The event is held online by researchers Mika Simonen and Anna Heino from Helsinki University. It begins with a brief lecture on the history and practicalities of organizing an Imitation Game. Following the lecture, we will all play the game together for about an hour – this way, you will get first-hand experience of participating in the game. Afterwards, we will go through the results, collected data and further research possibilities provided by the Imitation Game method. There will be some time for open discussion and questions.
To experiment with playing the game, the participants will divide in two social groups:
(A) Qualitative researchers
(B) Quantitative researchers
Since the groups will be formed based on the participants’ self-identification, we will ask whether you feel most at home with qualitative or quantitative research (or both equally) in the sign up form. There is room for 10 participants in each group.
About Imitation Game
The Imitation Game is an experiment for players recruited from two social groups. Briefly, the participants are distributed to smaller groups where one player in turn asks questions from two other players. One of the respondents belongs to the same social group as the player asking questions; that respondent’s task is to answer honestly. The other respondent belongs to the other social group and that player’s task is to imitate and answer as if the player would belong to the other group. The player asking questions receives the answers without initially knowing which player typed which answer; it is the player’s task to identify the answers. Hence, the game proceeds in question-answer-assessment sequences until the player asking questions is sure about the respondents’ identities: who is who.
The game concentrates on the use of language (Collins 2018) and sheds light on social groups and their interactional expertise (Collins & Evans 2014). In addition, Turing (1950) proposed that the game produces perspectives on whether or not artificial intelligence can imitate humans. A machine can be treated as ‘thinking’ if the machine can successfully imitate humans with written answers and win the game. Moreover, the method can be utilized for raising awareness of different perspectives and for creating more open dialogue. Imitation Games have been organized in computer labs and they offer qualitative and quantitative data of the performance of the players for researchers.
STUE method clinics
STUE arranges a series of method clinics in Spring 2022. The aim is to discuss different research methods, share experiences, learn together, and build up skills for co-operation across disciplines. If you have in mind a method that you would like to discuss, please contact research coordinator Alisa Vänttinen, alisa.vanttinen@tuni.fi.
More information about the event:
Alisa Vänttinen, alisa.vanttinen@tuni.fi
More information about the Imitation Game:
Mika Simonen, mika.simonen@helsinki.fi
Anna Heino, anna.s.heino@helsinki.fi