Research shows gamification produces valid data

UK — Soft gamification techniques can produce more valid data than a standard survey according to a study from MMR Research Worldwide.

Res_4009995_MMR_grab

The research company claimed that soft gamification provided a “directional improvement” in terms of data validity allowing respondents to better reflect and access what they would do in reality.

With Oxford Brookes University student Hollie Kernohan, MMR looked at the consumer behaviour surrounding an average weekly grocery shop using standard questions and gamified question wording in an online survey.

In a gamified condition, 79% of respondents were more likely to accurately predict their spend compared with 63% in the standard survey.

In addition, the application of soft gamification saw the average number of words given in participants’ responses increases by almost ten from 5.68 to 13.77.

MMR said that although the industry had been using gamification, the validity of responses had never been fully investigated until the research.

MMR innovations director Pippa Bailey added: “Our results offer a comforting reassurance not only that gamification is doing what the industry expects in bolstering levels of engagement and enriching data, but also that the adaption of a standard survey using soft gamification techniques can provide data which is at least directionally more valid than standard surveys.”

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Research Live is published by MRS.

The Market Research Society (MRS) exists to promote and protect the research sector, showcasing how research delivers impact for businesses and government.

Members of MRS enjoy many benefits including tailoured policy guidance, discounts on training and conferences, and access to member-only content.

For example, there's an archive of winning case studies from over a decade of MRS Awards.

Find out more about the benefits of joining MRS here.

5 Comments

NickD

Perhaps their PR releases could do with a bit of reworking; statements like "almost ten from 5.68 to 13.77." really don't do them any favours, regardless of the robustness of the data...

Like Report

Display name

Email

Join the discussion

Deb Sleep

Interesting angle to look at the accuracy of predicting spend. When Jon Puleston at GMI and I experimented with engagement and gamification techniques we demonstrated similar benefits in terms of increased word count and also proved that an engaged respondent will happily spend longer doing a survey, give you more granular and insightful data and happily come back to do more in the future. What's not to like about that !

Like Report

Display name

Email

Join the discussion

Pippa Bailey

Fair point about the figures - in the original draft they were in a table but with various revisions they got pulled into the body of text and yes they should have been rounded up.

Like Report

Display name

Email

Join the discussion

Mike Thompson

I think that the increase in data content is very interesting. Did you carry this research out online with a 'proper' sample rather than an access panel. With access panelists conducting at leat 30 surveys a week they are likely to be more in need of some light relief than real respondents. It would interesting to know ifr you get the same effect with proper sampling.

Like Report

Display name

Email

Join the discussion

Rob Stevens

Mike, that is a very interesting claim, I've had a search adn can't find a ref, do you have a source?

Like Report

Display name

Email

Join the discussion


Display name

Email

Join the discussion

Newsletter
Stay connected with the latest insights and trends...
Sign Up
Latest From MRS

Our latest training courses

Our new 2025 training programme is now launched as part of the development offered within the MRS Global Insight Academy

See all training

Specialist conferences

Our one-day conferences cover topics including CX and UX, Semiotics, B2B, Finance, AI and Leaders' Forums.

See all conferences

MRS reports on AI

MRS has published a three-part series on how generative AI is impacting the research sector, including synthetic respondents and challenges to adoption.

See the reports

Progress faster...
with MRS 
membership

Mentoring

CPD/recognition

Webinars

Codeline

Discounts