Theme 6.1

In “Players’ perpectives on the positive impacts of video games”, Jeroen Bourgonjon et. Al. intend to explore the positive impacts video games have on the lives of their players.

The data was gathered from gaming forums, which gave the study a direct insight into prevailing discourses among the gaming community.  The selection of forums was based on popularity according to ranking by Alexa.com, and scanned by using keywords, in order to identify the most relevant threads. This resulted in 32 threads, containing 1 615 messages, which were narrowed down 964 in regard to relevance after an extensive process of coding, manual scanning and two pilot studies. Although using quantitative data, the study was highly qualitative.

The result showed clear evidence of positive impacts in accordance to a theoretical framework based on cultural studies.

By using quantitative data the research could benefit from getting comprehensive information, and through the use of a qualitative structure and analysis, manage to get a deep understanding of the phenomenon. The extensive data’s repeatability ultimately served as a supporting validation of the analysis’ outcomes. Although it resulted in a rather complex and time consuming processing of data, I believe the use of quantitative data in a qualitative analysis achieved what most qualitative research falls short on: the ability to generalize certain patterns.

That being said, it is also important to highlight the weak aspects of the essays method. In the essays discussion, the authors mention how they did not manage do differentiate artistic expressions/forms on from another, in this case, genres and type of games. A simple assumption would be that role-playing games would be more likely to trigger certain experiences (positive social interaction, personal well-being) more than a shooter game (which could probably rather function as a stress relief, catharsis). However, this was not further investigated and I can only assume that the ambition of producing a qualitative result based on big amounts of data made it impossible to implement a process where all aspects were taken into account.

Furthermore, by using a directed qualitative analysis (i.e. keywords decided forum threads, which means that only positive messages got analysed) it is more likely to produce a supporting result, than non-supporting. The authors defend themselves by stating that their framework stems from cultural studies rather than theory directly connected to video games, but even by using relevant keywords and filter the messages in accordance to this framework the narrowed down data will be compatible with presumed notions.

The case study approach is a research strategy that focuses on understanding the relations/functions within a certain setting/context. A case study can serve various purposes and produces different kinds of result, e.g. descriptions, test theory and even generate new. In fact, Kathleen M. Eisenhardt states in her essay that a case study approach is appropriate in new areas where theory and research is still scarce. Theory resulting from case studies is often novel, testable and empirically valid by using multiple methods of analysis (e.g. observations, interviews, content analysis etc.) which can produce both quantitative and qualitative data. However, in most case studies, qualitative data is the main foundation for research, which in turn can be strengthened by quantitative data.

In order to get a better understanding of the use of case studies I read the article “The motivations and expectations of international volunteer tourists” by Li-Ju Chen and Joseph S Chen. The essay seeks an answer to why people join international volunteer tourism trips, without having any specific connection to the country/culture they seek to aid. The study measured four personal factors that contributed to motivating people into volunteering (e.g. authentic experience), and also four interpersonal (e.g. desire to help).  The study was performed in July 2008 by sending the primary researcher on an international volunteer tourism trip to China (within-case analysis). The researcher joined two teams of 6-10 people each which constituted the “study objects”. Data was collected in form of participating observations, documentation (e.g. field notes, blogs of participants) and open-ended, semi structured interviews.

To begin with, I believe Chen & Chen chose a relevant trip to use as observation material for their study, but looking at the literature that laid the foundation for their research it is obvious that they seek to extend theory, instead of generating any new.  They present in their introduction that for instance Callanan and Thomas (2005) already categorised volunteer tourism into three groups based on their motivations, and furthermore Rehberg (2005) identified and sorted 12 motivations into three categories. This means, that when a “new” 11-scale motivation scheme is presented in the result-section of the essay, it is not as innovative as it is complementary to older research. However comparing study results to earlier literature will support the generalizability of the outcome and help construct clearer definitions of – in this case – the motivational concepts.

The study’s main strength is the multiple sources they used in the data collection. As mentioned, the data combined observations, which are highly based on the researcher’s own perceptions, together with semi-structured interviews for a better understanding and documentation such as participants personal blog posts (which could be considered more personal information about the experiences as the participant wrote form their own perspective instead of being lead on by the structure of interviews). This broad collection of perspectives strengthens the ideas generated from the study, and provides evidence to support the extended theory.  However, as Eisenhardt mentions, it is favourable to make use of multiple investigators. In this case, by only sending one, even with the variety of source material, the study is likely to contain subjective interpretations. Chen & Chen mentions that they tried to validate the outcomes of the interviews through corrections with/by participants, but this does not include observations.

Bourgonjon, Jeroen, et. al. (2016) Players’ perspectives on the positive impact of video games: A qualitative content analysis of online forum discussions, New Media & Society, 18(8), 1732-1749

Chen, L., & Chen J. S. (2011) The motivations and expectations of international volunteer tourists: A case study of ‘‘Chinese Village Traditions’’, Tourism Management, 32, 435-442  

Callanan, M., & Thomas, S. (2005). Volunteer tourism. In M. Novelli (Ed.), Niche

tourism: Contemporary issues, trends, and cases. Wallington, UK: Butterworth-

Heinemann.

Rehberg, W. (2005). Altruistic individualists: motivations for international volunteering

among young adults in Switzerland. Voluntas: International Journal of

Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 16(2), 109–122.