scholarly journals Designing a spoken dialogue interface to an intelligent cognitive assistant for people with dementia

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 854-866 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Klara Wolters ◽  
Fiona Kelly ◽  
Jonathan Kilgour

Intelligent cognitive assistants support people who need help performing everyday tasks by detecting when problems occur and providing tailored and context-sensitive assistance. Spoken dialogue interfaces allow users to interact with intelligent cognitive assistants while focusing on the task at hand. In order to establish requirements for voice interfaces to intelligent cognitive assistants, we conducted three focus groups with people with dementia, carers, and older people without a diagnosis of dementia. Analysis of the focus group data showed that voice and interaction style should be chosen based on the preferences of the user, not those of the carer. For people with dementia, the intelligent cognitive assistant should act like a patient, encouraging guide, while for older people without dementia, assistance should be to the point and not patronising. The intelligent cognitive assistant should be able to adapt to cognitive decline.

Author(s):  
Ellen J. Bass ◽  
Andrew J. Abbate ◽  
Yaman Noaiseh ◽  
Rose Ann DiMaria-Ghalili

There is a need to support patients with monitoring liquid intake. This work addresses development of requirements for real-time and historical displays and reports with respect to fluid consumption as well as alerts based on critical clinical thresholds. We conducted focus groups with registered nurses and registered dietitians in order to identify the information needs and alerting criteria to support fluid consumption measurement. This paper presents results of the focus group data analysis and the related requirements resulting from the analysis.


2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie ◽  
Wendy B. Dickinson ◽  
Nancy L. Leech ◽  
Annmarie G. Zoran

Despite the abundance of published material on conducting focus groups, scant specific information exists on how to analyze focus group data in social science research. Thus, the authors provide a new qualitative framework for collecting and analyzing focus group data. First, they identify types of data that can be collected during focus groups. Second, they identify the qualitative data analysis techniques best suited for analyzing these data. Third, they introduce what they term as a micro-interlocutor analysis, wherein meticulous information about which participant responds to each question, the order in which each participant responds, response characteristics, the nonverbal communication used, and the like is collected, analyzed, and interpreted. They conceptualize how conversation analysis offers great potential for analyzing focus group data. They believe that their framework goes far beyond analyzing only the verbal communication of focus group participants, thereby increasing the rigor of focus group analyses in social science research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 160940691775078 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Flynn ◽  
Lauren Albrecht ◽  
Shannon D. Scott

This article discusses four challenges to conducting qualitative focus groups: (1) maximizing research budgets through innovative methodological approaches, (2) recruiting health-care professionals for qualitative health research, (3) conducting focus groups with health-care professionals across geographically dispersed areas, and (4) taking into consideration data richness when using different focus group data collection methods. In light of these challenges, we propose two alternative approaches for collecting focus group data: (a) extended period of quantitative data collection that facilitated relationship building in the sites prior to qualitative focus groups and (b) focus groups by videoconference. We share our experiences on employing both of these approaches in two national research programs.


Author(s):  
Peyton Mason ◽  
Boyd Davis ◽  
Deborah Bosley

In this chapter, we will first discuss what stance is and highlight how we identify and measure stance using multivariate techniques, using an ongoing example taken from an Online Financial Focus Group. We review differences in stance between online real-time focus groups and online chat, as well as between online and face-to-face focus groups; and finally, proffer examples of stance analysis in two very different online focus groups: older adults discussing financial services and teens discussing clothes. As marketers see that online focus groups offer valuable marketing information by understanding the significance of how something is said as well as what is said, their confidence in the use of online focus-group data should increase.


Author(s):  
Sally M. Cohen ◽  
Michael D. Gravelle ◽  
Karen S. Wilson ◽  
Ann M. Bisantz

This paper describes a novel use of interview and focus group data to generate and substantiate hypotheses about a complex environment. In addition, it shows how MacSHAPA, a tool developed for analyzing sequential data, is a useful tool for analyzing these data. Although interviews and focus groups have been used extensively in social science and marketing, there are few examples documenting the use of these techniques in user-centered design. Furthermore, MacSHAPA has not been used to perform content analysis on interview and focus group data. In this paper, interviews and focus groups were collected as part of a larger study to understand human factors issues in quick service restaurant chains. These data were analyzed using MacSHAPA to perform content analysis. The results generated hypotheses that were validated by other data collection activities, and substantiated hypotheses that were derived by other analyses. The shortcomings and tradeoffs of using this analysis method for a human factors investigation are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonam Zamir ◽  
Felicity Allman ◽  
Catherine Hagan Hennessy ◽  
Adrian Haffner Taylor ◽  
Ray Brian Jones

BackgroundVideo-calls have proven to be useful for older care home residents in improving socialization and reducing loneliness. Nonetheless, to facilitate the acceptability and usability of a new technological intervention, especially among people with dementia, there is a need for user-led design improvements. The current study conducted focus groups with an embedded activity with older people to allow for a person-centered design of a video-call intervention.MethodsTwenty-eight residents across four care homes in the South West of England participated in focus groups to aesthetically personalize and ‘dress-up’ the equipment used in a video-call intervention. Each care home was provided with a ‘Skype on Wheels’ (SoW) device, a wheelable ‘chassis’ comprising an iPad or tablet for access to Skype, and a telephone handset. During the focus group, residents were encouraged to participate in an activity using colorful materials to ‘dress-up’ SoW. Comments before, during and after the ‘dress up’ activity were audio recorded. Framework analysis was used to analyze the focus group data.ResultsOlder people, including seven with dementia were able to interact with and implement design changes to SoW through aesthetic personalization. Themes arising from the data included estrangement, anthropomorphism, reminiscence, personalization, need for socialization versus fear of socialization and attitudes toward technology. After this brief exposure to SoW, residents expressed the likelihood of using video-calls for socialization in the future.ConclusionCare home residents enjoy engaging with new technologies when given the opportunity to interact with it, to personalize it and to understand its purpose. Low cost aesthetic personalization of technologies can improve their acceptability, usability, and implementation within complex care environments.


Author(s):  
Lilla Vicsek

In this paper I discuss some concerns related to the analysis of focus groups: (a) the issue of generalisation; (b) the problems of using numbers and quantifying in the analysis; (c) how the concrete situation of the focus groups could be included in the analysis, and (d) what formats can be used when quoting from focus groups. Problems with respect to generalisation are discussed; types of generalisation are presented which can be used in focus group research. Arguments are made against using a primarily quantitative perspective in the evaluation of focus group data. It is argued that the situation of the particular group discussion should be taken into account in the analysis. A scheme for analysis that has been developed by the author is presented. Suggestions are made for the characteristics of the quotations in the analyses.


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent L. Winand ◽  
Carla Edlefson

A rural superintendent used action research principles in conducting a series of focus groups with community members, students, and staff. The focus group data informed strategic planning. At the end of a carefully designed process, district administrators found more agreement among residents than they had expected. Community members were grateful for the opportunity to participate, and the district’s strategic plan contained important goals that would not have been recognized without community input. Administrators believed conducting the focus groups themselves brought more benefit than if they had hired a consultant, because of the interaction with community members. The result was a model that could be used by other rural superintendents.  


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