Data Collection & Data Analysis

We used purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection. We intentionally selected episodes in which novice players and experienced gamers had intense interactions, as well as episodes in which players manipulated their surroundings for desired results. Some of these episodes featured teamwork, while others consisted of players competing individually. Through our episode selections, we hoped to examine the learning trajectories of two frequent Tabletop players: Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day. Although Wil served as host and player in each episode of the series, Felicia was the only other player on the show to appear in a vast number of episodes. We purposely selected episodes featuring Felicia in order to gain a deeper understanding of her learning journey alongside Wil's; this also allowed us to compare the behavior of these two Tabletop old timers with the various newcomers appearing in each episode. We watched these episodes in order of release date, from oldest to newest, to ensure we could observe any changes in learning trajectory, behavior, or show structure.

As our site was virtual and asynchronous, we were detached from the learning, serving as outside observers. We took notes and screenshots while watching the episodes, as we were able to pause at any moment to jot down our observations. Our field notes served to help ensure the dependability of our findings. We put our notes, pictures, and observations in a communal Google Doc, and then met up weekly for an hour on Mondays to discuss our findings and share our insights. We placed our insights in context by using thick description and acknowledging the social and cultural dynamics at play during each episode of Tabletop. This helped ensure the transferability of our findings.

While we each watched the episodes of Tabletop separately so as to not unduly influence each other's observations, we watched the same episodes each week so we could compare insights around specific footage from each of our lenses. This helped us test the credibility of our observations, as we compared and contrasted our notes for a cohesive and holistic understanding. By watching the same episode, we easily placed each other’s observations and insights in context during our Monday meetings, having a full understanding of the game and players featured in each episode.

During our weekly meetings, we practiced reflexivity by discussing our potential biases with each other. For example, we discussed whether we had previous knowledge of the games or players featured in the weekly episode selection, and we mentioned how that previous knowledge might have colored our interpretations of our observations. By doing this, we ensured the confirmability of our observations, as we constantly reflected on our potential biases through group discussions and individual and collective reflections.

Our schedule, emulating that of a book club, forced us to keep each other on task as we knew what each person was required to complete before our weekly Monday meeting. While we initially planned on watching fifteen episodes of Tabletop, we realized during our first week of observations that we wanted to spend more time with each episode so we could analyze the learning more deeply. We wanted more time to jot down very specific conversations and behaviors, and also take more pictures of various scenes. We narrowed our episodes to nine, watching each episode twice to yield approximately two hours of observation per week. Each week consisted of watching two episodes twice, aside from week five; the last episode had a much longer run time than the previous eight episodes, meaning the final week consisted of only watching Fortune and Glory twice.