Semester: - VIII Subject: - User Interaction Design A.Y.

:- 2022-2023

Module 3: Data Gathering, Establishing Requirements,

Analysis, Interpretation and Presentation
• Five Key Issues

❖ Five Key Issues

Five key issues require attention for any data gathering session to be successful:

1. Goal setting,

2. Identifying participants

3. The relationship between the data collector and the data provider

4. Triangulation,

5. Pilot studies.

1. Setting Goals

• The main reason for gathering data is to get clean information about users, their
behavior,or their reaction to technology.

• Examples include understanding how technology fits into family life, identifying
which of two icons representing “send message” is easier to use, and finding out whether the
planned redesign for a handheld meter reader is headed in the right direction.

• There are many different reasons for gathering data, and before beginning, it is
importantto set specific goals for the study.

• These goals will influence the nature of data gathering sessions, the data gathering
techniques to be used, and the analysis to be performed

• The goals may be expressed more or less formally, for instance, using some structured or
even mathematical format or using a simple description such as the ones in the previous
paragraph.

• Whatever the format, however, they should be clear and concise.

• In interaction design, it is more common to express goals for data gathering informally.
Semester: - VIII Subject: - User Interaction Design A.Y.:- 2022-2023

2. Identifying Participants

• The goals developed for the data gathering session will indicate the types of people from
whom data is to be gathered. Those people who fit this profile are called the population or
study population.
• In some cases, the people from whom to gather data may be clearly identifiable— maybe
because there is a small group of users and access to each one is easy.

• However, it is more likely that the participants to be included in data gathering need to be
chosen,and this is called sampling. The situation where all members of the target population
are accessible is called saturation sampling, but this is quite rare.

• Assuming that only a portion of the population will be involved in data gathering, then
there are two options: probability sampling or nonprobability sampling. In the former
case, the most commonly used approaches are simple random sampling or stratified
sampling; in the latter case, the most common approaches are convenience sampling or
volunteer panels.

• Random sampling can be achieved by using a random number generator or by

choosing every nth person in a list. Stratified sampling relies on being able to divide the
population into groups (for example, classes in a secondary school) and then applying
random sampling.

• Both convenience sampling and volunteer panels rely less on choosing the
participantsand more on the participants being prepared to take part.

• The term convenience sampling is used to describe a situation where the sample includes
those who were available rather than those specifically selected. Another form of
convenience sampling is snowball sampling, in which a current participant finds another
participant and that participant finds another, and so on. Much like a snowball adds more
snow as it gets bigger, the population is gathered up as the study progresses.

• The crucial difference between probability and nonprobability methods is that in the former
you can apply statistical tests and generalize to the whole population, while in the latter such
generalizations are not robust. Using statistics also requires a sufficient number of
participants.
 Semester: - VIII Subject: - User Interaction Design A.Y.:- 2022-2023

How Many Participants Are Needed?

• A common question is how many participants are needed for a study? In general,
having more participants is better because interpretations of statistical test results can be
stated with higherconfidence.
• What this means is that any differences found among conditions are more likely to be
caused by a genuine effect rather than being due to chance. More formally, there are
many ways to determine how many participants are needed.

Four of these are saturation, cost and feasibility analysis, guidelines, and prospective

poweranalysis

• Saturation relies on data being collected until no new relevant information emerges,
and so it is not possible to know the number in advance of the saturation point being
reached.
• Choosing the number of participants based on cost and feasibility constraints is a
practical approach and is justifiable; this kind of pragmatic decision is common in
industrial projectsbut rarely reported in academic research.

Guidelines may come from experts or from “local standards,” for instance, from an accepted
norm in the field.
• Prospective power analysis is a rigorous method used in statistics that relies on
existing quantitative data about the topic; in interaction design, this data is often
unavailable, making this approach infeasible, such as when a new technology is being
developed.

3. Relationship with Participants

• One significant aspect of any data gathering is the relationship between the person (people)
doing the gathering and the person (people) providing the data. Making sure that this
relationship is clear and professional will help to clarify the nature of the study.

• How this is achieved varies in different countries and different settings. In the United States
and United Kingdom, for example, it is achieved by asking participants to sign an informed
consent form, while in Scandinavia such a form is not required. The details of this form
will vary, but it usually asks the participants to confirm that the purpose of the data gathering
and how the data will be used has been explained to them and that they are willing to
continue.
Semester: - VIII Subject: - User Interaction Design A.Y.:- 2022-2023

• It usually explains that their data will be private and kept in a secure place. It also often
includes a statement that participants may withdraw at any time and that in this case none of
their data willbe used in the study.

• The informed consent form is intended to protect the interests of both the data
gatherer and the data provider.

• The gatherer wants to know that the data they collect can be used in their analysis,
presented to interested parties, and published in reports. The data provider wants reassurance
that the information they give will not be used for other purposes or in any context that
would be detrimental to them.

• For example, they want to be sure that personal contact information and other personal
details are not made public. This is especially true when people with disabilities or
childrenare being interviewed.

• In the case of children, using an informed consent form reassures parents that their children
will not be asked threatening, inappropriate, or embarrassing questions, or be asked to
look at disturbing or violent images. In these cases, parents are asked to sign the form.

• This kind of consent is also not generally required when gathering requirements data for a
commercial company where a contract usually exists between the data collector and the data
provider. An example is where a consultant is hired to gather data from company staff during
the course of discovering requirements for a new interactive system to support timesheet
entry.

• The employees of this company would be the users of the system, and the consultant would
therefore expect to have access to the employees to gather data about the timesheet
activity.In addition, the company would expect its employees to cooperate in this exercise.

• In this case, there is already a contract in place that covers the data gathering activity, and
therefore an informed consent form is less likely to be required. As with most ethical
issues, the important thing is to consider the situation and make a judgment based on the
specific circumstances.

• The motivation for providing the required information is clear. However, when
collecting data to understand how appealing a new interactive app is for school children,
different incentives would be appropriate. Here, the advantage for individuals to take part is
not so obvious.
Semester: - VIII Subject: - User Interaction Design A.Y.:- 2022-2023

4. Triangulation

• Triangulation is a term used to refer to the investigation of a phenomenon from two

different perspectives. Four types of triangulations have been defined.

• Triangulation of data means that data is drawn from different sources at different
times, in different places, or from different people (possibly by using a different
samplingtechnique).
• Investigator triangulation means that different researchers (observers,
interviewers, and so on) have been involved in collecting and interpreting the data.
• Triangulation of theories means the use of different theoretical frameworks
through which to view the data or findings.
• Methodological triangulation means to employ different data gathering

techniques.

• The last of these is the most common form of triangulation—to validate the results of some
inquiry by pointing to similar results yielded through different perspectives.

• However, validation through true triangulation is difficult to achieve. Different data

gathering methods result in different kinds of data, which may or may not be
compatible.

• Using different theoretical frameworks may or may not result in complementary

findings, but to achieve theoretical triangulation would require the theories to have similar
philosophical underpinnings.

• Using more than one data gathering technique, and more than one data analysis
approach, is good practice because it leads to insights from the different approaches even
though it may notbe achieving true triangulation.

• Triangulation has sometimes been used to make up for the limitations of another type of
data collection (Mackay and Anne-Laure Fayard, 1997). This is a different rationale from
the original idea, which has more to do with the verification and reliability of data.

• Furthermore, a kind of triangulation is being used increasingly in crowd sourcing and other
studies involving large amounts of data to check that the data collected from the original
study is real andreliable.
Semester: - VIII Subject: - User Interaction Design A.Y.:- 2022-2023
5. Pilot Studies

• A pilot study is a small trial run of the main study.

• The aim is to make sure that the proposed method is viable before embarking on the real
study. For example, the equipment and instructions can be checked, the questions for an
interview or in a questionnaire can be tested for clarity, and an experimental procedure can be
confirmed as viable.

• This can identify potential problems in advance so that they can be corrected.

• If it is difficult to find participants or access to them is limited, asking colleagues or peers to

participate can work as an alternative for a pilot study.

• Note that anyone involved in a pilot study cannot be involved in the main study itself
because they will know more about the study and this can distort the results.