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.