Qualitative HCI Research - Going Behind the Scenes

Summary

Blandford, Furniss, and Makri present qualitative HCI research as practical behind-the-scenes work: choosing methods that fit the research purpose, adapting them to context, recruiting participants, collecting situated data, coding and analyzing material, and reporting findings responsibly. The lecture focuses especially on semi-structured qualitative studies that combine interviews, observations, and similar methods to understand user needs, practices, and experiences with technology. It argues that qualitative methods are essential when HCI questions have complex, contextual, and unexpected answers rather than simple true-or-false outcomes.

Important Keywords

• Qualitative HCI research: research that studies user needs, practices, and experiences where answers are contextual, complex, and potentially unexpected.
• Semi-structured qualitative study: a study between ethnography and surveys, typically combining interviews, observations, and systematic qualitative analysis.
• Observation: gathering data by watching situated use or practice rather than relying only on self-report.
• Interview: a data-gathering method used to ask participants about experiences, practices, needs, and interpretations.
• Coding: systematic analysis of qualitative data by identifying patterns, themes, and meaningful segments.
• Recruitment: the practical work of finding and enrolling participants suitable for the study purpose.
• Ethics: the research obligations involved in approval, consent, participant treatment, and responsible reporting.
• Evaluation: studying new or existing designs to understand their success in meeting user needs in context.

Important Concepts

• Qualitative methods support both understanding user needs and evaluating situated technology use.
• Method choice should follow the purpose of the study rather than a fixed recipe.
• Practical constraints such as access, ethics approval, recruitment, time, and messy data shape research quality.
• Analysis often starts with familiarization and systematic coding, then moves toward interpretation and reporting.
• Reporting should make the research process credible by explaining decisions, limitations, and evidence.

Examples

• A usability or UX evaluation may combine observation with follow-up interviews to understand not only what users did but why they did it.
• After collecting transcripts, researchers code recurring patterns and exceptions before turning them into design-relevant findings.