Thoughts on User Studies: Why, How, and When

In crafting today’s visualizations, we often design and evaluate methods by presenting results informally to potential users. No matter how efficient a visualization technique may be, or how well motivated from theory, if it doesn’t convey information effectively, it’s of little use.

Robert Kosara, Christopher G. Healey, Victoria Interrante, David H. Laidlaw, and Colin Ware, Thoughts on User Studies: Why, How, and When, Computer Graphics and Applications (CG&A), Visualization Viewpoints, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 20–25, 2003. DOI: 10.1109/MCG.2003.1210860

@article{Kosara:CGA:2003,
	year = 2003,
	title = {Thoughts on User Studies: Why, How, and When},
	author = {Robert Kosara and Christopher G. Healey and Victoria Interrante and David H. Laidlaw and Colin Ware},
	journal = {Computer Graphics and Applications (CG&A), Visualization Viewpoints},
	volume = {23},
	number = {4},
	pages = {20–25},
	doi = {10.1109/MCG.2003.1210860},
	abstract = {In crafting today’s visualizations, we often design and evaluate methods by presenting results informally to potential users. No matter how efficient a visualization technique may be, or how well motivated from theory, if it doesn’t convey information effectively, it’s of little use.},
}