A Framework of Touchscreen Interaction Design Recommendations for Children (TIDRC): Characterizing the Gap between Research Evidence and Design Practice

A Framework of Touchscreen Interaction Design Recommendations for Children (TIDRC): Characterizing the Gap between Research Evidence and Design Practice
Citation:

Soni, Nikita, Aloba, Aishat, Morga, Kristen S., Wisniewski, Pamela J., and Anthony, Lisa. 2019. A Framework of Touchscreen Interaction Design Recommendations for Children (TIDRC): Characterizing the Gap between Research Evidence and Design Practice. In Proceedings of the Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC’19), Boise, ID, USA, June 12-15, Pages 419-431. [pdf]

Abstract:

“HCI researchers have established a number of evidence-based design recommendations for children’s touchscreen interfaces based on developmental appropriateness. Yet, these recommendations are scattered within the academic literature and lack a cohesive framework that makes them accessible to app designers. We created a framework of actionable Touchscreen Interaction Design Recommendations for Children (TIDRC, “tide-rock”) by conducting a comprehensive review of the relevant literature. We used our TIDRC framework as a lens to empirically evaluate whether these evidence-based design recommendations were implemented within 50 popular iPad apps designed for children. We found a significant gap between research and practice. On average, only 63% of these apps followed design recommendations for meeting children’s cognitive (51%), physical (67%), and socio-emotional (72%) needs. We characterize the nature of this gap and discuss opportunities for closing it when designing mobile touchscreen interfaces for children.”

File attachments:

Paper: soni-et-al-IDC2019
Talk Slides: soni-et-al-idc2019-talk