Playful probing: Making probing more fun

Abstract

We present a methodological variation of cultural probing called playful probing. In playful probing games are developed according to the area investigated, to enhance participants' involvement in the studies. The games are used as additional probing material and enhance participants' involvement. Based on an experimental case study with 40 households participating in a ethnographic study on new forms of media usage in the home context we show how playful probing can successful support users' engagement during the ethnographic study. We found interesting insights, for example the amount of data provided on creative cards doubled for households using the playful probing approach compared to households not using playful probing. Thus the methodological extension seems worth the effort when used in ethnographic studies within the home context. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2007.