User Interaction Design

I am an aspiring interaction designer. I would like to develop this blog into a great resource for all things IXD.

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What you pay attention to might breed little monsters.

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Software Tools: Audio

Sound recording tools: http://download.cnet.com/1770-20_4-0.html?query=sound+recording&searchtype=downloads&rpp=10&filter=licenseName=Free|platform=Windows&filterName=licenseName=Free|platform=Windows&tag=pe-searchFacetsTile;navForm

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Free Listing

A Process to organize information by user input. The end goal is to have the user create the categories in which information might be presented.

Advantages: 1) a simple and inexpensive way to to gather data about a topic, 2) quicker than face to face interviews, and 3) individually oriented assignments.

Process:

Develop questions based along themes or different domains of knowledge

Define key terms from the perspective of the user. One word can have multiple meanings.

Pre-test Questions

recruit a small focus group

focus on the relevance, clarity, and content of the question

Example Questions: list all the things.... List the ways... List who might be...

Define sampling procedure

Collect data

Code data

Create the codes after understanding the range of data

Log the data and related codes (CODE, Code Explanation, Code Content)

Interviews to gain explanations of freelist data

Analysis of data

Two caveats: familiarity and importance are mentioned first; those with more experience will have more to say

Salience is based upon a formula in ANTHROPAC guidebooks

Interpret the data

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Content Analysis: Word Frequency

Similar to: Word Clouds

Process: Count the frequency of words used from interviews

Results: Tell how often certain words are used over others. By using word lists organized by interviewee type, an ipsedic word list can be generated using work ranking, frequency and word itself. This is a good way to see how a group identifies a subject.

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Participant Observation

The Art of Hanging Out: Social Process

Stranger Stage: The process of learning the rules, the language, and building familiarity with others just as they learn about you.

Acquaintance Stage: Once beyond the stranger stage and acculturated, people begin to recognized the other beyond simply a social identity. The individual's quirks and characteristics become important. Eventually, competence in social interactions is attained.

Final Stage: The researchers at this stage responds naturally to their environment. They don't have to consciously construct his behavior or speech.

Tools: Notepad, Pen, Index Cards

One set for observations

Another set for interpretations

Advantages: 1) allow access to the backstage of society, 2)It allows for a thick description of a society or group, 3)provides opportunities to observe new behaviors and events, 4) collects data from which theory and hypotheses can be based.

Disadvantages: 1) limited informants provide insight.

Related Procedures: contact tree diagrams, stage coding, theoretical approach

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