ICS 463, Intro to Human Computer Interaction Design: 10. Interpretive Evaluation

1. ICS 463, Intro to Human Computer Interaction Design: 10. Interpretive Evaluation Dan Suthers

2. Interpretive Evaluation • Recent trend away from experiments • Laboratory too artificial • Experimental tasks too artificial • Cannot control all variables • Not valuing uesrs’ ideas • towards subjective evaluation • Researcher immerses in work context • Users participate in setting objectives, carrying out and interpreting evaluation • accompanied by shift in world view • Reality is subjective

3. Ethnography • From Anthropology and Sociology • Researcher immerses in situation • Role is to learn about subjects from their point of view • Wide range of methods and data sources • Video plays an important role in HCI

4. Various Methodologies • Contextual Inquiry • Cooperative Evaluation • Participative Evaluation I don’t think that you need to tell these apart - let’s just look at the methods and consider their value

5. Contextual Inquiry • Evaluate in the user’s normal working environment • Genuine work materials, e.g. documents • Realistic time frame and organization of work in time • Typical population members • Representative tasks • Shared control of situation

6. Contextual Interview • Open discussion of any relevant concerns • Reviewed on video • Attend to • Work practices implied by language used • Individual and group intentions • Culture affecting the work • Implicit as well as explicit knowledge • Customers can guide the interpretation

7. Other Evaluation Strategies • Users involved in both design and evaluation • Accessible low fidelity mockups • Focus groups / round table discussion • Early prototyping • Prototypes robust enough for users to conduct their own evaluation