Using Questionnaires in Games User Research

Many research studies use questionnaire surveys to collect data about experiences of video game players. In order to collect reliable and meaningful data and to draw valid conclusions that can be reproduced by other researchers, one might use an existing validated questionnaire or they could design their own. Here, we provide a short overview of the steps one needs to take to set up and run such a study.

Preparing for the survey study

Research question(s), hypotheses.

What do you want to measure? What experiences are you interested in (others talked about certain PXs in their papers, you're studying a specific expeirence, you don't know what you want to measure?)? Don't overtest.

Who are the participants? What is the population/sample? How will you distribute the survey? Representative sample.

What test will you run to test your hypotheses? Yes, this step needs to be done *before* you do the survey. [what test?]

Running the survey study

Preparing your questionnaire in a form that can be used for your study. Most common approach is to use online survey tools: Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, Google Forms.

Some instructions as to how to set it up.

Distribute questionnaire.

What format will you get the data.

Analysing the data from the study

You should already have thought about what test you will use. Format/clear your data accordingly if it is not yet ready for analysis.

SPSS [book + resources].

R [book + resources].

Writing up the results

Worth noting about "statistical significance" - not "marginally" significant, not "getting there". Don't get more participants after you have closed your survey to "get significant results". Type I and II error.