Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
229 results found in Research Methods.
- QuickDASH (Quick Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand)
- A shortened version of the DASH (Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand) outcome measure, consisting of 11 items that assess a person's ability to perform upper extremity activities of daily livin…
- Random Walk (Random Walk Sampling)
- In web-accessibility evaluation, a random walk is a probabilistic sampling method that starts from a seed page (typically the home page) and follows outgoing links according to a probability rule — fo…
- Randomization Test (Randomisation Test, Permutation Test)
- A randomization test (also called a permutation test) is a non-parametric statistical test that computes a p-value by re-shuffling the observed data many times under the null hypothesis and asking how…
- Red Teaming (Generative Red-Teaming, AI Red Teaming)
- A structured evaluation practice in which an adversarial team probes a system — traditionally a network or application, increasingly an AI model or conversational agent — with realistic attack scenari…
- Reflection-in-Action (Reflection-on-Action)
- A concept from Donald Schön's theory of reflective practice (The Reflective Practitioner, 1983) describing how skilled practitioners adjust their approach in the moment, based on tacit knowledge and i…
- Reflexive Ethnography
- Reflexive ethnography is an approach to ethnographic research in which the researcher explicitly documents and analyses how their own identity, assumptions, relationships and shifting position in the …
- Reflexivity (Researcher Reflexivity)
- A research practice in which scholars continuously examine how their own identities, positions, assumptions, disciplinary training, and power relationships shape the research they conduct — the questi…
- Region of Interest (ROI, Area of Interest, AOI)
- A specific area within an image, video frame, or user interface that has been identified as particularly relevant or important for analysis or user attention. In eye-tracking research, regions of inte…
- Rehabilitation science (Rehabilitation research)
- An interdisciplinary field focused on understanding and improving function, independence, and quality of life for people with disabilities, injuries, or chronic conditions. Rehabilitation science draw…
- Research Probe (Design Research Probe, Technology Probe)
- A purpose-built, partially functional artefact — often a software prototype, sensor, or interactive installation — deployed in a study not primarily to deliver a finished product but to provoke reflec…
- Research-through-Design (RtD)
- A research methodology, articulated by Zimmerman, Forlizzi, and Evenson (2007), in which the act of designing artefacts is itself the mode of inquiry. Knowledge is produced through iterative cycles of…
- Resistant Reading (Reading Against the Grain, Resistant Reader)
- A critical reading method, originally articulated by feminist literary theorist Judith Fetterley, that refuses the interpretive framework an author invites the reader to adopt and instead reads texts …
- Robotic Social Attributes Scale (RoSAS, RoSAS-SF, Robotic Social Attributes Scale Short Form)
- A validated psychometric instrument developed by Carpinella et al. (2017) that measures how people perceive the social attributes of a robot along three subscales: Warmth (how likable, friendly, and c…
- Saccade (Saccadic Eye Movement)
- A rapid, ballistic eye movement that shifts the point of gaze from one fixation location to another. Saccades typically last 20 to 200 milliseconds, and visual processing is largely suppressed during …
- Sampling Method (Sampling, Page Sampling, Site Sampling)
- A sampling method is a rule for selecting a subset of pages, screens, or components from a larger product to be evaluated for accessibility. Because full manual evaluation of every page on a real-worl…
- Scoping Review (Scoping Study)
- A scoping review is a type of research synthesis that systematically maps the existing literature on a broad topic to identify key concepts, gaps in evidence, and types of available research. Unlike s…
- Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM)
- A nonverbal pictorial instrument developed by Bradley and Lang (1994) for measuring the affective dimensions of valence, arousal, and dominance. Respondents select from a row of stylised manikin figur…
- Self-Disclosure Statement (SDS)
- A short first-person text in which a creator, researcher, or performer reveals personal information about their identity, background, training, and motivations for producing a piece of work. Self-disc…
- Semi-Automatic Wizard-of-Oz (Semi-Automatic WoZ)
- A hybrid Wizard-of-Oz study methodology in which part of a prototype system is implemented with real automation while a human researcher (the 'wizard') intervenes only for components that are not yet …
- Semi-structured Interview (Semi-structured Interviewing)
- A semi-structured interview is a qualitative research method in which the interviewer works from a guide of open-ended topics or questions but adapts the order, wording, and depth of probing to the fl…