INFO 272. Qualitative Research Methods 11 March 2008

theme from last week  interviewing as a negotiation: letting the interviewee lead the way guiding toward topics, providing prompts and encouragement, memory jogs

what is projective interviewing?  creative strategies for eliciting description, interpretation that incorporate materials (photos, objects, diagrams etc) into the interview process  …but can be distracting, time-consuming, intrusive

what is projective interviewing?  Mapping Exercises Spatial maps Social maps Tours  Photoelicitation Photo diaries  Sorting Tasks Personal construct interviews  Technology/Cultural Probes

mapping exercises  geographical spaces map of the home, neighborhood  social spaces social network mapping hierarchical diagramming

touring spaces  home tours - to elicit responses to the material environment, comments on arrangement of space  tour of computer ‘interior’  tour of a mobile phone – address book, text messages, call log

 “photographs are charged with psychological and highly emotional elements and symbols. In the depth study of culture it is often this very characteristic that allows people to express their ethos while reading the photographs.” [Collier and Collier] beyond photos: stories, skits Family Photo Albums photoelicitation

sorting activities  images of technologies, settings, advertisements, people on what basis would you sort these images? pick the odd one out of a group and explain.  e.g. personal construct interviews

Example: “The Meaning of Domestic Technologies: a personal construct analysis of familial gender relations” – Sonia Livingstone Topic: Looking at how husbands and wives separately experience and account for their domestic technologies Method: separate interviews with husband and wife, in home, for 45 minutes. Asked to sort technologies into groups and explain. outcome: women emphasize domestic technologies as necessities, different notions of control over tech, the telephone as key difference

cultural/technology probes  Emerging in the HCI community  An interdisciplinary methodological approach  “ A probe is an instrument that is deployed to find out about the unknown - to hopefully return with useful or interesting data. ” [Hutchinson et al.]  Recall our discussion of subjectivity [Gaver et al.]

cultural/technology probes

RECALL: 1 Advantage & 1 Disadvantage [of interviewing] artificiality: distance from event/experience efficiency: generate a large amount of material on a specific topic in a short amount of time

 Bridging the distance between lived experience and the artificiality of the interview event  Aiding memory (+ cognitive assistance)  Accessing the affective dimension of experience  Engagement and the research partnership -- keeping interviewees committed to the task Projective Techniques: some benefits

In summary…who creates the artifact varies… AuthoredArtifactProduced for… By 3 rd Party Magazine ads …reasons external to the research project Family photos Consumer technologies By Researcher Technology probes …the sake of the research project Photo or Card Decks (for sorting) By Interviewee Photo diaries Maps of Salient Environs

When ProducedPurpose Served by the Artifact In the course of the interview (i.e. maps, diagrams, drawings) As a memory jog Discussion piece Analytical device In the course of everyday life (i.e. photo diaries, photo tasks) As a memory jog Closing the distance between lived experience and the interview event To address access issues …and when/where the artifact is created varies…