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Drop-in game lab structure preserving flexible play sessions for ecological validity

Design · All designs
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description

The study's delivery pattern was a supervised lab open on a drop-in basis (9am-5pm Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays) where students managed their own play time within a prescribed per-game log target. The author argues this "partially addresses a common criticism of laboratory-based video game studies", because an arbitrarily defined time limit on play does not mirror normal play circumstances, and that "the lab was arranged to provide better ecological validity" than a rigid temporal structure.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

  • Participants take responsibility for their own time management within prescribed play targets

Constraints

  • Even this relaxed drop-in structure is not an accurate reflection of how games are played at home

Target Learners

  • undergraduate students

Learning Goals

  • graduate skills development through game play

Claims

Examples

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Key Sources

  • Matthew Barr. (2017). Video games can develop graduate skills in higher education students: A randomised trial. Computers & Education. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2017.05.016
Page metadata
Field Value
type design
id drop-in-game-lab-flexible-play
title Drop-in game lab structure preserving flexible play sessions for ecological validity
description The study's delivery pattern was a supervised lab open on a drop-in basis (9am-5pm Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays) where students managed their own play time within a prescribed per-game log target.
status review
generated by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-16
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 1 — matthew-barr-2017

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