Exploring Groupness—A Mixed Methods Imitation Game Inquiry

Abstract

This article describes the use of a mixed methods research approach to explore the dynamics of social group construction with Imitation Game experiments. More specifically, we analyzed in which ways, and how effectively, people draw boundaries in social interaction. That is, we studied ways in which people distinguish between group members and outsiders. Our study included a group of active Christians (n = 20) and non-religious individuals (n = 19) in Finland. We conceptualized the Imitation Game as a mixed data collection instrument because it combines both qualitative and quantitative data in an integrated manner. As part of our analysis, we introduce an indicator called the Sequential Identification Ratio (SIR), which is an indicator of how accurately participants draw boundaries in the Imitation Game. The results based on the SIR indicate that group boundaries are established with 4 different strategies: experiential, epistemic, axiological, and linguistic. Finally, we show how a mixed methods researcher can conduct a form of quantitizing to use both quantitative and qualitative aspects of Imitation Game data.