Researchers and practitioners talk about users and each other: making user and audience studies matter
<br><b>Introduction.</b> We report here on the research phase of a multi-stage dialogue examining convergences and divergences in how three fields (library and information science, human computer interaction and communication and media studies) looked at users and each other. Focu...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of Borås
2006-01-01
|
| Series: | Information Research: An International Electronic Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://informationr.net/ir/12-1/paper286.html |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832572554892541952 |
|---|---|
| author | Brenda Dervin CarrieLynn Reinhard |
| author_facet | Brenda Dervin CarrieLynn Reinhard |
| author_sort | Brenda Dervin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <br><b>Introduction.</b> We report here on the research phase of a multi-stage dialogue examining convergences and divergences in how three fields (library and information science, human computer interaction and communication and media studies) looked at users and each other. Focus was on what researchers and practitioners saw as the big unanswered questions in user studies and what they saw as the convergences and divergences across disciplinary and practice-research divides. <br><b>Method.</b> Eighty-three international experts in the three fields were interviewed by phone; thirty-one local experts, public and academic librarians serving universities and colleges in central Ohio, were interviewed using self-journals and focus group reports. <br><b>Analysis.</b> A thematic analysis was completed. Purpose was not to fix substantive differences but to tap ways in which convergences and divergences showed relevance to the communicative aspects of the research enterprise. A theory of dialogue was applied that purposively positioned this analysis as only one of potentially many. <br><b>Results.</b> All informants showed strong commitment to improving user studies and making them matter more to design, practice and society. At the same time, regardless of field or perspective, they struggled with the incoherencies of avalanches of user research. They decried the general inability to communicate across fields and between research and practice. They decried the ways in which structural conditions seemed to constrain possibilities. Yet, they hoped for making things better. <br><b>Conclusion.</b> . The traditional modes used for communication in the social science research enterprise are not doing the job for user studies. We need to reclaim some procedures lost in the current emphases on quantity over quality and invent other options. This is the theme of our second paper, in this same issue. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-823f1ed710034fe39e5e87c92b05c33b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1368-1613 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2006-01-01 |
| publisher | University of Borås |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Information Research: An International Electronic Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-823f1ed710034fe39e5e87c92b05c33b2025-02-02T09:08:25ZengUniversity of BoråsInformation Research: An International Electronic Journal1368-16132006-01-01121286Researchers and practitioners talk about users and each other: making user and audience studies matterBrenda DervinCarrieLynn Reinhard<br><b>Introduction.</b> We report here on the research phase of a multi-stage dialogue examining convergences and divergences in how three fields (library and information science, human computer interaction and communication and media studies) looked at users and each other. Focus was on what researchers and practitioners saw as the big unanswered questions in user studies and what they saw as the convergences and divergences across disciplinary and practice-research divides. <br><b>Method.</b> Eighty-three international experts in the three fields were interviewed by phone; thirty-one local experts, public and academic librarians serving universities and colleges in central Ohio, were interviewed using self-journals and focus group reports. <br><b>Analysis.</b> A thematic analysis was completed. Purpose was not to fix substantive differences but to tap ways in which convergences and divergences showed relevance to the communicative aspects of the research enterprise. A theory of dialogue was applied that purposively positioned this analysis as only one of potentially many. <br><b>Results.</b> All informants showed strong commitment to improving user studies and making them matter more to design, practice and society. At the same time, regardless of field or perspective, they struggled with the incoherencies of avalanches of user research. They decried the general inability to communicate across fields and between research and practice. They decried the ways in which structural conditions seemed to constrain possibilities. Yet, they hoped for making things better. <br><b>Conclusion.</b> . The traditional modes used for communication in the social science research enterprise are not doing the job for user studies. We need to reclaim some procedures lost in the current emphases on quantity over quality and invent other options. This is the theme of our second paper, in this same issue.http://informationr.net/ir/12-1/paper286.htmlUser studies in research and practice across disciplines |
| spellingShingle | Brenda Dervin CarrieLynn Reinhard Researchers and practitioners talk about users and each other: making user and audience studies matter Information Research: An International Electronic Journal User studies in research and practice across disciplines |
| title | Researchers and practitioners talk about users and each other: making user and audience studies matter |
| title_full | Researchers and practitioners talk about users and each other: making user and audience studies matter |
| title_fullStr | Researchers and practitioners talk about users and each other: making user and audience studies matter |
| title_full_unstemmed | Researchers and practitioners talk about users and each other: making user and audience studies matter |
| title_short | Researchers and practitioners talk about users and each other: making user and audience studies matter |
| title_sort | researchers and practitioners talk about users and each other making user and audience studies matter |
| topic | User studies in research and practice across disciplines |
| url | http://informationr.net/ir/12-1/paper286.html |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT brendadervin researchersandpractitionerstalkaboutusersandeachothermakinguserandaudiencestudiesmatter AT carrielynnreinhard researchersandpractitionerstalkaboutusersandeachothermakinguserandaudiencestudiesmatter |