The course introduces the fundamentals of designing, executing and reporting empirical research in HCI, with emphasis on experimental studies. The course aims to provide students with a methodological apparatus to conduct research inquiries in HCI. The course provides an overview of fundamental concepts of empirical research in HCI, provides theoretical and practical insight into designing, conducting and reporting experimental studies, and introduces basic statistical apparatus for evaluating experimental results. The course is practice-oriented yet contains a vital theoretical component. 

Lectures are conducted as interactive seminars, where students are presented with new knowledge on empirical research methodology and actively discuss it using real-life examples from research and industry. 

Tutorial classes are conducted as seminars, where students read, analyse and review selected scientific publications and discuss real-world case studies from research and UX industry. The tutorial classes include group project work, where students develop, conduct, analyse, and report a low-scale experimental study. 

The course is graded as a portfolio consisting of grades from seminar activities, group project work, and an oral exam. 

Students who successfully complete the course can independently work with scientific literature in HCI, including critical reflection on research methods applied. With the help of suitable resources, students can design, plan, conduct, analyse, and report an experimental study concerning socio-technical systems.

PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE

The students

• can describe and explain various types of empirical research in HCI
• knows and applies professional terminology for describing scientific studies
• can formulate research questions and derive testable research hypothesis
• can select a suitable research approach for a given question
• can develop a coherent plan of an experimental study
• can name typical independent and dependent variables in HCI studies
• can select appropriate objective and subjective measures to evaluate user experience
• knows and applies basic statistical apparatus for the analysis of experimental data
• can report an experimental inquiry in a rigorous way, using scientific writing

METHODOLOGICAL EXPERTISE

The students

• can critically compare and select methods for a given empirical research question
• can apply the presented research methods to a real-world example.
• can retrospectively discuss and evaluate the use of empirical research methods in HCI-related inquiries
• can design, plan, conduct, analyse, and report a low-scale experimental study
• can formulate a precise research question based on a given problem description.
• can discuss the advantages and disadvantages of an experiment design.
• can select a suitable experiment design for a given research question.
• can define hypotheses and null hypotheses for a given experiment.

SOCIAL COMPETENCE

The students

• can work out solutions for a given problem via group work
• can present solutions to discussed problems in the plenum.
• can motivate and discuss their methodological approach using scientific argumentation
• can discuss their designs and results in an appropriate and professional manner with the plenum.
• can accept criticisms from their peer group as valuable contributions to their designs.

PERSONAL COMPETENCE

The students

• can critically relfect over own work and learn from own mistakes
• are comfortable tackling original research questions
• show aptitude in conceptualizing and running  HCI experiments
• acquire the ability to summarize, analyze, and critique published (peer-reviewed) research papers

Recommended reading: 

• Jonathan Lazar, Jinjuan Heidi Feng and Harry Hochheiser – Research Methods in Human Computer Interaction, Cambridge, 2017.
• Scott I. MacKenzie – Human – Computer Interaction: an empirical research perspective, Morgan Kaufmann, 2013

Registration for the module takes place in the first semester weeks via the learning management system Stud.IP. The students will receive detailed information on attendance, tasks and dates in the first course at the beginning of the semester as well as in the learning management system Stud.IP.