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Fortune database entry no.
55
Book:
Magazin:
Project Description:
Internet Resource:
Area(s) of Application:
Product Development
Relevant Player(s):
Manufacturer, Dealer, Enduser, Research Institute
Thematic Issue(s):
Methods / Strategies, Recommendations
Methods/Strategies:
Questionnaires, Interviews, Discussion Groups, Focus Groups
/ User Groups
User involvement in evaluation and assessment of assistive technology
ECART 2, Proceedings of the European Conference on the Advancement
of Rehabilitation Technology
Author:
Christian Bühler, Michael Schmidt
Abstract:
The paper describes two examples of user involvement in evaluation
and assessment of AT: the evaluation of existing aiding devices
and the development and assesment of emerging technology.
In case of already existing technical aids an analysis of practical
user experiences with wheelchairs is presented. Parts of the
user-based analysis are two seperate questionnaires, interviews
and discussion groups. The first part of the questionnaire provides
an overview of the user spectrum and was handed out to about
370 users of wheelchairs in the Evangelische Stiftung Volmarstein
(ESV), a rehabilitation centre for physically handicapped people.
The second one goes more in technical detail and was distributed
to user experts which were selected from the general overview
from part one. After the evaluation a selected group of participants
was confronted with the results.
An example of the assessment and the development of new technology
is the test of an electronic water-tap with disabled users.
The water tap was tested at three different locations in the
ESV. During the test intervals the users and the staff were
asked for i.e. design, placement and outline of the operating
elements, symbolic, problems. Free interviews, structured by
several criteria were carried out directly at the testsite.
Editor:
The Swedish Handicap Institute
,
Stockholm
,
1993
Name of Institution
FTB
European Context:
ECART 2
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