Breaking the Research Paradigm: Unlearning Biases and Fostering Inclusive UX - Rachel Rodney

Common UX research methods emerge from euro-centric, patriarchal ideologies and can, unfortunately, perpetuate colonialist and anti-feminist values in research. In this presentation, Rachel will guide the audience through the socio-political origins of simulating experiences to reveal how UX researchers can break away from common pitfalls embedded in this method. Intentionally unlearning and reformulating UX methodology is crucial in assessing how simulating experiences shapes perception of user knowledge.

This presentation responds to larger conversations around ethical design with growing concerns on research methods that prioritize user agency, minimizes biases, and respects privacy. Join Rachel to unravel the impact of colonialist and anti-feminist values in UX research, empowering us towards ethical practice.

UX Y'all 2023

Transcript

1. Breaking the Research Paradigm Unlearning Biases and Fostering Inclusive User Experience Rachel Rodney Ph.D. Student & Research Assistant @ UNC-CH School of Information and Library Science UX Y’ALL 2023
3. What do you think are the ethical reasons for re-examining the power dynamics imposed by UX research methods? ⓘ Click Present with Slido or install our Chrome extension to activate this poll while presenting.
5. CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo, including icons by Flaticon, infographics & images by Freepik Thanks! Please keep this slide for attribution linktr.ee/rhrodney Do you have any questions? rhrodney@ad.unc.edu
6. Hi, I’m Rachel ★ Author of Our Exclusive Society: Pathways Toward Inclusion by Design ★ Ph.D. Student in Information and Library Sciences @ UNC - Chapel Hill ★ Researching information seeking of rural NC foster parents to improve UX of learning about and accessing support resources
7. Takeaways How research methods' shape your standpoint regarding users Tools to explore the impacts of research methods for utilizing ethical methods/mindsets
8. Why does this matter? ★ Study Abroad in Bangalore, India ★ Went in with a ‘help’ and ‘fix’ mindset instead of open mindset to absorb what was happening ★ Not thinking about long term impact, or relationship building with users
9. Takeaways How research methods' shape your standpoint regarding users Tools to explore the impacts of research methods for utilizing ethical methods/mindsets Knowledge Expert Building Relationships
10. UX Methods 01. Feminist Theory & Knowledge Experts 02. Ethical Considerations & Unlearning Bias 04. Putting This in Practice 05. Tools 06. Outline Post-Colonialism & Building Relationships 03.
11. UX Methods 01.
12. UX Methods These methods are a mix of Qualitative and Quantitative, some being either, or both. For this presentation, I am going to be focusing on qualitative research because that is where I have more experience.
13. Where did Qualitative Research come from? Motivations & Attitudes Market Research Information Processing “Consumer” & “Social” Research 1990 - today 1980’s 1960’s 1940’s
14. Changing Social Realities “Not only has social reality changed, but our assumptions about how to think about and explore that social reality have changed even more, and our ‘methods’ don’t reflect that change yet.” Kristin Luker
15. Salsa Dancing with Social Scientists • Trained “pre-Foucauldian era,” taking ways of thinking for granted • A lot of people doing research today were in a resource-scarcity age instead of an information-overload • Thought was more linear than world of students now Kristin Luker
16. How They Connect Qualitative UX methods draw from qualitative Sociology methods. The advantage of this approach lies in the well-established methods and replicability it offers. However, it also raises questions about the extent to which research 'on' users truly promotes user-centeredness in UX
17. Feminist Theory & Knowledge Experts 02.
18. Feminist Theory “The purpose of using a feminist lens is to enable the discovery of how people interact within systems and possibly offer solutions to confront and eradicate oppressive systems and structures. Feminist theory considers the lived experience of any person/people, not just women, with an emphasis on oppression.” – JoAnn Arinder
19. Ideas that Stem from Feminist Theory Feminist Theory → User Experience Intersectionality Kimberlé Crenshaw Patricia Hill Collins Redefining Knowledge ‘Experts’ bell hooks Audre Lorde
20. Who is the ‘expert’ in your work?
21. How is Power Distributed? Researcher is Expert Users are Expert
22. Example: Mapping Empathy
23. Post-Colonialism & Building Relationships 03.
24. Post-Colonialism “Postcolonial scholarship has been integral to the exercise of opening out and questioning the implied assumptions of the dominant discourses by way of which we attempt to make sense of the worlds we inhabit.” – Bhambra, 2014
25. Ideas that Stem from Post-Colonialism Post-Colonialism → User Experience Redefining Knowledge ‘Experts’ Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak Edward Said Exchange, not Extraction Adam J.P. Gaudry Lilly Irani
26. The histories of disciplines are constrained by social and intellectual contexts, impacting the continuing structure of the areas of knowledge, the communities that produce that knowledge, and their purpose of work. Furthermore, the character of disciplines is defined by the paradigms their communities decide to follow. (Garcia et al., 2021) ”
27. The histories of disciplines are constrained by social and intellectual contexts, impacting the continuing structure of the areas of knowledge, the communities that produce that knowledge, and their purpose of work. Furthermore, the character of disciplines is defined by the paradigms their communities decide to follow. (Garcia et al., 2021) ”
28. Extraction VS Exchange Interacting with users for the purpose of capturing data about them to solve a problem that had been identified. Building relationships with users and share skills to target a problem defined by the community. Extraction Exchange
29. Example: Participatory Research Users are Expert “Participatory Action Research (PAR) is part of the broader legacy of activist scholarship and action-research, and can be traced to anti-colonial movements in the developing third-world, in Africa and Latin America” (Zavala, 2013)
30. Ethical Considerations & Unlearning Bias 04.
31. Unlearning Bias • Defining problems with the community such as with Community Based Participatory Research • Long term and short term implications as a product of the work Bias = your prejudice about a person or group of people Bias = the implications your methods have on the user’s role in the research project
32. …So What?
33. What do you think? What do you think are the ethical reasons for re-examining the power dynamics imposed by UX research methods?
34. Ethical Considerations • What do methods imply about the knowledge of users? • How can you articulate your positionality as a researcher in a space where your role is to collaborate your expertise with the user’s? • How do you prevent an extractive relationship?
35. Putting this in Practice 05.
36. Seeds of Hope • Volunteered at SOH summer camp, Summer 2023 • Fell in love with the kids • Learned more about the hardships experienced by foster kids
37. Foster Care System “Although the number of children coming into care hasn’t changed much in recent years, the number of licensed foster homes in North Carolina plunged 23 percent from 2021 to 2022, according to federal data. That leaves the state with only 5,436 licensed homes for more than 10,200 foster children.” – Charlotte Ledger
38. Problems North Carolina has low Foster Parent retention. Foster Parents decide to quit fostering because of inadequate support and resources.
39. Problems Low FP Retention What is the informational disconnect? FP need more support Government and non-profit support
40. The entire research endeavor must be participatory in nature in order to produce qualitatively different research that is based on community-identified problems and needs. (Mora and Diaz, 2004) ”
41. Partners SOH FFA FCRP
42. Proposed Methods Interviews Talking with FP to learn more specifics about limited resources in their community Charettes Co-design workshop to identify what solutions FP want to see Iterate the designs that came from the charette with FP to create a high fidelity prototype with FP and community partners Co-Iterate
43. Practice Influences Feminist Theory Not defining a specific problem area, instead creating environments for the community to specify and work out the problems they have experienced. Post-Colonialism Continuously build relationships with the community through volunteering throughout the year. Asking in what ways I can be of service to the community.
44. Tools 06.
45. Decolonial Pathways
46. Design Charette Toolkit
47. C0-Design Tools AI Marvel App Uizard
48. These tools are to help you continue thinking about knowledge and power in your work to... In Conclusion… ‘Break’ The research paradigms that you work within to promote inclusive and user-empowered UX research