Why UX practitioners should write research papers?
“Very dense, difficult to understand and filled up with equations and statistics….” — this is the image a research paper is quite likely to present.
Then, writing a research paper, no doubt becomes a complicated and difficult affair.
However, however, however…
If one could cross over the initial barrier(s) and indeed is able to start writing academically, there are great benefits waiting. Let us see a few of them:
UX is ‘academic’.
Do you use heuristic evaluation? It has come through research. Do you use card sorting? It is based on research. Do you use cognitive walkthrough? It is also a result of research someone carried out long ago. Writing paper essentially requires reading papers and lots of them. This, in turn, helps develop a repertoire of fundamentals and exposes you to the roots of the techniques you use. This gives you a better perspective in terms of their capabilities, limitations and other nuances. You will be able to ask critical questions while using a technique. It also helps you to use the techniques not only more effectively but also creatively. For example, there is good literature on Human Error. Exposure to literature will help ask questions like, “Is there a cognitive load out there that is responsible for an error? Or, is there a mismatch between the conceptual model and the user’s mental model? Or, is the short-term memory resource is being diverted by some other stimulus?”
The latest know-how is found in research arenas.
This is obvious. Often papers are presented at a conference where you meet a good number of people from diverse backgrounds. Experts are an important part of any conference who share their knowledge in the form of lectures, workshops, discussions and personal interaction. Moreover, you meet other professionals and researchers who have things to share and discuss. In this process, you get a peek into the future. In fact, interacting over a span of 3–4 days is intellectually stimulating and purposeful.
Your thinking abilities improve.
Writing a paper is not easy. One needs to build something systematic out of many scattered thoughts. However, if it is done with persistence and rigour, it starts reflecting in one's own thought process as well. A researcher chooses his/her words carefully, argues logically and sees the interconnections among various facts. He/she is also able to identify the gaps in his/her own as well as others’ thought process and is able to raise critical questions.
You offer something to the world.
A research paper is written systematically. It is then reviewed very rigorously. Therefore, a piece of knowledge in a research paper is highly respected. This means new knowledge generated by you is likely to be used, in some form, to build a process or product. You are also likely to be cited by others regarding your work.
What is a research paper?
No doubt papers, especially those published in prominent journals are exactly what we said about them-dense and complicated.
However, not all of them need to be.
Why?
Let us first understand what purpose a research paper is supposed to serve.
Generating New Knowledge.
A research paper shares new knowledge with the world. The review process ensures that knowledge is indeed new. In other words, reinvention of a wheel does not make it to a paper. New knowledge does not necessary mean path-breaking discoveries. Actually, the major contribution to research comes from small pieces of knowledge. For example, you found a new process that is knowledge. You discovered something new about user behaviour-that is also knowledge. Or, you found a new framework to analyse complicated design issues-that, surely, is knowledge.
Positioning.
Nothing exists in isolation. A piece of new knowledge also cannot. One cannot say simply, “This is a new way of washing clothes that may save water.” One has to relate to other similar efforts that may have happened the world over, over the years (and also inform how your method is different). One may also need to inform how his/her objective of writing a paper differs from the other peoples’ objectives. For example, you may want to reduce water consumption while some other person may be looking from the perspective of saving time.
Systematic Argumentation.
The argumentation in a paper is built systematically. Like a lawyer logically following from one fact to another, without losing a link in between, a paper’s author deduces one fact from another to arrive at the following:
- Why was the paper written?
- What were the conclusions?
- How exactly the conclusions were arrived at?
- How do the conclusions help other people in their practice?
Systematic argumentation is needed in any kind of serious writing. However, in research papers it is critical. This is because research papers stand as fountainheads of knowledge. If they are not systematically written, they may not be amenable to be put to some use. For example, one can propose a design for a ship which can sail fast by riding over an air cushion over water. However, one would be required to explain, using basic principles, how the design would work and what are its limitations.
Evidence-Based.
A piece of new knowledge needs to have some basis. Either it could be derived logically using well-established facts. Or, as it happens more commonly, it needs to be based on some evidence. Mostly, researchers work on a seemingly possible hunch, called a hypothesis and then prove it through designing and conducting experiments. However, one can also, instead of collecting new data by him/herself, analyse a set of pre-existing evidence and synthesize new knowledge out of them.
How can you start?
With the important ingredients in hand, one need not need to write a very complex and long paper. One can follow the following guidelines to be able to start.
Start small.
Start with a simple idea. For example, it could be:
- A way to save time in collecting data. (For example, how to do quick prototyping at client-side?)
- A tweak in a well-established method according to a new situation. (For example, how did you do a heuristic evaluation with a geographically distributed team?)
- Applying UX principles to a non-UX domain. (Use of cognitive walkthrough for designing a solar lamp for rural areas-Challenges and Insight for UX practitioners.)
- The process followed to arrive at a novel and interesting product (Design of a networking app for visually disabled.)
- The documentation of the unique difficulties faced with the users of a particular domain. (User studies with persons employed in manual scavenging.)
- A set of guidelines for achieving a particular objective (How to do user research females in small towns and villages)
- Something else.
Take help.
Take the help of a person who submits the research paper.
Fail early.
The reviews of papers submitted to a conference, whether they make it are not, are mailed to the authors. They are very detailed in nature and help in identifying the weaknesses and strengths of the paper.
Read research papers.
A habit of reading research papers help develop a knack for it. It also helps in the increase of awareness with respect to the field.
Attend conferences.
Find a conference near you. These are good avenues to get exposure to the established researchers. You can submit a paper, at India HCI (see below for the details) that will be held in Hyderabad from November 1–3, 2019.
India HCI
India HCI the Indian conference of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). HCI is a wide and multidisciplinary field that focuses on the interface of humans and computers. The humans are understood to be in a wider sense that includes not only the physical but also the social, cultural, economic and political dimensions. Computers include all types of digital artefacts that work on a large number of devices-PC, mobile phones, ATM, kiosks etc. India HCI, in particular, looks at the problems specific to India where the contexts are different and more complex than those of the developed nations.
Over the last decade, IndiaHCI has focused on many areas. It has been able to invite and publish high-quality research papers that discussed HCI in the Indian context. Examples include
1. Why WhatsApp became the preferred messaging application in India?
2. How low-income families use voice-user interfaces?
3. Gender and HCI: who technologies are designed for and in what ways?
The conference has also been able to invite renowned scholars from around the world. This is augmented by workshops on methods, which are of a wide variety, used in HCI. In addition, there have been a showcase of research from the industry as well as student’s work.
IndiaHCI 2019 is the tenth conference in the series. It will be held in Hyderabad from 1–3, November 2019. The theme of this year is ‘Agents and Agency: HCI in the age of Machine Intelligence’. It is driven by the fact, as we have earlier mentioned, that AI is too useful to be not talked about. However, agency to manipulate the technology which is a long-recognized topic under HCI needs a revisit. Therefore this year’s conference will focus and examine the interplay of human and machine agency in an increasingly complex world resulting from AI.
To know more, write at:
outreach@indiahci.org
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