Did you play any board games over the holidays? As we scrabble into 2024, have you ever thought about how they could be used as a way to engage people in your research?
I hadn’t, until I went to a recent Creative Methods in Research conference, where Kath Maguire (University of Exeter/NIHR School for Public Health Research) showcased how using board games in research was anything but trivial! Kath demonstrated the concept of using board games in public involvement and engagement can increase participation by reaching people less comfortable with standard formats of engagement or data collection, such as interviews or questionnaires.
Kath brought examples, like a “pairs” game used with public partners to break down barriers of understanding around the jargon used in research. Pairing research jargon, concepts or acronyms (‘randomised control’, ‘double blinded’, ‘SPHR’, ‘NIHR’ for example) with their plain English explanations allowed all participants to probe the underlying assumptions and constructs, and perhaps to reduce the power imbalance between the knowledge giver (usually researchers) with the knowledge receiver (usually public partners). And of course this game can be used to redress that balance by public partners sharing their knowledge with researchers.
However, the most surprising game that Kath has used in increasing involvement was the repurposing of that classic multicultural game, Snakes and Ladders.
While AskFuse (the responsive research and evaluation service run by Fuse) created the pictured Snakes and Ladders game as an interactive way to explore successes (Ladders) and setbacks (Snakes) of getting research knowledge used in practice, Kath has taken the game to a whole new level.
Kath has a wealth of experience in using board games as a creative method of inclusion to reach people less comfortable with more literacy-based research methods. They bring a blank paper board and a variety of stick-on snakes and ladders as a visual prompt to generate discussion and reflection using the metaphor of the game to explore a range of experiences. The aim is not necessarily to play the game, but to use the building of a bespoke “game” to reflect and “illustrate” narratives and experiences.
Kath has a wealth of experience in using board games as a creative method of inclusion to reach people less comfortable with more literacy-based research methods. They bring a blank paper board and a variety of stick-on snakes and ladders as a visual prompt to generate discussion and reflection using the metaphor of the game to explore a range of experiences. The aim is not necessarily to play the game, but to use the building of a bespoke “game” to reflect and “illustrate” narratives and experiences.
Participating in Kath’s interactive workshop was, for me, a real game changer. We explored how using snakes and ladders enabled discussion, reflection and inclusion. We could design our own individual game to tell our story, or do it collaboratively. We used the game layout as a metaphor for exploring changes through time or to illustrate a “journey” (for example, exploring access or barriers to health services). It allowed us to describe and reflect on different pathways or starting points. Being a physical representation of our narrative meant that, at times, “gaps” emerged which led to questions around “what was happening here?” and “what are we missing?” The grid could also used to reflect emotional journeys in response to a given (research) question or situation. We explored how focussing on a game allowed for different viewpoints to emerge and for less vocally confident people to engage without having to “carry” a conversation or justify their experience. The game squares could be filled with comments, contributing factors, and ideas. We reflected that the snakes and ladders could be reconfigured for creative re-imagining of time/place/situations - “what would happen if we did this”? And of course the complexities of the research process can be illustrated through the metaphor of Snakes and Ladders.
At the end of the session, there was a tangible product and graphic representation of the research question, the process and the outcomes of the exploration. We reflected that over several sessions, the game would perhaps change and this progress could be captured in photos. The “game” could also then be used creatively to disseminate the research (Coon et al 2022).
We also explored the risk that a gaming method for engagement or data collection, especially in the “Snakes & Ladders” format, could be seen by some people as trivialising the serious business of research, as in the UK it is perceived as a child’s game. However the game is not all it appears. Originally known in “Moksha Patamu”, it was a philosophical game of actions and consequences for adults developed in ancient India (Museum of Gaming 2015). Over time and locality, the game has evolved into other versions, with snakes transformed into “drainpipes” or “chutes (Start the Week 2023). So the game has a tradition of being adapted and re-purposed and perhaps we should not be shy of re-purposing it to make research more accessible?
Since Kath’s workshop, I’ve had a quick look around to see if there are other researchers using gaming. While there is literature on using board games in health education and promotion (Nakao 2019) and public health policy (Spitters 2018) there seems less on the use of board games in public involvement and engagement in health.
Of course, snakes and ladders doesn’t have the monopoly on being the only board game that can be used. So, do you use board games in your research to engage with people and communities? What's been your experience of what works for who? How do you pitch it? What have you found the setbacks and successes of using board games as a creative way of engaging people and communities?
As you scrabble to fit all the board games back into the cupboard after Christmas, maybe it’s time to reflect that participatory board games in research could be for the rest of the year too, not just for Christmas.
With thanks to Kath Maguire for the interactive workshop and to SPHR for funding attendance at the conference.
References:
Coon, J.T., Orr, N., Shaw, L. et al. (2022) Bursting out of our bubble: using creative techniques to communicate within the systematic review process and beyond. Syst Rev 11, 56 https://systematicreviewsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13643-022-01935-2
Kath’s work:
Museum of Gaming Newsletter (2015) Issue 2 Snakes and Ladders History. Accessed 2 Jan 2024 Available at: https://www.museumofgaming.org.uk/documents/Newsletter2.pdf https://www.museumofgaming.org.uk/index.cfm
Nakao M (2019) Effects of board games on health education and promotion” board games as a promising tool for health promotion: a review of recent literature BioPsychoSocial Medicine (2019) 13:5 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13030-019-0146-3
Spitters H.P.E.M , van de Goor L.A.M, Juel Lau C, Sandu P , Eklund Karlsson L , Jansen J, van Oers J.A.M (2018) Learning from games: stakeholders’ experiences involved in local health policy Journal of Public Health | Vol. 40, Supplement 1, pp. i39–i49 | doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdx149 https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/article/40/suppl_1/i39/4925598
Start the Week: Playing Games (2023) BBC Radio 4 Monday 4th December 2023 09.00 Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001t2xq?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile (Accessed 8 Dec 2023)
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