5. Research with Users Flashcards
Why should we engage users for research? (6)
Expert evaluations and guidelines are no substitute for research with users
Accessibility guidelines don’t cover everything
Experts use ATs differently to end users
Experts can only find some of the problems
Only users can tell you about the user experience
User experience goes beyond accessibility. It’s not just about the technology, it’s about how it fits into people’s lives
What are the 3+1 phases of inclusive UCD research?
Plan
Conduct
Analyse
+ Ethics, which applies to all stages of research
What are the American Anthropological Association (AAA) Statement of Ethics? (5)
Do no harm - Researchers are responsible for the well-being and safety of participants. How will you minimise stress, risk, fatigue, confusion for users?
Be open and honest - Never deceive your participants. We don’t record screen sessions without user consent.
Obtain informed consent - People need to understand what data will be collected and what it is for to give their consent. What is their right to withdraw from the research?
Make your results accessible - How will you ensure your findings reach those participants who are interested in them?
Protect your data - Users will share personal experiences and personal data will be captured. This could put participants’ anonymity (who you are) and confidentiality (what you said) at risk. We cannot lose the data and need to keep it safe, encrypted if needed.
What steps are included in the Planning stage of inclusive UCD research? (6)
Why? - Research questions and objectives
Who? - Participant profile
How many? - Sample size
Where to find them? - Recruitment strategy
What are you going to do? - Method
How are you going to do it? - Method “protocol”
In which stages of the design process (Research, Design and Evaluate) can/ should we involve users?
All of them!
Research - To understand context and needs
Design - Asses different design solutions with users and identify which ones we should keep/ discard
Evaluation - Ensure that there are no issues after launch
What should we recommend as a next step after completing an accessibility audit?
Engage with users
What is the motto of the Accessibility movement?
“Nothing about us, without us”
By engaging users across the 3 stages of UCD, we can ensure that we are not making decisions without their input
What are the 3 levels of participation from users?
Doing to - Coercing, educating, informing. Lowest level of participation, we don’t want users to have to learn or adapt to out technology e.g. writing manual. This is not UCD
Doing for - Engaging, consulting. Getting into UCD. Users should be involved in the process of making technology but they are not really part of the team. They are informants of evaluators and are spoken for by the researcher/ designer
Doing with -
What should we consider when thinking about who to recruit for research? (2)
Diversity - Introduce access needs for all research and consider diversity within specific groups (e.g. severity of impairment, stage of condition, AT etc)
Relevant aspects beyond disability - disabled people are not just disabled. What else should we consider? (e.g. digital literacy, life stage, habits etc)
