CHICI, MESS & ABC’S

Participatory Research with Children

ChiCI

ChiCI GroupFounded 2002 / 2003Group Size (6 – 10 people)Ran the first Interaction Design & Children

Conference in 2003 (following on from IDC workshop in Netherlands – 2002)

Founded the International Fun & Games Conference in 2006

IFIP SIG & International Journal of CCI

Child Computer Interaction (CCI) Subset of Human Computer Interaction

(HCI)Focus on interaction between children and

technology

Major ThemesDesignEvaluationResearch Methodology

What is a MESS day?

Mad Evaluation Session with Schoolchildren

First held in 2004Morning: 30 primary school childrenAfternoon: 30 secondary school children

FAR TOO TIRING

Planning a MESS day

Held in response to research needsIn general, once a termInformal conversation

ResearchersChiCI ResearchersVisiting ResearchersPhD StudentsTaught MSc and Undergraduate Students

Planning a MESS day

Contact SchoolsAppropriate aged childrenDates, times, locationTransportation

Schools v University

Organisation

Time for whole event: 90 minutes – 2 hrs

Studies are organised by individual researchersTimeMaterialsParticipants

Plan is created (inc. some negotiation)

Organisation

9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00

Matt (30 mins) A + B C + D E + F G + H

Janet (15 min) C D A B G H E F

Dan (10 mins) E F G H A B C D

Gavin (10 mins) F E H G B A D C

Diana (20 mins) G + H E + F C + D A + B

Plan of activities

Then… the MESS starts!!!

Evaluating MESS days

Evaluation form completed by researchers

2008 – 20106 MESS Days21 Research activities6 conference papers2 journal papers43% Publication Output

User Involvement

Children Teachers Researchers

ABCD

ABCD is an ethical approach to research with children that goes beyond simply ‘ticking the boxes’ on an ethics form.

A is for AGREEMENT Informed Consent

Parent and TeachersCHILDREN

InformationThe researchThe children’s participationWhat the University doesWhat is researchWho is funding the workWhere the findings will go

B is for BEHAVIOUR

Children should not just be physically safe but also comfortable around the researchers.

Criminal Records Bureaux (CRB) Checks

Training Guidance Documentation

C is for CLASSROOM EXPERIENCE Experience of fellow researchers

Mood of the childrenUnexpected changes to the environmentProblems with the design

Activity FormsOrganisations pointsProcedures and methods usedInitial impressions of the data gathered

D is for DISSEMINATION

TraditionallyJournalsConferences

But what about the children who took part?

Progress of the research Copies of publications and posters Presentations for the research Questions and comments

Thank You!

ANY QUESTIONS

chici@uclan.ac.uk

http://www.chici.org