**7.2 Methodology**

Two primary approaches, or paradigms to use Hein's [4] phrase, dominate methodological discourse around the capture of audience experience with interactive or indeed gamified systems. One approach is principally quantitative, focusing on measurable metrics, for example 'use time', participant progress or click count, and the other is principally qualitative, seeking to capture individual experience or subjective responses [48, 64, 65]. Much of the contemporary literature suggests that the purely quantitative is insufficient in capturing the nuances of engagement, with many advocating an ethnographic model, employing naturalistic methods as better equipped to offer experiential insight [66–72]. Moving away from methods derived from the 'behavioural and cognitive sciences', models founded in the 'cognitive and educational sciences' [68] are exemplified by the following quote: '*Observation, in some sense, of an interactive system in action is the only way to understand it*' [71]. This position is supported by many in the fields pertaining to audience studies in cultural spaces [73–75]. Refs. [76–78] highlight qualitative observation as being the best method of assessing complex behaviours or subjective emotions such as satisfaction or enjoyment.

With this in mind, a methodology primarily employing narrative participant observation was selected as being best positioned to capture and understand the capacity of the TNAR application to elicit the forms of playful engagement that are our focus. These observations were undertaken by the author and describe the participant's engaging experience as a narrative, in which evidence, both verbal and physical, pertaining to the gaming experience, is captured. This employed, as far as

*Right Game, Wrong Place? A Case Study: Using a Gamified AR Application in a Heritage… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107535*

possible, a total of one observer model [79, 80] in which interactions between participant and observer are limited. The observational narratives were augmented with post-engagement, semi-structured interviews and written feedback. This aligned to methods successfully applied by, that is Costello, Edmond or Muller [36, 71, 81], when seeking to understand the pleasure participants experience when engaging with interactive artworks.

These observations, and other evidence, including verbal and written feedback were subjected to systematic review [82] seeking interpretive commonalities, which were then categorised; these form the basis of the results and discussion to follow. This data can be viewed here.
