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Cited by 71Qualitative Research Methods and EthicsInnovative Human-Technology InteractionParticipatory Visual Research Methods

Ways of Knowing When Research Subjects Care

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Howard, Dorothy, Irani, Lilly·2019·Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
DOI 10.1145/3290605.3300327
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Abstract

This paper investigates a hidden dimension of research with real world stakes: research subjects who care -- sometimes deeply -- about the topic of the research in which they participate. They manifest this care, we show, by managing how they are represented in the research process, by exercising politics in shaping knowledge production, and sometimes in experiencing trauma in the process. We draw first-hand reflections on participation in diversity research on Wikipedia, transforming participants from objects of study to active negotiators of research process. We depict how care, vulnerability, harm, and emotions shape ethnographic and qualitative data. We argue that, especially in reflexive cultures, research subjects are active agents with agendas, accountabilities, and political projects of their own. We propose ethics of care and collaboration to open up new possibilities for knowledge production and socio-technical intervention in HCI.

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  • The study treated interviewees not as merely subjects of research but as "active agents and knowledge producers", creating space for them to articulate priorities in their own terms.

    “During data collection, we sought to treat interviewees not as merely subjects of our research but as “active agents and knowledge producers” [62], creating space for them to articulate priorities in their own terms.”

    From 'The plan is just survival': Data Work in Kenya and the Regime of Entrapment (2026) · cites this paper as [62]

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2 of the 162 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. Erling Björgvinsson, Pelle Ehn, and Per-Anders Hillgren. 2012. Ago- nistic participatory design: Working with marginalised social move- ments. CoDesign 8, 2-3 (2012), 127-144.
  2. Norman K Denzin and Yvonna S Lincoln. 2008. Strategies of Qualita- tive Inquiry. Vol. 2. SAGE Publications.
  3. Paulo Freire. 2018. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Bloomsbury Publish- ing.
  4. Yvonna S. Lincoln and Egon G. Guba. 1985. Naturalistic Inquiry. SAGE Publications.
  5. Alex Taylor. 2011. Out there. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '11) (2011), 10.

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Authors
Howard, D., & Irani, L.
Affiliations
University of California San Diego (US)
ORCID
Venue
Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Publisher
ACM
Published
2019-05-02
Pages
1-16
DOI
10.1145/3290605.3300327
OpenAlex
W2940962650
Cited by
70
References
162
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 3
FWCI
27.08
Type
conference paper
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (publishedVersion, public-domain)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
University of California, San Diego
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Participatory Visual Research Methods
Keywords
care ethics, collaboration, knowledge production, Wikipedia, diversity research, participant agency, reflexivity, vulnerability, harm, emotions, trauma, socio-technical interventions, research ethics

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