited informative value. That is why I have developed a new questionnaire, in an attempt to make up for the weaknesses of each.
To validate if that questionnaire works, and to adjust the questionnaire in an informed way, I need MANY more participants completing it before I can use it in my main study.
You can download the flyer for the wellbeing pilot questionnaire to share with friends/guild mates below (or just share the study's link with them).
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In the comment section below, feel free to comment on or discuss my project or anything directly or indirectly related to it.