A Framework for Motivational Analytics and Metrics in Games

• In Event: Game-Based Motivational Analytics and Metrics

Abstract

Objectives. The paper provides a framework of what to assess, when to assess, and how to assess motivational analysis and metrics in games. It forms a context for the remaining papers.

Theoretical Framework. Games have the potential to provide engaging, motivating and interactive learning environments and thus promote learning outcomes (Konetes, 2010; Hainey, Connolly, Boyle, Wilson, & Razak, 2016). In current research and theory in serious games, attention to motivation has been dramatically less than to cognitive aspects, especially with respect to measurement and assessment. For example, there is an increasingly significant body of work on how to approach assessment game environments, but there is less on what to assess, and lack of a coherent framework for considering these key constructs in a unified way. The present paper, therefore, presents a framework linking key motivational, emotional, and engagement constructs, within games. It also includes a set of motivational principles and generalizations related to assessment, and proposed assessment targets, measurement approaches drawing on a variety of methodologies, and possible metrics.

The paper draws on contemporary theories of motivation, emotion, and engagement, including Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986, 1997, 2001), Expectancy x value theory (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000, 2002; Wigfield, Tonks, & Clauda, 2009; Wigfield & Cambria, 2010), Control Value theory on emotions (Pekrun, 2000; 2006), the Martin’s integrative Motivation and Engagement Wheel (Martin, 2014), and recent work on engagement (Skinner, Kindermann, Connell, & Wellborn, 2009) as the manifestation of an individual’s motivation, or how their cognitions, behaviors, and affects are energized, directed, and sustained during learning and other academic activities. (Christenson, Reschly, & Wylie, 2012; Eccles and Wang, 2012; Schunk, Meece, & Pintrich, 2014).

Modes of Inquiry. The paper is primarily a theoretical-driven model which integrates work in motivation, emotions, and engagement, synthesizing a set of principles and a framework for metrics and analytics for assessment in games.

Data sources of evidence. Relevant theories from the motivation and cognitive literature are reviewed that have relevance for games, as described above.

Results. An overview of motivational perspectives will be presented, including a discussion of the constructs of motivation, emotion, engagement, and interest and ways that these can be linked and used to frame their assessment within games and simulations. These are operationalized in terms of what to assess, when to assess, and how to assess (before, during, and after the game), with suggestions for possible measurement approaches (see Tables 1 and 2).

Scientific or scholarly significance. This paper fills a niche that has been unaddressed in the literature on games, and can provide an impetus to further integrate the various constructs considered in a more unified and systematic way, and also can provide important guidelines for developing innovative measurement and assessment.

Author

• Robert S. Rueda, University of Southern California