CONSIDERING IDENTITY THROUGH QUALITATIVE
IMITATION GAME DATA
LOCAL UNDERSTANDINGS OF SEXUALITY, RACE, AND OTHER SOCIAL IDENTITIES
Andrew Bartlett
BartlettA@Cardiff.ac.uk
&
Jennifer Lyttleton-Smith
SmithJR1@Cardiff.ac.uk
School of Social Sciences
Cardiff University
TYPES OF QUALITATIVE DATA PRODUCED DURING IMGAMES
Judge Questions
• Produced
during live
games in step
one
• “Ask questions
which you believe
would be difficult
for someone who
does not share
your X identity to
answer well”
Non-Pretender
Answers
• Produced
during live
games in step
one
• “Please answer
naturally and
truthfully, as
yourself ”
Pretender
Answers
Judge Reasons
• Produced
‘survey style’ in
step two
• Produced
‘survey style’ in
step four
• “Please answer
as you imagine
someone who
holds X identity
would answer”
• “Please indicate
the reasons for
your judgement,
giving as much
detail as
possible”
THE IMPORTANCE OF JUDGE QUESTIONS
 Defines the local parameters of knowledge, understanding, and experience of different social groups
that shapes the entire game
 Through recording frequency of references to particular topics, we can know what the key features of
these identities are considered to be by those who locate themselves within them
 In order to produce reliable statistical measures for IMGAME (pass rate) judges have to be clever and
play ‘well’. This is not necessary for qualitative analysis – all questions are equally interesting and
helpful for analysis
 NB. Unlike the statistical measure, a minimum standard of researcher knowledge is required to analyse
the qualitative game data and deeper knowledge will result in more effective analysis, however basic
content analysis can be conducted by anyone with an understanding of the Imitation Game
ASKING QUESTIONS TO DISCERN SOCIAL IDENTITY
 In sexuality Imitation Game post-game surveys, most participants report that playing the judge role is
the hardest part of the game
“It was very
hard for me
to invent
questions”
“I couldn’t think
of questions
about
heterosexuality”
“A lot of popculture is
homogenised
and they aren't
that many 'gayonly' or
'straight-only'
things”
“It's bloody
hard to think
of questions”
UNIVERSAL CATEGORIES OF JUDGE QUESTIONS
Biographical
• Stories from life – lived experiences and emotions
Knowledge
• Facts, trivia, definitions – usually right/wrong answers
Opinion
• Views on situations, real or imagined
Preference
• Likes/dislikes
Situational
• Hypothetical situations where related actions or reactions are
requested
IDENTITY SPECIFIC QUESTION TOPICS
Sexuality
 Sex
Porn, first time, bad sex, fantasy, promiscuity
 Encounters
Flirting, cruising, seduction
 Coming out
To family, to friends
 Entertainment and interests
Movies, music
 Friendships
Best friends, colleagues, gender of
Race
 Education
 Gender, sexuality and relationships
 Politics
 Race
 Food and drink
 Music and dance
 Religion
 Sport
 Traditions
SOUTH AFRICA ‘RACE’ IMGAMES
 Race Imitation Games: symmetrical games in which black students pretended to be white students, and
white students pretended to be black students.
 2 x Cape Town
 South Africa is a racially divided country. To what degree can members of one racial group pass as
members of another?
 Cape Town 2013 Pass rates:

Black pretending to be white: 66%

White Pretending to be black: 90%
 Awaiting Cape Town 2014 results.
 What are the differences between the ways that black judges and white judges attempt to identify
pretenders? What can these tell us about race and identity?
RACE, SOUTH AFRICA, AND UCT
‘KNOWLEDGE’ QUESTIONS IN ‘RACE’ IMGAMES
‘KNOWLEDGE’ QUESTIONS ABOUT ‘TRADITIONS’
‘KNOWLEDGE’ AND/OR ‘TRADITION’ EXAMPLE QUESTIONS
Black Judges
• What determines the value of the
lobolla and how is it negotiated?
(Knowledge/Traditions)
• Why is a sheep not a traditional animal
to be slaughtered in ceremonies?
(Knowledge/Traditions)
• What happens at the funeral of a twin,
when one twin is alive and the other is
dead? (Knowledge/Traditions)
White Judges
• Who won the first ever SA Idols?
(Knowledge/Music and Dance/TV and Films)
• Which sport/activity uses word
slalom? (Knowledge/Sport)
• What do you and your family do at
Christmas? (Biographical/Traditions)
DISCUSSION OF CAPE TOWN ‘RACE’ IMGAMES
 Imitation Games are potentially an particularly incisive way
of collecting evidence as to the ‘culturelessness’ of whites.
 A sense of there being a common distinctiveness to ‘being
white’ is not explicit in the questions asked by white judges.
 If there was genuine ‘culturelessness’ – if other groups had
‘culture’, and ‘being white’ was simply the norm – we might
expect black pretenders to have the better pass rates.
 The default to biographical questions of white childhood,
which residential and educational segregation have made
(relatively) inaccessible to black pretenders, might explain
why ‘being white’ is harder to imitate.
CARDIFF AND WROCLAW ‘SEXUALITY’ IMGAMES
 Sexuality Imitation Games: heterosexual men pretending to
be homosexual men
 2 x Cardiff, 2 x Wroclaw (and 2 x Palermo, 2 x Granada)
 The UK and Poland have very different attitudes towards
homosexuality, so we could expect very different Imitation
Game pass rates
 Cardiff vs. Wroclaw Pass rates:

Cardiff (May 2013): 64%

Cardiff (Dec 2013): 58% (average = 61%)

Wroclaw (2013): 57%

Wroclaw (2014): Awaiting result
 How can we explain the similarity in results between two
such different countries?
Pew Research Centre, 2013
Available at: http://www.pewglobal.org/
2013/06/04/the-global-divide-on-homosexuality/
QUESTION TYPES IN CARDIFF AND WROCLAW ‘SEXUALITY’
IMITATION GAMES
SEXUALITY BIOGRAPHICAL AND PREFERENCE
QUESTION TYPE EXAMPLES
Biographical
• How was it when you came
out to your parents or
friends?
• How did it feel when you
lost your virginity?
• What experiences of
homophobia have you had?
Preference
• What kind of men are you
attracted to and are you
ever attracted to women?
• Are you a top or a bottom
in bed?
• Which gay celebrity do you
most admire and why?
POTENTIAL EXPLANATIONS FOR SIMILAR PASS RATE
 UK and Polish judges are asking different types of
questions about very different topics
 Is it easier to answer biographical questions about
coming out than preference questions about sex?
 Need to swap question sets to explore further
 Sexuality is a universal experience and arguably the most
popular topic in public discourse – should we be
surprised that people are able to discuss it knowledgably,
whatever their personal attitudes and experiences might
be?
 Is a quantitative pass rate the most important measure
for sexuality studies, or is qualitative analysis necessary
to reveal the true value of Imitation Games in this area?
Question Topics by % of Total Questions
WHAT NEXT FOR QUALITATIVE IMITATION GAME ANALYSIS?
 Huge amounts of data produced over 34 Imitation
Game studies (so far…)
 Judge Reasons
 Pretender and Non-Pretender Answers
 Variations on method (group games, altered step four
etc)
 How can the qualitative data improve the Imgame
method?
 How do notions of social identity vary across cultures?
 What can the data tell us about how people construct
their identity, and the social recognition of identities?