CSC1 8115: Human-Computer Interaction and User Interface Technology, Spring 2021
Research Methods in HCI
Download syllabus/course policies here.
Course Description
This graduate class introduces students to the essential methods, theories, and research topics of the field of Human-Computer Interaction and User Interface Technology research. The focus of this seminar-style class will enable students to understand and evaluate HCI research more thoughtfully, and to design sound empirical research studies within HCI.
Learning Goals
At the end of this class, students will be able to:
- Understand and evaluate various research methods in HCI, through both readings and hands-on exposure
- Read, analyze, and present HCI research papers to others; lead discussions on these topics
- Pitch a methodologically sound, and thoughtful HCI research project in their own area of interest that makes a research contribution to HCI
Schedule/Readings
| Class and Date | Topics | Readings | Due Dates |
| Wk 1 | |||
| Tuesday, January 19 | Overview, syllabus details, HCI research broadly | ||
| Thursday, January 21 | Contributions in HCI and Methods; research design | Wobbrock, Jacob O., and Julie A. Kientz. “Research contributions in human-computer interaction.” interactions 23.3 (2016): 38-44.
Lazer et al. Chapter 1 – Introduction to HCI Research. |
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| Wk 2 | Begin reading reflections | ||
| Tuesday, January 26 | Research Ethics and IRB | Olson and Kellogg. Ethics and Research in IRB. Chapter by Bruckman.
Kramer, Guillory, and Hancock. “Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks.” PNAS. (2014). (please read the corrections and letter of concern as well) Press take on Kramer et al (skim). |
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| Thursday, January 28 | Experimental HCI | Olson and Kellogg. Experimental Research in HCI by Gergle and Tan.
Ling et al. “Using social psychology to motivate contributions to online communities.” Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication. |
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| Wk 3 | Student discussion leads start | ||
| Tuesday, February 2 | No class | no readings or RR. take a break! | |
| Thursday, February 4 | Experimental HCI | Zhu, H., Kraut, R.E., & Kittur, A., (2013) Effects of Peer Feedback on Contribution: A Field Experiment in Wikipedia. Proceedings of the 2013 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems. CHI’2013.
Thebault-Spieker et al. “Simulation experiments on (the absence of) ratings bias in reputation systems.” Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 1.CSCW (2017): 1-25. |
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| Wk 4 | |||
| Tuesday, February 9 | Technical HCI | O+K: Concepts, Values, and Methods for Technical Human–Computer Interaction Research. By Hudson and Mankoff.
Harrison, Tan, and Morris. 2010. Skinput: appropriating the body as an input surface. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’10). |
Assignment 1 – Experimental Design Due (8pm CT) |
| Thursday, February 11 | Technical HCI | (visit from Matthew Maurellio to talk about wearables and technical HCI)
Bernstein et al. “Soylent: a word processor with a crowd inside.” UIST. Grossman and Balakrishnan. 2005. The bubble cursor: enhancing target acquisition by dynamic resizing of the cursor’s activation area. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’05). |
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| Wk 5 | |||
| Tuesday, February 16 | Log analysis | O+K. Understanding User Behavior Through Log Data and Analysis by Dumais et al.
Geiger and Halfaker. “Using edit sessions to measure participation in Wikipedia.” Proceedings of the 2013 conference on Computer supported cooperative work. 2013. |
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| Thursday, February 18 | ML/Data Science | Gilbert and Karahalios. “Predicting tie strength with social media.” Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. 2009.
Chancellor et al. “Quantifying and predicting mental illness severity in online pro-eating disorder communities.” Proceedings of the 19th ACM conference on computer-supported cooperative work & social computing. 2016. |
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| Wk 6 | |||
| Tuesday, February 23 | Crossover methods – social computing systems | O+K.Study, Build, Repeat: Using Online Communities as a Research Platform. Terveen, Konstan, and Lampe.
Chandrasekharan, Eshwar, et al. “Crossmod: A cross-community learning-based system to assist reddit moderators.” Proceedings of the ACM on human-computer interaction 3.CSCW (2019): 1-30. |
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| Thursday, February 25 | Surveys | O+K. Survey Research in HCI. By Muller, Sedley, and Ferrall-Nunge.
Ellison, Nicole B., Charles Steinfield, and Cliff Lampe. “The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites.” Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication 12, no. 4 (2007): 1143-1168. |
Note: no RR is due for this class on 2/24
Project Pitches due at 8pm CT |
| Wk 7 | |||
| Tuesday, March 2 | Peer Feedback on pitches | no readings or RR due. | |
| Thursday, March 4 | Field Studies – Interviews | Lazar et al. Interviews and focus groups.
Bryant, Forte, and Bruckman. Becoming Wikipedian: transformation of participation in a collaborative online encyclopedia. In GROUP 2005. |
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| Wk 8 | |||
| Tuesday, March 9 | Field Studies – interviews | Burgess et al. “” I think people are powerful” The Sociality of Individuals Managing Depression.” Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 3.CSCW (2019): 1-29.
Reisner et al. “Sensitive health topics with underserved patient populations: Methodological considerations for online focus group discussions.” Qualitative health research 28.10 (2018): 1658-1673. |
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| Thursday, March 11 | Break – no class | TBD | |
| Wk 9 | |||
| Tuesday, March 16 | Field Studies – Ethnography and Observation | O+K. Reading and Interpreting Ethnography. By Dourish.
Orlikowski, Wanda J. “Learning from notes: Organizational issues in groupware implementation.” In Proceedings of the 1992 ACM conference on Computer-supported cooperative work, pp. 362-369. ACM, 1992. |
Interview study assignment due (8pm CT) |
| Thursday, March 18 | Action research and community work | O+K. Knowing by Doing: Action Research as an Approach to HCI. By Hayes.
Ghoshal and Bruckman. “The role of social computing technologies in grassroots movement building.” ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI) 26.3 (2019): 1-36. |
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| Wk 10 | |||
| Tuesday, March 23 | Thematic and Qual Analysis | Lazar et al. Qualitative Data Analysis.
Dye et al. “If it Rains, Ask Grandma to Disconnect the Nano: Maintenance & Care in Havana’s StreetNet.” Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 3.CSCW (2019): 1-27. |
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| Thursday, March 25 | Thematic and Qual Analysis |
Le Dantec, Christopher A., and W. Keith Edwards. “Designs on dignity: perceptions of technology among the homeless.” Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. 2008. |
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| Wk 11 | |||
| Tuesday, March 30
(Passover begins) |
Grounded Theory | O+K. Curiosity, Creativity, and Surprise as Analytic Tools: Grounded Theory Method. By Muller.
Walker and DeVito. “”‘More gay ‘fits in better”: Intracommunity Power Dynamics and Harms in Online LGBTQ+ Spaces.” Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 2020. |
Project outline/research plans due 8pm CT |
| Thursday, April 1 |
Peer feedback and workday on outline/research plan |
No readings | |
| Wk 12 | |||
| Tuesday, April 6 | Spring break – no class | n/a | |
| Thursday, April 8 | Spring break – no class | n/a | |
| Wk 13 | |||
| Tuesday, April 13
Ramadan begins |
Critical Approaches | https://methods-sagepub-com.ezp3.lib.umn.edu/book/the-sage-handbook-of-digital-technology-research/n10.xml
Ogbonnaya-Ogburu, Ihudiya Finda, et al. “Critical race theory for HCI.” Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 2020. |
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| Thursday, April 15 | Design HCI | O+K: Research Through Design in HCI. By Zimmerman and Forlizzi.
Zimmerman et al. “Field trial of tiramisu: crowd-sourcing bus arrival times to spur co-design.” In CHI. 2011 |
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| Wk 14 | |||
| Tuesday, April 20 | Design HCI | Lee, Kiesler, and Forlizzi. “Mining behavioral economics to design persuasive technology for healthy choices.” In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM, 2011.
Brulé and Spiel. “Negotiating gender and disability identities in participatory design.” Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Communities & Technologies -Transforming Communities. 2019. |
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| Thursday, April 22 | Crossover research – mixed qual methods | Dimond, Jill P., et al. “Hollaback! The role of storytelling online in a social movement organization.” Proceedings of the 2013 conference on Computer supported cooperative work. 2013.
Gilbert. “I run the world’s largest historical outreach project and it’s on a cesspool of a website.” Moderating a Public Scholarship Site on Reddit: A Case Study of r/AskHistorians.” Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 4.CSCW1 (2020): 1-27. |
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| Wk 15 | |||
| Tuesday, April 27 | Your favorite paper! Class discussion on paper selection | No papers – reading reflection topic today is writing up what your favorite 2 papers were and why. | Assignment 3 Due (8pm CT) |
| Thursday, April 29 | Course wrap up | ||
| Final Project due |
