How to Fail Your Research Degree

“How to Fail Your Research Degree” is an educational game for 1-4 players or teams.

You are a student, undertaking a master’s degree at an unusually busy and calamitous stage of your life. Can you plan and undertake your research well enough to pass whilst dealing with a flooded library, your sister’s unexpected wedding, and the many other distractions of life?

How to Fail Your Research Degree was created to deliver knowledge and understanding of research processes and techniques, within the context of a postgraduate training programme at Glasgow School of Art. Development was in relation to the concepts of encouraging creativity and risk-taking within a safe game environment and of learning by (potentially) failing. Game characteristics and intended learning outcomes were defined, leading to game mechanics and text that emphasise player agency, working within a time limit, and humour. Evaluation shows that the game is highly successful at delivering the intended learning outcomes and is a memorable and enjoyable complement to a research skills course.

After playing this game, students should be able to:

1. Understand the various risks affecting research and their impact on projects
2. Recognise dependencies between tasks at different stages of research
3. Understand the interrelations of different risks with the activities to negate or mitigate them
4. Be aware of the time-critical nature of short research projects