The design,conduct,and reporting of research on text entry with alternative access interfaces: Recommendations from a systematic review

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE:

Using articles from our systematic review of research on computer text entry by people with physical disabilities [1,2], we assessed the design, conduct, and reporting of text entry studies, in order to strengthen the utility and replicability of future studies.

METHODS:

We analyzed study designs, participant characteristics, study procedures, intervention specification, dependent variables, and data analysis, rating 40 indicators for each of 42 studies.

RESULTS:

The average study fully met 59% of the indicators, ranging from 48% for participant characteristics to 69% for intervention specification. Based on that assessment, we present some recommendations for improving future studies. Key recommendations to consider include: conducting more studies in a service delivery context; reporting information for every participant, including functional scores, experience with the text entry interfaces, and body sites used for typing; providing details regarding the typing task and text entry metrics; and using inferential statistics to inform conclusions.

CONCLUSIONS:

Following these recommendations can help ensure that a study can address its own specific goals as well as support a powerful synthesis of information across studies.