CSE 510 - Advanced Topics in HCI - Winter 2025

Method Reflection

The field of HCI includes many different methods, motivated in part by different intended contributions and different ways of knowing. Some of these methods warrant entire courses. It can also be challenging to develop understanding of methods in the abstract without also gaining experience with those methods in the context of specific HCI research. Although beyond the scope of this course, there have also been efforts to characterize this range of methods in HCI:

Judith S. Olson, Wendy A. Kellogg. Ways of Knowing in HCI. 2014.

Any specific example of HCI research will therefore need to choose, apply, and report one or more methods appropriate for its intended contributions. A method reflection asks you to learn more about a specific method and to consider your learning about that method relative to an example of HCI research.

Paper and Research Selection

Select a method-focused reading that you expect will benefit your understanding, planning, or execution of HCI research:

  • Quantitative experimental design and statistical analysis is a common need across many areas of HCI research. An appropriate introductory reading could be:

    Jacob O. Wobbrock. Experiment Design and Statistical Analysis in HCI. 2024.

    Although this reading is long, it covers many relevant topics and a specific piece of HCI research could provide guidance on where to focus within the reading.

  • Qualitative data analysis is a common need across many areas of HCI research, and there are many forms of qualitative data analysis. Thematic analysis is a common method, for which appropriate introductions could be:

    Victoria Braun, Victoria Clarke. Thematic Analysis. In APA Handbook of Research Methods in Psychology. 2012.

    Gareth Terry, Nikki Hayfield, Victoria Clarke, Virginia Braun. Thematic Analysis. In The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research in Psychology. 2017.

    David Byrne. A Worked Example of Braun and Clarke's Approach to Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Quality & Quantity. 2021.

  • If you are already familiar with such a general method, you may identify a reading that is less introductory and instead aims to deepen your understanding through additional details or nuances of that method. Such a reading may be from outside the course.

  • Specific forms of research questions and specific contributions in areas of HCI research can warrant development of more specialized methods, so you may identify a reading focused on a more specialized method. Such a reading may be from outside the course, such as a chapter from the above Ways of Knowing in HCI resource or a paper contributing a method.

Select a published, ongoing, or planned piece of HCI research around which to reflect upon the method:

  • This may be a reading encountered in the course.

  • This may be an HCI research paper you encountered outside the course.

  • This may be your research project in the course.

  • This may be an HCI research project in which you are engaged outside the course.

For reading or projects from outside the course, we encourage but do not require you to seek course staff pre-approval. We aim for you to be able to engage with methods that are mostly likely to benefit your understanding, planning, or execution of HCI research, and we will briefly review a potential reading or project from outside the course if you are unsure about its likely relevance.

Reflection

Use the understanding developed through a method-focused reading to analyze and discuss a piece of HCI research. The goal is for you to use the understanding established in the method-focused reading to meaningfully consider the application of that method in a specific piece of HCI research, thus demonstrating you can apply your understanding of that method-focused reading:

  • Briefly convey why you chose a specific method-focused reading.
  • Briefly summarize elements of the method-focused reading that are most relevant to insights you will discuss. We encourage being explicit in understanding developed through method-focused reading (e.g., briefly summarizing key learning points relevant to insights you will discuss).
  • Briefly summarize elements of the HCI research that are most relevant to insights you will discuss. This provides a reader with shared context for understanding insights you develop.
  • Discuss multiple distinct insights that you develop through considering the HCI research relative to understanding established in the method-focused reading. You should convey at least three distinct insights. You may convey more within the allowable word count.

A method reflection may be up to 750 words. No points will be awarded beyond the allowable word count.

Evaluation

Responses will be evaluated on the understanding you demonstrate and the critical relationships you discuss. It will be considered insufficient to only summarize a method or a piece of HCI research. The goal is for you to use the understanding established in the method-focused reading to meaningfully consider the application of that method in a specific piece of HCI research, thus demonstrating you can apply your understanding of that method-focused reading.

For example, a poor analysis might simply restate key points of a method-focused reading, perhaps note that the method is or will be applied in a piece of HCI research, but not engage with meaningful aspects of the method in that application. A better analysis might discuss:

  • How a method-focused reading helped you understand or plan a specific aspect of a method in a piece of HCI research.
  • An analysis of a specific limitation in the application of a method in a piece of HCI research.
  • An analysis of a specific opportunity to improve or extend an application of a method in a piece of HCI research.
  • An analysis of a specific opportunity to apply multiple methods within a piece of HCI research.
  • How a specific aspect of the application of a method in a piece of HCI research advanced or challenged your understanding of that method in HCI research.
  • How a specific aspect of the application of a method in a piece of HCI research advanced or challenged your understanding of applying multiple methods within a piece of HCI research.

These and other potential meaningful insights will require understanding the method-based reading and then relating it to a specific piece of HCI research.

There is no inherent reward for choosing a method-focused reading or a piece of HCI research that is more difficult to relate. If you find yourself unable to develop multiple meaningful insights, you may consider revisiting your choice.

Points will be allocated for correct and appropriate interpretation and summary of elements that are most relevant to insights you intend to discuss, then for how substantial we find each of the multiple distinct insights discussed in your reflection. Points will be allocated in an additive manner, allowing accrual across multiple insights offered in a reflection.

Formatting

Use a document format that will ensure readability of your reflection (e.g., the default 11-point Arial font and associated formatting of Google Docs, a similarly readable format).

Using appropriate whitespace to separate components, structure the content of your document to include:

  • Citation and link to the selected method-focused reading.
  • Citation and link to the selected piece of HCI research, or up to 100 words providing a description of the selected ongoing or planned piece of HCI research.
  • An explicit statement of the word count of your reflection. Do not include the above citations in this word count, and ensure the word count does not exceed the limit for this reflection.
  • The text of your reflection.

Do not include your name in your submission. As emphasized in Reflections, our goal is to maximize anonymity in grading of reflections and submissions that include a name will be penalized.