Author(s):

Woodruff, Allison; Szymanski, Margaret, H.; Grinter, Rebecca E.; Aoki, Paul, M.

Title:

Practical Strategies for Integrating a Conversation Analyst in an Iterative Design Process

Publication:

Proceedings of the Conference on Designing Interactive Systems: Processes, Practices, Methods and Techniques

Keywords:

anthropology-visual; conversation analysis; ethnographic study; ethnography-video; ethnomethodology; field studies; interviews; iterative design process; naturalistic observation; participatory design; qualitative research methods; quantitative research methods; social sciences; usability testing; user evaluation; user-centered design

Paper Summary:

This paper presents a unique approach to evaluating an electronic guidebook by involving a conversation analyst in the design, testing and evaluation of the system.

The authors support the incorporation of qualitative research methods such as ethnography but point to several challenges including highly-contextual results, time-intensive processes and cost-restrictive analysis. However, the team chose to incorporate conversation analysis (a form of ethnomethodology) into their design process and believe the despite the time involved and costs endured, the technique yielded results that would not otherwise have been achieved.

The paper describes three studies of a electronic guidebook conducted over a two-year period. In all of the studies, the design team observed visitors using the electronic guide, recorded their activity with video cameras, and logged their actions on the guidebook. Following each study, participants were interviewed about their experiences.

The authors then describe the role of the conversational analyst and how the technique was used in this situation. Following each study, the conversational analyst would review video tapes and observe participants' actions in order to uncover how a sequences of events was organized. By transcribing the actions of visitors, including their conversations, actions, physical movements, guidebook activities, and other pertinent social actions, the conversational analyst was able to extrapolate general design principles from an enormously detailed process. For example, the design team discovered that participants gave the electronic guidebook a role in the conversations. Based on the conversational analysis, it was clear that participants waited for the guidebook to finish or pause before making comment, similar to a conversation with another person.

The authors believe that conversation analysis helps to isolate factors that contribute to users' behavior and can help the designer make predictions about how a user may interact with design ideas. Lastly, the authors suggests that conversational analysis can help define a rigorous framework for comparing user behavior across design iterations. Although the authors support this technique, they also point out that this method should only be used in appropriate instances, as several other less-expensive and less time-intensive activities (such as usability testing) also produce highly useful results.

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