Interactions - March/April 2010

ers draw on both the science of decision making but also the art of creativity.

Is it any wonder then, where our collective schizophrenia comes from? We are fraught with existential angst by the very label of the occupation. We are not entirely sure if we are information scientists or if we are artists. We create our own professional identities as a bricolage, choosing pieces that suit us and rejecting those that don’t. If there are no standards, there is freedom.

Freedom Ain’t Free:
A Call to Action

Interaction designers may feel blessed to draw on the scientific tradition for one research project, and on the interpretivist tradition for another. This may feel liberating. But it has its cost.

Professionals command higher pay, status, and autonomy precisely because they have agreed to subscribe to a canon of collected knowledge. They accept that they must prove their familiarity with, say, contracts law even though they do not plan to use it and could easily do without it, thank you very much. Professionals do endure such irrelevant learning because they recognize the benefits of having their occupation controlled, even somewhat, by their peers. They enjoy greater freedom at work [ 3]. They have higher salaries [ 4]. They can even withstand the slings and arrows of globalization and maintain their professional autonomy [ 12]. Professionals know that by sacrificing a little, they get a lot.

So a call to action. Interaction
designers, now is the time to
define the theoretical boundar-
ies of your knowledge. What
exactly constitutes an interac-
tion and how exactly might one
design it? What is the difference
between an interaction designer
and an information architect?
What, by extension, constitutes
interaction design research?
And finally, for once and for all,
does an interaction designer
need to care about sample size?

a group of independent practitioners. Indeed, it is physicians that all other professions look to emulate [ 14]. While there have been many recent changes that limit physician autonomy [ 15], physicians continue to maintain a near monopoly over the legal ability to prescribe drugs (in the United States, nurse practitioners can prescribe some drugs).

The lesson from these two professions is first to ensure that practitioners, not companies, drive professionalization. The Interaction Design Association and the Information Architecture Institute are great starts in this direction. But second, interaction designers must gain exclusive control over a certain body of knowledge. For example, interaction designers may seek to “own” accessibility-compliant website design. Interaction designers may end up with several schools of thought—which is perfectly acceptable (there are, after all, Jungian psychiatrists as well as Freudians)—but at the very least we will never waste another single pixel on the dreaded sample-size question!

[ 8] Bryman, A. “Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Research: How Is It Done?” Qualitative Research 6 (2006): 97–113.

[ 9] Alasuutari, P. Researching Culture: Qualitative Methods and Cultural Studies. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage, 1995.

[ 10] Denzin, N. and
Lincoln, Y. “The
Discipline and
Practice of Qualitative
Research.” In Handbook
of Qualitative Research,
ed. Denzin, N. and
Lincoln, Y. Thousand
Oaks, California: Sage,
2000.

[ 11] Borja De Mozota, B. Design Management: Using Design to Build Value and Corporate Innovation. New York: All Worth Press, 2003.

[ 12] Faulconbridge, J. and Muzio, D. “Organizational Professionalism in Globalizing Law Firms.” Work, Employment and Society 22 (2008): 7–25.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sam Ladner is a sociologist with an interest in the design of technology and its effect on organizations.

She mixes private-sector consulting work with academic research and teaching. Using a range of methods including interviewing, observation, and ethnography, she consults on digital product design, organizational change, and the social aspects of technological innovation. Ladner holds a Ph.D. in sociology from York University. Ladner currently works for her own firm as consultant and principal with Copernicus Consulting Group and frequently partners with design firms.

[ 13] Noble, D.F. America by Design: Science, Technology, and the Rise of Corporate Capitalism. Ne w York: Oxford University Press, 1979.

[ 14] Ritzer, G. and Walczak, D. “Rationalization and the Deprofessionalization of Physicians.” Social Forces 67 (1988): 1–22.

[ 15] O’Connor, S. and Lanning, J. “The End of Autonomy? Reflections of the Postprofessional Physician.” Health Care Management Review 17 (1992): 63–73.