Towards Sign Language-Centric Design of ASL Survey Tools

Title of the Paper

Towards Sign Language-Centric Design of ASL Survey Tools

Paper Information

• Subject Area: Design of Sign Language Interaction Systems and Accessibility Technology
• Keywords: American Sign Language (ASL), sign language, user interface design, accessibility design, survey tools, new technology development, sign language video content, qualitative research, human-computer interaction (HCI)

Research Background and Problem

• Issues and Challenges: Current survey tools (e.g., Qualtrics or Google Forms) are primarily designed for written languages and fail to effectively support the visual and gestural language needs of American Sign Language (ASL). This leads to:
  1. Limited participation of the sign language community in education, healthcare, and research fields.
  2. Sign language users having to navigate complex and unintuitive text-centric interfaces.
  3. Poor user experience when sign language videos are embedded into existing frameworks, particularly in terms of navigation and interaction.
• Significance: For deaf users whose first language is sign language, text-based survey designs can create communication barriers and inequities in accessing information, which is especially critical in key areas such as education and healthcare.
• Research Motivation:
  1. Existing ASL resources are largely limited to text translation or video content, neglecting improvements in overall user interface design.
  2. To propose and develop truly sign language-centric survey tools that meet the unique needs of deaf users.

Solution

• Research Methods:
  1. Conduct formative research (including semi-structured interviews and user behavior studies) to investigate the preferences and needs of the ASL-signing community.
  2. Explore and design user interface principles for new survey tools based on ASL.
  3. Employ iterative design and participatory co-design methods to propose design prototypes for the new tools.
• Innovations:
  1. Proposing survey tools centered on ASL-centric design for the first time, rather than relying on pre-existing text-based frameworks.
  2. Introducing innovative interaction methods (e.g., automatic video playback, hover-based operations, progress bars) and visual design elements (e.g., color coding, dynamic freeze frames, intuitive icons).
  3. Adapting traditional user research methods (e.g., Think-Aloud studies) to suit deaf users.
• Implementation Steps:
  • Develop ASL-based video surveys: from question design and high-quality video production to integration into existing survey platforms.
  • Design and test interfaces, incorporating specific feedback from sign language participants.
  • Identify UI pain points through actual user testing and propose further iterative design prototypes.

Research Outcomes

• Specific Results:
  1. Developed the first survey tool capable of fully presenting questions and answer options in ASL, exploring various question formats, including multiple-choice, multi-select, and matrix formats.
  2. Identified key principles for ASL-centric survey design, such as video content length, layout, and interactive video controls.
  3. Proposed improvements to existing platforms (e.g., Qualtrics), such as dynamic video frame previews and hover-to-play features to better accommodate sign language users.
• Advantages:
  1. Eliminated barriers posed by written language, especially for users whose first language is ASL, reflecting their cultural and linguistic preferences.
  2. Enhanced user understanding of question content and answer options, improving survey satisfaction and trust.
  3. Provided more flexible design solutions for diverse user groups with varying levels of sign language proficiency and preferences.
• Experimental or Evaluation Results:
  • Semi-structured interviews and Think-Aloud tests indicated a strong demand among sign language users for video-based survey tools, emphasizing the need for more navigation guidance, video optimization, and simplified layouts.
  • Users expressed concerns about video loading times, familiarity with question styles, and interaction methods for answering.
• Limitations:
  • A small number of participants (5 interview participants, 7 Think-Aloud participants) limits the generalizability of findings to the broader deaf community.
  • The current prototype still relies on the underlying architecture of text-based frameworks like Qualtrics, preventing a fully optimized user interface from scratch.
  • Developing a fully functional product requires significant resource investment.
• Future Directions:
  1. Further optimize the development process of ASL survey tools to reduce the time and technical barriers for creating video surveys.
  2. Explore static or dynamic ASL generation technologies (e.g., ASL avatars or dynamic text) to alleviate the burden of video production.
  3. Expand the scale of research participants to include deaf users from more diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
  4. Develop fully independent sign language survey design tools and implement highly customizable survey systems.