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Summary
This presentation addresses the contextuality problem of generating rich yet generalizable observations. It examines the contrasting approaches of qualitative and quantitative research in capturing user context and offers a pragmatic model for building meaningful connections between the two methods using the concepts of the 'context of discovery' and 'contexts of justification.
Key Insights
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Quantitative research treats context as a stable container, isolating few variables to build generalizable models.
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Qualitative research views context as dynamic, inseparable from people and phenomena, emphasizing thick, situated understanding.
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There is a fundamental tension between uncertainty (lack of information) and complexity (too much information) in research.
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The Technology Acceptance Model exemplifies quantitative reductionism focusing on perceived usefulness and ease of use.
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Qualitative methods help uncover novel, innovative user behaviors often invisible in quantitative data.
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Scholarly pragmatism enables bridging epistemological divides by focusing on what works practically rather than foundational truths.
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Popper's distinction between the context of discovery (qualitative) and context of justification (quantitative) supports a complementary research cycle.
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Edge cases like digital nomads provide rich qualitative data that, when tested quantitatively, can inform understanding of broader populations.
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Quantitative methods reduce complexity, but often at the cost of ignoring important idiosyncratic contextual factors.
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Collaboration across qualitative and quantitative paradigms is necessary to balance depth and breadth in UX and information research.
Notable Quotes
"I’m no UX person but I’m trying to engage with this community."
"A common answer in my class to any question is it depends; context matters more than good or bad answers."
"AI can handle narrow tasks but putting things into broader context remains a uniquely human ability."
"From afar, an ant’s trajectory may seem chaotic, but close-up, physical obstacles explain its movement."
"Quantitative research often abstracts away many variables to focus on causal relationships between a few."
"Qualitative research appreciates uniqueness and idiosyncrasies rather than reducing information."
"Paradigms have very different epistemologies, but pragmaticism focuses on what works rather than origins."
"Popper’s asymmetry says as long as a theory survives empirical testing, the context of origin matters less."
"The yin-yang philosophy embraces qualitative depth and quantitative breadth as complementary, not competitive."
"Solutions in design and research are always good for the time being—there is no perfect truth or perfect answer."
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