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CHAPTER 1

Introduction

BEHIND THE SCENES

Qualitative methods play an important role in Human–Computer Interaction (HCI): in requirements gathering, in acquiring an understanding of the situations in which technology is used and might be used and in evaluating how technologies are used in practice. Although there are scores of texts on qualitative methods in the social sciences, there are surprisingly few in HCI. The concerns of HCI are somewhat different from those of the social sciences, with a focus on technology use for informing the design of interactive systems, rather than on social phenomena between individuals, in organisations and in society more generally. Our aim in this book is to take you behind the scenes, to give guidance on how to plan, conduct and report qualitative studies in HCI. Throughout, we draw on the metaphor of making a documentary to bring to life important issues, and to make producing something a more tangible part of the activity. Going behind the scenes allows us to examine important considerations for qualitative research in the field of HCI that have seldom been discussed elsewhere.

The emphasis we place on different topics is inevitably colored by our own experiences. Our research has been in two main areas: healthcare technologies (e.g., Furniss et al., 2015; Hsu and Blandford, 2014; Rajkomar et al., 2015) and interacting with information (e.g., Blandford and Attfield, 2010; Makri et al., 2008a; Makri and Warwick, 2010). The first of these brings challenges, particularly in engaging with patients and dealing with sensitive issues within complex healthcare processes. The second brings a different kind of challenge: that interacting with information is often not the primary focus of someone’s activity; it is a secondary activity that they barely notice, so gathering useful and reliable information about users’ interactions can be difficult. Using these and other experiences, we review challenges and provide advice for designing and conducting qualitative HCI research.

1.1 AN OVERVIEW OF QUALITATIVE APPROACHES AND METHODS IN HCI

There are many, many approaches and methods for qualitative research. Some of them have names, such as Ethnography, Contextual Inquiry, Focus Groups, Grounded Theory, Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, Discourse Analysis or Thematic Analysis; others do not. Some—such as Contextual Inquiry and Grounded Theory—are widely used in HCI, while others—such as Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis and Discourse Analysis—are not; we focus on the more widely used methods and approaches in this book. Some of these names have precise meanings; others are often used as generic descriptors of qualitative research. For example, Grounded Theory (GT) has been described as a “bumper sticker” (Bryman and Burgess, 1994) to cover a broad range of qualitative approaches, even though there are strong principles underpinning GT proper. This makes it particularly important for HCI researchers to be open and transparent when explaining and justifying the qualitative approaches they have adopted. When writing up an approach, it is essential for researchers to explain in detail what they did and why, giving reasons for adopting, adapting or combining particular established approaches.

Denzin and Lincoln (2011) discuss a research process in terms of five phases, or levels of activity. The first phase is the researcher—you!—who comes to the study with their individual history, experiences, values and understanding; the researcher shapes the research, and should be aware of the role they are playing in the research.

The second phase is the research paradigm. In Chapter 6, we discuss research paradigms in terms of quantitative and qualitative approaches that are widely used in HCI. In brief: quantitative research is most commonly applied to test pre-determined hypotheses, whereas qualitative approaches aim to describe and explain phenomena in a rich, often exploratory, way. Denzin and Lincoln (2011) identify four major paradigms for qualitative research: positivist and post-positivist; constructivist-interpretive; critical (Marxist, emancipatory); and feminist-poststructural. Given the aims of HCI studies, focusing on the design and use of interactive technologies, qualitative HCI research generally fits within the first two of these paradigms, and this book focuses on the constructivist-interpretive paradigm. This paradigm assumes a subjective reality that is shaped by the interpretations of researchers and study participants. This can feel uncomfortable at first, particularly to those who have been brought up in a classic scientific paradigm where it is assumed that there is an objective reality “out there” and that the role of research is to establish what it is. This book is intended to provide tools and techniques to conduct high quality interpretive qualitative HCI research.

Denzin and Lincoln (2011) label their third phase “research strategies.” This is the phase that focuses on the strategy for addressing the research question or purpose of the study. Their list of strategies includes several that are commonly used in HCI, including ethnography, participant observation, ethnomethodology and GT. We discuss these approaches in Chapter 6, after discussing the particular methods that make up a study (Chapters 4 and 5).

Their fourth phase is “methods of collection and analysis.” They include interviewing, observation, autoethnography and focus groups as data collection methods; to this list, we add think aloud as a technique that is particular to HCI (Chapter 4). We separate out analysis (Chapter 5), focusing particularly on Thematic Analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006) as a technique for data analysis that is widely used in HCI.

The final phase according to Denzin and Lincoln (2011) is that of interpretation and evaluation. The questions in this phase are broadly: what can be learned from this study, how confident can we be in the findings and how might they be reported? In this book, we present this in terms of reporting the study (Chapter 7) and delivering the highest possible quality research (Chapter 8).

1.2 THE SPACE OF INTERPRETIVE QUALITATIVE STUDIES IN HCI

There are several important dimensions on which qualitative studies in HCI vary:

• The focus of the study: Qualitative studies in HCI, by definition, focus on current or future technology design and use. But there are still many possible questions that the study might address—e.g., “how does our new design compare with our competitor’s design?” or “what are the privacy implications of introducing this new technology?”

• Who provides the data: Most studies involve the current or intended future users of the system of interest. Occasionally it is necessary to work with surrogate users—e.g., when real users are too busy to take part, or too expensive to recruit. Many studies also involve stakeholders in the system, such as domain experts who understand at least some of the users’ technology needs. In healthcare, for example, medical practitioners might provide input on system functionality they believe their patients need.

• Where the data is gathered: For many studies, particularly observational ones, it is important to do the data gathering in the “field”—i.e., in the real world, where the technology will be used in practice. But interviews may be conducted away from the situation of use, and think-aloud studies that focus on the individual’s interaction with a specific system often take place in controlled (“laboratory”) settings.

• How the data is gathered: Most studies gather data through observation, interviews, focus groups, or diaries. Some studies use existing data such as incident reports, product reviews or system documentation.

• How the study is structured: Some studies have a clear stepwise structure, from devising research questions, to gathering data, to counting responses and producing results; others are more exploratory and iterative, which can include interleaving data gathering and analysis, as they refocus questions and find more meaning as they engage with the data. This is discussed in more detail in Chapter 6.

• The relationship between the analyst and the data: Some studies presume an objective reality to be “out there,” and so two independent people can analyse the same data and discover the same conclusion; other studies recognise the role of the researcher in shaping the analysis and creating a narrative. We discuss positivist and interpretivist traditions that underlie these positions in more detail in Chapter 6. Throughout this book, we focus primarily on the interpretivist tradition.

This makes it sound as if there is enormous scope for variability. In practice, every study needs to be coherent: the approaches to gathering and analysing data need to be well suited to the research question, as discussed in more detail below.

In the following chapters, we expand on these themes to help you plan, conduct and report on your qualitative HCI study. Planning a study can seem overwhelming at first, but a focus on the purpose of the study, together with the courage to commit to early writing and to just getting on with things, can quickly make things seem more manageable.

In this book, we use the term “Semi-Structured Qualitative Study” (SSQS) to talk about the kinds of studies that are most commonly conducted in HCI. This term draws on the analogy of the semi-structured interview: that there is structure to give accountability and rigour while also creating space for exploring important avenues that are discovered through the process of doing the study. SSQSs occupy territory between studies that are based primarily on the analyst reporting their understanding of a situation in a free and unstructured manner and studies that are very structured in their approach and analyses. Our main reason for introducing this term is to add clarity to this area and to succinctly describe the kinds of study that are the focus of this text. It covers several different detailed approaches to qualitative studies in HCI. The key commonalities across these studies is that they have some clear structure that can be externalised.

1.3 OVERVIEW OF TOPICS

We found it difficult to choose an order for topics in this book, because everything is related to everything else. You cannot plan a study until you have some sense of what is and is not possible given the resources, constraints and context of that study. These considerations will include many factors such as who you can recruit and the intended size and scope of the project. Drawing on our film analogy: a major studio film is normally put together by many people working as a team, and each has an important role; however, independent films and documentaries are made on much lower budgets and can sometimes involve just one person doing the work. Documentaries do not need to be full feature length but can be short forays into a topic of interest. Qualitative studies can also differ in size and scope but the typical qualitative HCI study has a very small team (often only one or two people) and they have to play multiple roles—as producer, director, editor, etc.

The producer is involved in a lot of work in terms of the finances and contracts behind the film before any work begins, and then the film distribution once it has been created. Securing finances to realise a project can be difficult. In terms of research, these activities are likely to have been done by the project’s Principal Investigator or your supervisor prior to any work on the project. We do not include those phases here but they are often key to making research possible.

The first role we consider is that of the director, who directs the making of the film and is responsible for achieving an artistic vision within budget: being creative to deliver a high quality product while also working with the available resources and constraints. Documentaries with human subjects may also include ethical considerations. In Chapter 2, we discuss the overall planning of a project, including the management of ethics and informed consent in studies.

A documentary relies on the footage it gathers of its subjects, e.g., this could be revealing interviews with key witnesses, capturing intimate behaviours of families or filming large mammals on the savannah. A scout might help find a location, and local guides might introduce suitable human participants, as part of pre-production for the film. Similarly, the quality of an HCI study can stand or fall on the data that is gathered which, in turn, depends heavily on the recruitment of participants to the study. In Chapter 3, we discuss sampling strategies and recruiting participants.

Of course the camera crew and sound technicians play a critical role in gathering footage under direction of the director. Capturing good quality data is essential, unless you are working with archive footage in which case you need to source it and review its quality. In Chapter 4, we discuss techniques for gathering data, including approaches to observation, interviewing, and getting participants to provide their own data (e.g., by keeping a diary).

The role of the editor becomes important at the point where the raw footage is selected, cut and joined together to create a coherent and compelling narrative that is faithful to the situation being documented. The editor might put the film together to highlight compelling themes that draw the viewer in or help them understand the topic in a new way. Just as the role of the editor is central to the quality of a documentary, so analysis is fundamental to the quality of a qualitative study. Approaches to analysis are discussed in Chapter 5.

Just as there are many different practices for putting together a documentary film, so there are many different approaches to qualitative research. We allude to many of these differences throughout the book, and in Chapter 6 we explicitly discuss different approaches, including Contextual Inquiry, ethnomethodology, GT and mixed methods approaches.

The final step of editing is creating the final cut, the finished film that is ready for viewing. The reporting should be credible (making it clear what the quality and limitations of the work are) while also being engaging. In Chapter 7, we discuss ways of reporting findings from a qualitative study.

For stakeholders in the production, the story does not end the moment the film is released. The film will be viewed, assessed and critically reviewed. Similarly, the report of a qualitative study will be assessed (e.g., the dissertation will be marked, the paper reviewed or the client report assessed by the client). In Chapter 8, we discuss the thorny question of how to evaluate qualitative research. This includes issues like validity, transferability and generalisability; different forms of triangulation; creativity and insight. Although Chapter 8 comes near the end, the issues are ones that should be considered from the outset, in the planning and conduct of the study.

This is a short book, where we present an overview of topics. However, we hope that you will enjoy your forays into qualitative HCI research and will want to learn more. In the final chapter, we summarise resources for going further.

Figure 1.1: Documentary films are different from fictional films in that they aim to present and document some aspects of life and reality, and further our understanding of their chosen subject. Like qualitative research, there are interesting questions about the techniques, practices and processes of representing facts while engaging and informing an audience. We go behind the scenes in this book to explore these issues.