Focus groups and serious gaming in climate change communication research—A methodological review

Abstract

This article explores the methodological challenges and opportunities of climate change communication research in a digital landscape. It scrutinizes the potential and limitations of combining group‐based qualitative interview methods, such as focus groups, with new digital media tools such as serious games. The paper brings together three strands of research: Climate change communication studies, methods literature on focus groups, and literature on (digital) serious gaming. Our review demonstrates that studies that deliberately combine focus groups methods with serious gaming have hitherto been scarce. There is a proliferation of digital visualization tools in climate change communication. We therefore see the need to critically explore what and how the integration of digital tools into qualitative group‐based studies can contribute to enhancing research into climate change communication and knowledge development. To illuminate the opportunities and challenges for the integration of serious gaming in focus group studies in the area of climate change communication, we bring in a few illustrative examples from a research project that integrated focus group methodology with a serious game on climate adaptation in Nordic agriculture. Introducing digital serious games in focus group‐based climate change communication studies can benefit climate change communication research in at least three ways: (a) by spurring participants’ in‐depth discussions, facilitating analysis of how sense‐making occurs; (b) by providing opportunities to evaluate features of the game itself and to develop it for different target audiences; and (c) by forming part of participatory climate change communication activities, engaging lay people and/or experts in co‐creating knowledge. This article is categorized under: Perceptions, Behavior, and Communication of Climate Change > Perceptions of Climate Change

Facilitating Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue and Collaboration in the Energy Transition of Municipalities through Serious Gaming

“…One of the added values of this study is to show that the game design, through different dynamics and mechanics, fosters this shared sense of making processes and stakeholders' engagement with the issue in particular. Depending on the game design, the flow of the group dialogue might be enhanced, in comparison to a stricter setting, which puts a "stronger step-by-step focus on the discussions", as other studies have previously shown [8].…”

“…Finally, in the process, different views and interests on objectives and means are encountered from a variety of stakeholders, creating a "strongly polarized environment". This conflicting environment is also visible in media representation, which even if it is increasing over time, it is often seen as "unbalanced" by both sides of the spectrum, those who criticise it and those who support energy transition [8]. In the case of climate change, the topic is often represented in a "sensationalist and shocking way" in mass media, making people feel distant towards the issue, without power to make changes [12].…”

“…Many studies conclude that serious games that are "properly constructed and validated" have potential as an efficient strategy for engaging with diverse publics [8]. Employing serious games is also seen by researchers and practitioners as a new form of participatory communication that can act as "ice-breakers" to stimulate discussions and initiate co-creating responses.…”

“…After the game, there is time for debriefing and debating. Group discussions can be designed according to different formats, depending on the purpose at hand: from structured interview sessions, where the facilitator keeps more control of the interaction, to open-ended conversations, where the facilitator takes a secondary role of [8]. In the case of the We-Energy Game, the facilitator takes this second approach, introducing thematic areas for discussion among participants and explaining complex and abstract issues.…”

“…Researchers maintain that serious games could work as effective strategies to raise citizens' engagement with climate-change-related issues [7][8][9], such as energy transition; however, empirical evidence on the effectiveness and the process to support engagement is still limited [10]. The goal of this paper is, therefore, to introduce the application of the We-Energy Game as a case study to provide empirical evidence on how serious gaming could facilitate dialogue and collaboration among different stakeholders and which specific features influence the engagement of participants with the issue of energy transition.…”