Evaluating misspelling patterns in gamified data: a sociodemographic analysis for linguistic research

Abstract

Misspellings are common in written language, but how they vary across writing tools and speaker profiles remains underexplored. This study investigates the relationship between sociodemographic factors and orthographic variation in a gamified environment. Specifically, it examines how age, occupation, education, and reading habits influence spelling variation during a linguistic production task. Data were collected through the mobile application Word Ladders, through which we selected 6,700 word ladders from a variety of users. A detailed coding scheme was developed to classify different forms of divergence from the orthographic norm, including typographical deviations and non-standard spellings. The results of the quantitative analyses reveal significant associations between sociodemographic profiles and misspellings patterns, with broader implications for linguistic research in naturalistic settings such as social media and gamified platforms. By identifying potential biases in data collection and interpretation, this study contributes to improving methodologies for studying written language and ensuring data quality in linguistic research.