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.
CHAPTER 2
Planning a Study
THE DIRECTOR’S WORK
The art of devising any study is to match up what you are trying to achieve with the methods and resources at your disposal. While the film director may have a fairly blank canvas to work with, HCI is often about addressing pressing, practical problems or understanding future user needs. So a good place to start is with the purpose of a study.
Incidentally, most texts on qualitative methods do not start with the purpose: they typically start with a method, and then summarise (or leave the reader to infer) what that method is suitable for. We are taking a purpose-focused approach. From this perspective, the choice and application of an approach or technique are not right or wrong, but they are more or less well suited to the purpose of the study, and the aim is to select and adapt methods to be as good as possible for addressing that purpose. In Tables 2.1 and 2.2, we summarise some of the key features of the techniques and approaches covered in this book (see Chapters 4 and 6).
HCI is often problem-focused, delivering socio-technical solutions to identified user