Longitudinal Studies in HCI Research: A Review of CHI Publications From 1982–2019

Abstract

Longitudinal studies in HCI research have the potential to increase our understanding of how human-technology interactions evolve over time. Potentially, longitudinal studies eliminate learning or novelty-effects by considering change through repeated measurements of interaction and use. However, there seems to exist no agreement of how longitudinal HCI study designs are characterized. We conducted an analysis of 106 HCI papers published at the CHI conference from 1982 to 2019 where longitudinal studies were explicitly reported. We analysed these papers using classical longitudinal study metrics, for example duration, metrics, methods, change or stability. We illustrate that longitudinal studies in HCI research are highly diverse in terms of duration lasting from few days to several years and different metrics are applied. It appears that the paper contribution type highly influences study design. While, only a little more than half of the papers discuss or illustrate change/stability during their studies. We further underline considerations of durations vs. saturation, identifying points of measurements and matching contribution types with research questions. Finally, we urge researchers to extend implications presented on perceiving duration as a singular attribute, as well as longitudinal systematic approaches to 'in-situ' studies and ethnography in HCI.

ClassInSight: Designing Conversation Support Tools to Visualize Classroom Discussion for Personalized Teacher Professional Development

“…As developing discourse practice takes effort and time [71], we chose a longitudinal approach to examine teachers' reflections and learning in-depth over 3 academic years. This approach is rooted in field trials and longitudinal studies to understand users' experience in HCI [37,59]. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB).…”

How does HCI Understand Human Autonomy and Agency?

“…In fact, our corpus contained no works that compared such outcomes pre-and post-session, or observed it over long term studies. Of course, it is challenging to address long-term outcomes in HCI studies and interventions [95]. However, without such work, it is hard to see how we can meaningfully investigate the impact of agency and autonomy on outcomes such as well-being and sense of self.…”

Tangibilité et engagement dans un comportement environnemental : Vers une étude longitudinale

“…Malgré ces limitations inhérentes aux études longitudinales, elles constituent une approche utile pour étudier sur le long terme l'engagement et l'expérience utilisateur [17]. Cependant, une définition des études longitudinales propre au domaine de l'IHM reste à définir [22].…”

“…Également, la communauté gagnerait à développer un outil de mesure de la connexion à la nature standardisé afin de faciliter la comparaison entre les études et gagner en réplicabilité. • Enfin, la méthodologie à adopter lors d'études longitudinales en IHM et la définition de telles études ne font pas l'objet d'un consensus parmi la communauté comme l'observe [22]. Bien qu'elles ne doivent pas être considérées comme un outil par défaut, les études longitudinales sont indiquées pour étudier les changements de comportements [17].…”