Game-Based Research in Education: A Key-Route Main Path Analysis of Literature (2008-2017)

Abstract

In recent years, many researchers have engaged in the development and application of educational computer games. This paper presents a research review of game-based research in education literature from 2008 to 2017. A total of 1,334 journal papers with 17,899 citations were searched and collected from social science citation index database to construct citation network. With the advantage of main path analysis, a total of 4,523 citation links with 758,211 traversal counts were found. Among numerous paths in the citation network, the most frequently searched key-route main paths were identified. Those notable key-route main paths were used as the basis to map the knowledge flow of game-based research in education. This study highlights the key-routes main paths as the theoretical development trajectories in game-based research, providing a research-based platform for further scholarly discussion.