Cognitive Discourse Analysis for Cognitively Supportive Visualisations

Abstract

How do we know what people perceive in a diagram, picture, or dynamic visual interface? What users take from a visualisation may not be the same as what designers intended by it. Cognitive Discourse Analysis (CODA) is a methodology that helps identifying the perceivers' thoughts. Users are asked to speak out lout what they're thinking; their language is transcribed, and analysed in depth. Besides the (sometimes quite revealing) content of what people are saying, the features of their language (how they say it) point to underlying conceptualisations and aspects that the speakers themselves are not necessarily aware of: their focus of attention, aspects taken for granted or perceived as new, levels of granularity, conceptual perspective, and so on. This paper provides a concise overview of the problems motivating studies using CODA, the theoretical background and key methodological steps, relevant work done using CODA, and the range of issues that can be addressed in this way.