Abstract
The present need to identify and understand non-measurable/non-quantifiable of the user experience with software has been the moto for may researchers in the area of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) to adopt qualitative methods. On the other hand, the use of qualitative analysis to support software has been growing. The integration of these types of tools in research is accompanied by an increase in the number of software packages available. Depending on the design and research questions, researchers can explore various solutions available in the market. Thus, it is urgent to ensure that these tools, apart from containing the necessary functionality for the purposes of research projects, are also usable. This study presents an assessment of the usability of the qualitative data analysis software webQDA® (version 2.0). To assess its usability, Content Analysis was used. The results indicate that the current version is “acceptable” in terms of usability, as users, in general, show a positive perception is perceived from users with completed PhDs as compared to those who are still doing their PhDs; no relevant differences can be found between the views obtained from different professional or research areas, although a more positive assessment may be drawn from Education and Teaching. Suggestions for future studies are put forward, even though we recognise that, in spite of most studies on usability defining quantitative metrics, the present study is offered as a contribution that aims to show that qualitative analysis has a great potential to deepen various dimensions of usability and functional and emotional interrelationships that are not by any means quantifiable.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Our translation.
References
Cisneros-Puebla, C. A. (2003). Analisis cualitativo asistido por computadora. Sociologias, 9, 288–313.
Corti, L., & Gregory, A. (2011). CAQDAS comparability. what about CAQDAS data exchange? forum: Qualitative. Social Research, 12(1), 1–17.
Costa, A. P., et al. (2016). webQDA—Qualitative data analysis software usability assessment. In: Conferência Ibérica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informação. Gran Canária—Espanha: AISTI—Associação Ibérica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informação, (in press).
Costa, A.P., Faria, B.M. & Reis, L.P. (2015). Investigação através do Desenvolvimento: Quando as Palavras “Contam.” RISTI—Revista Ibérica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informação, (E4), pp.vii–x. Available at: Investiga??o atrav?s do Desenvolvimento: Quando as.
Godoy, A. S. (1995). Pesquisa Qualitativa: tipos fundamentais. Revista de Administração de Empresas, 35(3), 20–29.
ISO9241-210. (2010). Ergonomics of human-system interaction (210: Human-centred design for interactive systems).
Kaefer, F., Roper, J. & Sinha, P. (2015). A software-assisted qualitative content analysis of news articles : Example and reflections. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung, 16(2).
Maguire, M., (2001). Methods to support human-centred design. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 55(4), 587–634. Available at: http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1071581901905038 Accessed November 1, 2013.
Neri de Souza, F., Costa, A.P. & Moreira, A. (2011). Questionamento no Processo de Análise de Dados Qualitativos com apoio do software webQDA. EduSer: revista de educação, Inovação em Educação com TIC, 3(1), 19–30.
Pierce, J. (2014). On the presentation and production of design research artifacts in HCI. In: Proceedings of the 2014 conference on Designing interactive systems—DIS’14. New York, New York, USA: ACM Press, pp. 735–744. Available at: http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2598510.2598525.
Pinho, I., et al. (2014). Determinantes na Adoção e Recomendação de Software de Investigação Qualitativa: Estudo Exploratório. Internet Latent Corpus Journal, 4(2), 91–102.
Puebla, C.A.C. & Davidson, J. (2012). Qualitative computing and qualitative research: Addressing the challenges of technology and globalization. Historical Social Research, 37(4), 237–248. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41756484.
Richards, L. (2002a). Qualitative computing–a methods revolution? International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 5(3), 263–276.
Richards, L. (2002b). Rigorous, rapid, reliable and qualitative? computing in qualitative method. American Journal Health Behaviour, 26(6), 425–430.
Scanlon, E., Mcandrew, P., & Shea, T. O. (2015). Designing for educational technology to enhance the experience of learners in distance education: How open educational resources, learning design and moocs are influencing learning. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 1(6), 1–9.
Seffah, A., et al. (2008). Reconciling usability and interactive system architecture using patterns. Journal of Systems and Software, 81(11), 1845–1852. Available at: http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S016412120800085X Accessed November 1, 2013.
Souza, F. N., Costa, A. P., & Moreira, A. (2011). Análise de Dados Qualitativos Suportada pelo Software webQDA. VII Conferência Internacional de TIC na Educação: Perspetivas de Inovação (pp. 49–56). VII Conferência Internacional de TIC na Educação: Braga.
Souza, F.N. de, Costa, A.P. & Moreira, A. (2016). webQDA. Available at: www.webqda.net.
Teixeira, R. A. G., Neri de Souza, F., & Vieira, R. M. (2015). Docentes Investigadores de Programas de Pós-graduação em Educação no Brasil: Estudo Sobre o Uso de Recursos Informaticos no Processo de Pesquisa (pp. 741–768). No prelo (: Revista da Avaliação da Educação Superior.
Tesch, R. (1991). Introduction. Qualitative Sociology, 14(3), 225–243.
Van Velsen, L. et al. (2008). User-centered evaluation of adaptive and adaptable systems: A literature review. The Knowledge Engineering Review, 23(03), 261–281. Available at: http://www.journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0269888908001379.
Zimmerman, J., Forlizzi, J. & Evenson, S. (2007). Research through design as a method for interaction design research in HCI. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems—CHI’07. New York, New York, USA: ACM Press, p. 493. Available at: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=1240624.1240704.
Acknowledgments
The first author thanks the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) the financial support that enabled the development of this study and presentation. The authors thank Micro IO company and its employees for the development of the new version of webQDA and participants of this study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Costa, A.P., de Sousa, F.N., Moreira, A., de Souza, D.N. (2017). Research through Design: Qualitative Analysis to Evaluate the Usability. In: Costa, A., Reis, L., Neri de Sousa, F., Moreira, A., Lamas, D. (eds) Computer Supported Qualitative Research. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol 71. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43271-7_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43271-7_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-43270-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-43271-7
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)