Research on IF

General Off-Topic Discussion
#1

Hi,

I am new to IF, attracted to it mostly due to its tremendous potential as a tool to create engaging learning experiences in higher education.

Is there any academic on this forum who has tried to do research on IF? The kind of experimental research, for example, where student experience of the already existing IF games is studied to investigate a particular phenomenon related to a particular academic domain or an aspect of learning (e.g. cognition, affect)? I am thinking of doing experiments with my students whereby they play some of the IFComp winners to see how they react. I am based in South East Asia, and it appears that there is no exposure to IF in this part of the world. So this experimental work may give me interesting insights.

Thanks,

Amer

#2

I’m not an academic myself (though an aspiring one) but my impression is that most of the research being done by academics on or off this forum as far as IF goes is in terms of literary criticism/ theory? I could be wrong, though.

#3

My impression, too, is that most research on IF has been from a literary point of view, but I may be as wrong as anyone.

There is a study on the effects of IF, as compared to other kinds of fiction, on “spatial cognition”, “memory qualities”, and “perspective on events” (whatever exactly those terms mean in this specific context) by Swedish cogintive scientist Pierre Gander, available as pdf download from his web page: http://www.pierregander.com/research/