Re: Is longdesc a good solution?

Hi Lachlan,

> until we have objective
> evidence to verify his claims, all we have is speculation and
> hypotheses; and speculation about usability problems is not a reason to
> avoid doing a usability study that would verify that.

- Quantitative research often "forces" responses or people into
categories that might not "fit" in order to make meaning.
- Qualitative research, on the other hand, sometimes focuses too
closely on individual results and fails to make connections to larger
situations or possible causes of the results.

Research and data would be interesting to have, but what would it
prove? Either "quantitative" or "qualitative" may reflect the
interests of those conducting or benefiting from the research and the
purposes for which the findings will be applied. Basing important
decisions on either has drawbacks. Criterion, methodology, etc would
be a huge bone of contention.

It has been known for some time that some scientists skew their
research to gain favor in the eyes of their peers and to gain fame.
When there is an economic interest involved one can be virtually
guaranteed that the full facts will not come out, it's naive to
suppose otherwise.

The problem is that so much money is involved, so many attitudes
institutionalized and reputations on the line that it is hard to see
that this will change.

The industry and the W3C need to reassess their value systems.

Best Regards,
Laura

-- 
Laura L. Carlson

Received on Saturday, 6 September 2008 11:37:24 UTC