Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE), University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Department of Philosophy, University of Washington, Box 353350, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA.
Sci Eng Ethics. 2018 Apr;24(2):479-504. doi: 10.1007/s11948-017-9928-9. Epub 2017 Jun 22.
Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) research is an interdisciplinary area of study within Neural Engineering. Recent interest in end-user perspectives has led to an intersection with user-centered design (UCD). The goal of user-centered design is to reduce the translational gap between researchers and potential end users. However, while qualitative studies have been conducted with end users of BCI technology, little is known about individual BCI researchers' experience with and attitudes towards UCD. Given the scientific, financial, and ethical imperatives of UCD, we sought to gain a better understanding of practical and principled considerations for researchers who engage with end users. We conducted a qualitative interview case study with neural engineering researchers at a center dedicated to the creation of BCIs. Our analysis generated five themes common across interviews. The thematic analysis shows that participants identify multiple beneficiaries of their work, including other researchers, clinicians working with devices, device end users, and families and caregivers of device users. Participants value experience with device end users, and personal experience is the most meaningful type of interaction. They welcome (or even encourage) end-user input, but are skeptical of limited focus groups and case studies. They also recognize a tension between creating sophisticated devices and developing technology that will meet user needs. Finally, interviewees espouse functional, assistive goals for their technology, but describe uncertainty in what degree of function is "good enough" for individual end users. Based on these results, we offer preliminary recommendations for conducting future UCD studies in BCI and neural engineering.
脑机接口 (BCI) 研究是神经工程学中的一个跨学科研究领域。最近，人们对终端用户视角的兴趣导致了与以用户为中心的设计 (UCD) 的交叉。以用户为中心的设计的目标是减少研究人员和潜在终端用户之间的转化差距。然而，虽然已经对 BCI 技术的终端用户进行了定性研究，但对于个体 BCI 研究人员对 UCD 的体验和态度知之甚少。鉴于 UCD 的科学、财务和伦理要求，我们试图更好地了解与终端用户合作的研究人员在实践和原则方面的考虑因素。我们对一个专注于创建 BCI 的中心的神经工程研究人员进行了定性访谈案例研究。我们的分析生成了 5 个共同的主题。主题分析表明，参与者确定了他们工作的多个受益者，包括其他研究人员、与设备一起工作的临床医生、设备终端用户以及设备使用者的家属和护理人员。参与者重视与设备终端用户的经验，并且个人经验是最有意义的互动类型。他们欢迎（甚至鼓励）终端用户的输入，但对有限的焦点小组和案例研究持怀疑态度。他们还认识到在创建复杂设备和开发满足用户需求的技术之间存在紧张关系。最后，受访者拥护他们的技术的功能性、辅助性目标，但描述了对于个体终端用户来说，什么样的功能程度“足够好”的不确定性。基于这些结果，我们为在 BCI 和神经工程中进行未来的 UCD 研究提供了初步建议。
