Page 520 -

16.4 Logistics 513

HCI researchers to get results (for participants who have undergone cognitive test-
ing, they may not want to share the results, and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)
may not approve the collection of cognitive testing data as a part of HCI research).
Furthermore, for some cognitive disabilities, such as Autism, there may be people
with Autistic traits who are not aware of their traits or who are not “out” as being
people with Autism, primarily because of the discrimination that they worry they
may face (Morris et al., 2015). The reader of this book should consult (Morris et al.,
2015) for details on how to appropriately recruit people with Autism from within a
specific company, where the individuals may not be publicly identified as having
Autism.
One consideration that researchers often must make when doing research involv-
ing people with cognitive disabilities, is whether to focus on just one cognitive dis-
ability in their research, or to focus on the general category of “cognitive disability.”
It is tempting to focus more broadly on cognitive disability, rather than on a specific
cognitive disability, because recruiting participants with a specific cognitive disabil-
ity can be a challenging experience. It's much easier to find 20 people to participate
in research with “a cognitive disability” than to find 20 people with, say, “Traumatic
Brain Injury” to participate. That's the reality. However, because someone has a cog-
nitive disability doesn't mean that they are necessarily similar to other people with
cognitive disabilities. So, for some participants, they may have varying levels of
difficulty with memory, understanding, communication, visual, hearing, or social
interaction (Ma et al., 2013). People with different types of cognitive disabilities
generally are not similar. So, when possible, it's preferable to do research studies
focusing on a population with a specific cognitive disability, recognizing, of course,
that there are varying levels of severity within that population of users. It also needs
recognizing that many of these individuals with a cognitive disability may not use
any type of assistive technology, despite the public perception that all people with
disabilities use assistive technology!

16.4.5 DOCUMENTATION FOR USERS WITH DISABILITIES
Often, there are a number of documents that are required for participation in a re-
search study. These include IRB forms (also known as human subjects forms—see
Chapter 15 for more information), instructions, task lists, and questionnaires. In tra-
ditional paper format, these forms may pose a problem for users who have what are
known as “print disabilities,” people that have trouble seeing print (e.g., blind or low
vision), handling print (e.g., users with spinal cord injuries), or cognitively process-
ing print (e.g., users with dyslexia). It's also important to note that in some cases,
if children with disabilities are involved in the research, then the researchers them-
selves may be required to submit their own approval paperwork related to criminal
record background checks.
Depending on the regulations of the country in which the research is taking
place, research projects involving human participants may require that partici-
pants sign a form, in which they understand that they are taking part in a research