Rogers, Y., Sharp, H., Preece, J. Interaction design : beyond human-computer interaction. 3rd ed., Wiley, 2011, p. 222-268.
| Technique | Definition | Kind of data | Relevance to our project |
| Interviews | “Conversation with purpose” | Mostly Qualitative Some Quantitative | Exploring issues |
| Unstructured | Exploratory Conversation around one topic,Questions are open. | Qualitative | Can be used to explore the range of opinions, good for deeper understanding of the topic.→ first questions to the actors |
| Structured | Predetermined conversation with reproducible course. Questions are closed, short and clearly worded. Every participant is asked the same and in the same order. | Qualitative and Quantitative | Working well when people are in a rush since they only need to answer specific questions.→ actors and audience after seeing play. |
| Semi-structured | A guided conversation to cover the same topics with each participant Questions are open and closed. Interviewer follows a framework of questions but can react to the participants individually. | Qualitative and Quantitative | Is able to explore deeper questions as well as to cover certain topics→ best way to track down experience of actors and experts (director, stage designer) |
| Focus Groups | Conversation of a small group guided by one trained facilitator. Participants represent target population. Questions are open and lead to a flexible discussion with agenda that it follows. | Mostly Qualitative Some Quantitative | Collecting multiple viewpoints, explores also sensitive or diverse questions, good for community issues. Encourages contact between developers and actors.→ overview of actors opinions, group experience |
| Questionnaires | Use closed or open questions to collect demographic data and users’ opinions. | Qualitative and Quantitative | Getting Answer to specific questions from a large group of people, useful to confirming the conclusions.→ audience after watching the play |
| Observation | Paying close attention to the users in order to gather data required. | Qualitative and Quantitative | Gathering data at different/any stage during the development of the play. |
| In the field | Getting a full and true story through observing what the users are doing or how to achieve a task in their natural environment | Mostly Qualitative | Filling in details and nuances in that are not elicited from the other forms of investigation.→ actors during the rehearsals; creators when designing the play; audience when watching the play |
| Controlled environment | Monitoring users within “a purpose-built usability laboratory” (what they are doing is within an artificial situation) | Qualitative and Quantitative | Researching on the details of what individuals do in the laboratory.→ inviting actors to the laboratory to test equipment; inviting audience to the rehearsals |
| Indirect | Collecting material to analyze later.Useful to tracking users’ activities that cannot be present over the duration of the study.Diaries (=notes), interaction logs, photos and videos are several main techniques. | Qualitative and Quantitative | Collecting data about the development of the play.→ creators take notes of their activities on a regular basis; instrumenting the software to record users’ activity in a log; video-recording during rehearsals and plays |
| Direct | Instantly observing situations and taking notes etc.Making analysis suddenly. | Qualitative and Quantitative | Collecting data about certain situations.→ observing and taking notes about the reaction of actors in rehearsal; the reaction of audience during the play |