The Titanic Game: Introducing Game Heuristics to Mixed Methods Theorizing and Data Analysis

Abstract

Despite tremendous interest in social games and game studies, the potential of game heuristics for the field of mixed methods remains unknown. This article introduces game heuristics to mixed methods research, showing how it was used in a specific study on the survival probabilities on the Titanic. Specifically, we describe how game heuristics was used to create the explanandum, code and interpret the qualitative material, and set up and interpret the quantitative model. Furthermore, we show and explicate how game heuristics was used to construct seven types of meta-inferences. The Titanic data set is especially interesting, since it is routinely used for statistical mono-method teaching; however, it can be shown that a mixed methods approach leads to a better explanation.

Teaching mixed methods: Using the Titanic datasets to teach mixed methods data analysis

“…coding scheme, we used "game heuristics", an inductive method that starts out with the idea that social phenomena are interlinked "social games", and that codes have the goal to reveal "game mechanisms" that may explain a given social outcome (Stolz & Lindemann, 2019). Game heuristics offers a series of initial heuristic concepts that are used to code the qualitative material.…”

“…We ask students to give a short summary of the overall results. We then give our own version that goes something like this (Stolz & Lindemann, 2019;Stolz et al, 2018) 8 : Women and children survived more often than men because of the rule "Women and children first", which was the one conscious rule that officers and crew applied through out the process. Whenever women or children were in sight, they were first allowed onto the lifeboats.…”

“…First, students are fascinated both by the historical case of the Titanic and by the spectacular correlations between gender/class and likelihood of survival. Second, the example shows that a mixed methods analysis is actually superior to a mono-method analysis (Stolz & Lindemann, 2019;Stolz et al, 2018); it is therefore very useful to show the specific added value of mixed methods. Third, this is all the more noteworthy because the quantitative Titanic data are often used for the mono-method teaching of statistics in all major packages (SAS, R, SPSS, STATA; Bellocco & Algeri, 2013;Kohler & Kreuter, 2017;Landau & Everitt, 2004).…”

“…As will become clear, the exercises reflect to a certain extent our views of the mixed methods approach and its philosophical background -for example, that mixed methods may use a realist philosophical background, and that one central rationale of mixed methods can be to give more valid answers to research questions by eliminating validity threats from other methods (Kelle, 2001(Kelle, , 2007Maxwell & Mittapalli, 2010;Stolz, 2016Stolz, , 2017Stolz & Lindemann, 2019;Stolz et al, 2018). However, we believe that the example of the Titanic may also be useful for mixed methods researchers with other philosophical, theoretical, or methodological leanings.…”

In This Issue: Mixed Methods Case Study, Fractal Heuristics and Integration, Methodological Rigor and Quality, Q Methodology, and Game Heuristics in Mixed Methods Research

“…In the fifth article, Stolz and Lindemann (2020), with affiliations in the social sciences, have introduced the potential of game heuristics for the field of mixed methods research. In an empirical study focused on the Titanic incident, the authors describe in detail how game heuristics were used to create the explanandum (the phenomenon to be explained), code and interpret the qualitative material, and set up and interpret a quantitative model.…”