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Research

Who Are You Asking?: Qualitative Methods for Involving AAC Users as Primary Research Participants

When trying to understand people's perspectives, qualitative researchers in HCI often use methods which assume participants can easily communicate verbally. There are few dedicated resources in HCI which provide an overview of qualitative methods to effectively gather the perspectives of people who cannot easily communicate verbally; specifically, people who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). As a result, AAC users might be excluded from studies using methods such as interviews or focus groups, even if they fit the researcher's target population. To address this problem, I review literature from both HCI and therapeutic AAC research fields to discuss methods used with AAC users. In addition, I present relevant case examples from my own qualitative research and propose a framework to guide HCI researchers on choosing appropriate methods when involving AAC users as central research participants. I also identify design opportunities for HCI researchers to innovate on the tools and methods used for qualitative research with AAC users. This paper provides an easily accessible overview of qualitative methods HCI researchers can use with AAC users as participants. 

Read the full paper.

Erin Beneteau

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Projects in Health & Well-Being

  • Using Everyday Routines for Understanding Health Behaviors
  • Who Are You Asking?: Qualitative Methods for Involving AAC Users as Primary Research Participants
  • Where Are My Parents?: Information Needs of Hospitalized Children
  • Parenting with Alexa: Exploring the Introduction of Smart Speakers on Family Dynamics
  • “Eavesdropping”: An Information Source for Inpatients
  • Detecting Depression and Predicting its Onset Using Longitudinal Symptoms Captured by Passive Sensing: A Machine Learning Approach With Robust Feature Selection
  • Mobile Assessment of Acute Effects of Marijuana on Cognitive Functioning in Young Adults: Observational Study

News

John Adler looks up from a computer surrounded by maps.

MLIS student's archive to help track ecological change

Thursday, May 28, 2026
Scientists at the National Ecological Observatory Network, or NEON, study how ecosystems change over time. But their field instruments and low-altitude aircraft capture only short windows of data, and NEON does not have a standing...
Read more
Arohee Kumar, Jules Braun, Keilani Uehara and Audrey Phan are pictured wearing orange visibility jackets.

Informatics team helps get WSDOT's app in gear

Tuesday, May 26, 2026
The Washington State Department of Transportation app features extensive transportation information such as schedules, traffic alerts and weather reports, but it hasn’t been updated in about seven years. A team of Informatics students...
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Information School Convocation

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5:30-8:00 PM

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Jun 11
 
5:00-6:00 PM

AI for Organizations Graduate Certificate Information Session & Q&A

Jun 16
 
1:00-2:00 PM

MSIM Fireside Chat with the Chair

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