Experimental Research Approaches for Mobile UX in Emerging Markets

Tools And Methods

There is a lot of material available today that deals with various approaches and strategies to carry out both on-field and off-field research work such as compilations of “Design Research in Information Systems” (Vaishnavi & Kuechler, 2004); “Handbook of Qualitative Research” compiled by Norman K. and Lincoln (1994); “Investigating the Research Approaches for Examining Technology Adoption Issues” authored by Choudrie and Dwivedi (2005). A review of the papers published during 1993-1998, in two leading American journals and four European Journals (MIS Quarterly and Information Systems Research, European Journal of IS, Information Systems Journal, Accounting, Management and IT, and Journal of Information Technology), was carried out by Mingers (2001; 2003) and this review presented different approaches such as participant observation, grounded theory, and “Soft Systems Methodology”. However, these methodologies were rarely used while majority of these papers mentioned or pointed to the use of surveys, interviews, experiments, and empirical research as widely used research approaches (Mingers, 2001; 2003). User-centered studies in emerging markets required the consideration of specific circumstances and techniques. During the past five years, we participated and led a number of on-field studies in India and China, but not all of them were equally successful. In fact each study needed a fresh perspective depending on the target users, their circumstances and the resources available to the researcher. This chapter tries to share some practical experiences from these studies.