This document provides guidance for game developers on conducting research on their serious games and getting published. It discusses why developers should do research, how to get started by finding researchers and defining research questions and measurements, how to get participants and funding, common mistakes to avoid, and tips for getting published. The overall goal is to help developers understand their games better, contribute to research, and increase credibility with educators by publishing their work.

1. YES, EVEN YOU CAN PUBLISH
RESEARCH ON SERIOUS
GAMES!
AVERY RUEB
PASCAL NATAF

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Who the heck are we?
• Why should you do research on your game?
• How do you get started?
• How do you get published?
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3. WHO THE HECK ARE
WE?

4. AFFORDANCE STUDIO
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5. AVERY RUEB
• Dartmouth, Middlebury, McGill
• 15 years experience in the
classroom, 5 countries
• McGill X-1 Accelerator
• Research fields
–Reading comprehension
–Serious games for pronunciation and
vocabulary
–Serious games for motivation
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6. PASCAL NATAF
• Professor of Game Design,
Université de Montréal
• Montréal Inc., Hyperliens,
Concours Alpha, Futurpreneur,
• Regroupement des producteurs
multimédia, la Guilde
• Research: Hôpital Ste-Justine
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7. WHY SHOULD YOU DO
RESEARCH ON YOUR
GAME?

8. WHY DO RESEARCH ON YOUR GAME
• Understand your game better
• Understand learning better
• Contribute to research community
• Contribute to the serious game community
• Get credibility with educators
• Product differentiator
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9. WHY DO RESEARCH ON YOUR GAME
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10. HOW DO YOU GET
STARTED?

13. HOW TO GET RESEARCHERS ON BOARD
• Why not do it yourself?
• How to make yourself attractive to researchers?
• How to work with researchers?
• Conflict of interest?
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14. WHAT TO MEASURE
• Can I compare learning methods?
– Rosetta Stone vs. Duolingo
• Difference between an experimental and a control group
• Different variables
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15. WHAT TO MEASURE
• RQ #1. Does playing Ready to Negotiate (RTN) contribute to the
L2 acquisition of certain aspects of French pronunciation?
• RQ #2. Does playing Ready to Negotiate contribute to the L2
acquisition of French vocabulary?
• RQ #5. What are learners’ perceptions of the use of games as a
learning tool?
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16. HOW DO I GET PARTICIPANTS?
• School Ethics Boards
• Teachers
• Students
• Pilot Study
• Individual participants: paid or unpaid?
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17. HOW DO I GET FUNDING?
• Pilot Study
• Get researchers on board
• Learn to write very clearly and persuasively
• Apply to a lot of places
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18. COMMON MISTAKES
• Writing too big research questions
• Writing a scary student consent form
• Trying to do everything yourself
• Not treating the experimental and control groups exactly the same
• Writing imprecise feedback forms
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19. HOW DO I GET
PUBLISHED?

20. HOW DO I GET PUBLISHED?
• Get feedback
• Don’t worry about getting rejected
• Maximize team members’ talents
• Write a kick ass article
• Don’t submit to many journals!
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21. QUESTIONS?