Research methods – What is best for developing and evaluating human computer interaction and interactive artistic installations?

Abstract

Research in human computer interaction (HCI) covers both technological and human behavioral concerns. As a consequence, the contributions made in HCI research tend to be aware to either engineering or the social sciences. In HCI the purpose of practical research contributions is to reveal unknown insights about human behavior and its relationship to technology. Practical research methods normally used in HCI include formal experiments, field experiments, field studies, interviews, focus groups, surveys, usability tests, case studies, diary studies, ethnography, contextual inquiry, experience sampling, and automated data collection. In this paper, we report on our experience using developing and evaluation methods to assess artifacts. Four defined outputs (projects) were examples of the different methods application to gather information about user’s wants, habits, practices, concerns and preferences. An interactive artistic installation, Sea Grains – an immersive poetics in interactive artistic experience, is another example of the use of research methods for development and evaluation of artifacts. The goal was to build an understanding of the attitudes and satisfaction of the people who might interact with those artifacts. Conversely, we intend to present a framework design to be applied on the design for interactive applications, to promote better user’s experiences.