Conducting Volunteer-based Online Studies with People with Cognitive Disabilities
Abstract
To design accessible technology, it is vital in both academia and industry to solicit information from people with disabilities. Gathering information from those with cognitive disabilities is particularly important since the impact of these disorders differs by individual and over time. However, traditional recruiting methods, through gate-keepers such as local organizations, jeopardize generalizability due to the small numbers of such participants. Therefore, some researchers turn to online experiments, including those with volunteers, to increase participation and diversity. However, there is little understanding of whether volunteer-based online experiments are suitable for studying those with cognitive disabilities: Can we attract sufficient numbers of such volunteers? Can these studies be conducted rigorously? Can we provide benefits and support in return for volunteer participation? In this dissertation, I address the trade-off between needing more diverse and larger numbers of participants and needing more control to conduct rigorous studies that target cognitive disabilities. Towards the goal, I (1) demonstrate the viability of volunteer-based online experiments in studying people with cognitive disabilities at scale, (2) identify how volunteer-based online studies related to cognitive disabilities are currently perceived by different stakeholders, i.e., participants and healthcare professionals, and (3) demonstrate the feasibility of using online experiments as a method to rigorously conduct studies that inform design guidelines of technologies for cognitive disabilities, in particular, dyslexia. Together, this work demonstrates the thesis statement: Volunteer-based online studies can be conducted with people with cognitive disabilities in a way that is large-scale, self-motivating, helpful for participants, and enables rigorous experiments.