The Elicitation Interview Technique: Capturing People's Experiences of Data Representations

Abstract

Abstract-Information visualization has become a popular tool to facilitate sense-making, discovery and communication in a large range of professional and casual contexts. However, evaluating visualizations is still a challenge. In particular, we lack techniques to help understand how visualizations are experienced by people. In this paper we discuss the potential of the Elicitation Interview technique to be applied in the context of visualization. The Elicitation Interview is a method for gathering detailed and precise accounts of human experience. We argue that it can be applied to help understand how people experience and interpret visualizations as part of exploration and data analysis processes. We describe the key characteristics of this interview technique and present a study we conducted to exemplify how it can be applied to evaluate data representations. Our study illustrates the types of insights this technique can bring to the fore, for example, evidence for deep interpretation of visual representations and the formation of interpretations and stories beyond the represented data. We discuss general visualization evaluation scenarios where the Elicitation Interview technique may be beneficial and specify what needs to be considered when applying this technique in a visualization context specifically.

Apply or Die: On the Role and Assessment of Application Papers in Visualization

“…24 Another factor limiting the effectiveness of user studies is that often it is not possible to reduce analysis to simple Using a study to find such an answer is only one of the commonly recognized laudable goals for empirical research, and impractical with busy, small, and expert user communities.…”

The Visual and Beyond

“…However, as visualizations are becoming common place in everyday life, studies and (typically qualitative) evaluation methods that capture people's use and experience of visualizations have started to emerge [18,19,58]. Thudt et al, for example, have studied how spatial-temporal visualizations of people's personal data can facilitate reminiscing and storytelling [58].…”

“…Thudt et al, for example, have studied how spatial-temporal visualizations of people's personal data can facilitate reminiscing and storytelling [58]. Hogan et al have presented the Micro-phenomenological interview technique 1 -a technique applied as part of our work presented here-to capture capture personal experiences of visualizations and their interpretation [19]. Their study shows that even plain graphs and charts can trigger vivid associations with past experiences which, in turn, heavily affects people's interpretation of the presented data.…”

“…[53]) senses. In parallel, recent work has started to investigate the interpretation of visualizations on a more personal level, beyond perceptual and usability questions [19]. However, little is known about how the modality of a data representation influences people's interpretation process and their overall experience of the representation.…”

“…[19]). We report on two phenomenologically oriented comparative studies that capture rich accounts of people's "lived" experiences with three different representational modalities: haptic, auditory and visual-one applying the Repertory Grid technique [14] and the other based on the Micro-phenomenological interview technique [61].…”