Adaptation of the Gamification User Types Hexad Scale into Turkish

Abstract

The aim of this study is to adapt the Gamification User TypesHexad Scale (GUTHS) created based on Marczewski’s(2015) user type hexadframework and validated by Tondello et al. (2016) into the Turkish context.The original scale consists of six dimensions, each of which has four items.The dimensions — and the user types that they refer to — are “Free spirit,”“Socializer,” “Achiever,” “Philanthropist,” “Player,” and “Disruptor.” It is themotive of this study that identifying and studying these user types may proveuseful for understanding the effects of gamification dynamics and mechanicsand assist in designing specific gamification techniques corresponding to eachuser type. The adaptation of the instrument began with translation, continuedwith an examination of the linguistic equivalence, and finalized with analysesof validity and reliability. The scale items were initially translated by theresearchers. The translation was examined by seven experts with good Englishproficiency to finalize the Turkish version. To verify the linguisticequivalence, both the Turkish and English versions were then administered to30 English Language Education (ELE) students. The correlation findingsshowed a high degree of correlation between the Turkish and English versions.Next, the Turkish version was administered to 452 university studentsstudying at the Faculty of Education, Sakarya University, to check its validityand reliability. The results obtained from a confirmatory factor analysis andthe reliability analysis indicate that the Turkish version of the scale is validand reliable. It is recommended to use the translated scale in researchespecially on determining the effects of factors related to user types and ondesigning more affective gamification strategies.