Towards the understanding of cultural differences in between gamification preferences: A data-driven comparison between the US and Brazil

Research on tailored gamification has shifted from analysing single students' characteristics (e.g. gender or behavioural profiles) to multiple characteristics and how they are influenced by gamification (e.g. context and system log usage). Yet, few studies have been conducted that are concerned with culture, which influences many of the students' characteristics and, consequently, their learning performance. In order to provide a better gamified experience, it is important to understand culture and how it impacts on students' perceived importance of gamification elements, so these elements can be adapted to specific cultures. To this end, we conducted an exploratory study using Association Rule Mining to explore how the cultural landscape (country) influences the students' behaviour and perceived importance of gamification elements in educational environments. We collected and analysed data (N = 1296) from two different countries, Brazil (N = 428) and the United States (N = 868) and identified significant differences between the perceived importance of some gamification elements.