An Analysis of Data Collection Methods for User Participatory Design for and with People with Autism Spectrum Disorders

摘要

User participatory design is considered to be one of the best methods for understanding the needs of a target audience and creating high quality, well designed solutions to meet their needs. However, for many persons with autism traditional forms of user input and participation are either severely limited or impossible. Without this input, well-targeted designs for persons with autism may be limited in their effectiveness for this audience. Therefore, there is a critical need to identify user participatory processes that allow all persons with autism to be involved in user participatory design in appropriate and meaningful ways. This paper will identify and discuss methods of user participatory design that can engage all persons across the autism spectrum. It will also discuss the significance of four different types of data collection with regard to informing the design process. The ethical considerations involved with each of the methods will also be discussed.