Mothers and infants exchanging gleeful vocalizations, married couples discussing their problems, children playing, birds courting and monkeys fighting have this in common: their interactions with others unfold over time. Almost anyone who is interested can observe and describe such phenomena. But usually scientists demand more. They want observations that are replicable and amenable to scientific analysis, while still faithful to the dynamics of the phenomena studied. This book provides a straightforward introduction to scientific methods for observing social behavior. Because of the importance of time in the dynamics of social interaction, sequential approaches to analyzing and understanding social behavior are emphasized. An advanced knowledge of statistical analysis is not required. Instead, the authors present fundamental concepts and offer practical advice.

Mothers and infants exchanging gleeful vocalizations, married couples discussing their problems, children playing, birds courting, and monkeys fighting, have this in common: their interaction unfolds over time. Almost anyone who is interested can observe and describe such phenomena. But usually scientists demand more. They want observations that are replicable and amenable to scientific analysis while still faithful to the dynamics of the phenomena studied. Observing Interaction provides a straightforward and clear introduction to scientific methods for observing social behaviour. Due to the importance of time in the dynamics of social interaction, sequential approaches to analysing and understanding social behaviour are emphasized. This book constitutes a guide for anyone who wants to study social behaviour in a systematic fashion. An advanced knowledge of statistical analysis is not required. Instead, the authors present conceptual fundamentals and offer considerable practical advice.

This Handbook provides a compendium of research methods that are essential for studying interaction and communication across the behavioral sciences. Focusing on coding of verbal and nonverbal behavior and interaction, the Handbook is organized into five parts. Part I provides an introduction and historic overview of the field. Part II presents areas in which interaction analysis is used, such as relationship research, group research, and nonverbal research. Part III focuses on development, validation, and concrete application of interaction coding schemes. Part IV presents relevant data analysis methods and statistics. Part V contains systematic descriptions of established and novel coding schemes, which allows quick comparison across instruments. Researchers can apply this methodology to their own interaction data and learn how to evaluate and select coding schemes and conduct interaction analysis. This is an essential reference for all who study communication in teams and groups.

Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner’s Guide to User Research aims to bridge the gap between what digital companies think they know about their users and the actual user experience. Individuals engaged in digital product and service development often fail to conduct user research. The book presents concepts and techniques to provide an understanding of how people experience products and services. The techniques are drawn from the worlds of human-computer interaction, marketing, and social sciences. The book is organized into three parts. Part I discusses the benefits of end-user research and the ways it fits into the development of useful, desirable, and successful products. Part II presents techniques for understanding people’s needs, desires, and abilities. Part III explains the communication and application of research results. It suggests ways to sell companies and explains how user-centered design can make companies more efficient and profitable. This book is meant for people involved with their products’ user experience, including program managers, designers, marketing managers, information architects, programmers, consultants, and investors. Explains how to create usable products that are still original, creative, and unique A valuable resource for designers, developers, project managers - anyone in a position where their work comes in direct contact with the end user Provides a real-world perspective on research and provides advice about how user research can be done cheaply, quickly and how results can be presented persuasively Gives readers the tools and confidence to perform user research on their own designs and tune their software user experience to the unique needs of their product and its users