A Manifesto for More Productive Psychological Games Research

A Manifesto for More Productive Psychological Games Research

A Manifesto for More Productive Psychological Games Research

By Nick Ballou

Abstract

“Despite enormous resource investment, researchers lack consensus on seemingly simple questionsabout how video games affect players. Topics such as violent games and aggression, playtime andwellbeing, and more are characterized by deeply divided opinions and conflicting results even at the meta-analytic level. I argue that much of this disagreement stems from limitations of commonmethods, including use of problematic self-report measures, overreliance on cross-sectional research,and superficial use of theory, among others. To resolve debates more effectively, I describe six practices games research should adopt more widely: 1) strengthening the theoretical derivation chain,2) attending to inter-individual effect size variation, 3) prioritizing longitudinal, within-person studies, 4)harnessing digital trace data, 5) controlling individual game features, and 6) adopting open researchprinciples. For each practice, I include practical steps and resources for implementing them in one’sown work. While critical of the current state of knowledge, the paper is hopeful: with the help of thesepractices, the next generation of video games research can be the most informative yet.”

Reference                                                      

Ballou, N. (2022). A Manifesto for More Productive Psychological Games Research. https://files.osf.io/v1/resources/fp89z/providers/osfstorage/62ed20f7136b5712104546ba?format=pdf&action=download&direct&version=2

Keyword

Video games, psychology, research methods, open research, digital trace data, research