Internalization, qualitative methods, and evaluation

Information Visualization (InfoVis) is at least in part defined by a process that occurs within the subjective internal experience of the users of visualization tools. Hence, users' interaction with these tools is seen as an `experience'. Relying on standard quantitative usability measures evaluates the interface. Yet, there is more to users' interaction with InfoVis tools than merely the interface. Qualitative methods targets users' subjective experiences. In this paper we demonstrate the potential benefits of qualitative methods, more specifically Grounded Theory, for generating a theoretical understanding of users' InfoVis experiences through discussing the results of a qualitative study we conducted. The study was conducted in order to evaluate a visualization of the academic literature domain, which we have designed and built using a user-centered design approach. The study resulted in us identifying categories that are essential to the InfoVis experience...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: CHI
• Authors: Sarah Faisal, Brock Craft, Paul A. Cairns, Ann Blandford
• Keywords: CHI 2008, Human Computer Interaction, Keywords Qualitative Methods, Qualitative Methods, Qualitative Methods Targets