Counterfactual Thinking: What Theories Do in Design
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Counterfactual Thinking : What Theories Do in Design. / Oulasvirta, Antti; Hornbæk, Kasper.
In: International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, Vol. 38, No. 1, 2022, p. 78–92.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Counterfactual Thinking
T2 - What Theories Do in Design
AU - Oulasvirta, Antti
AU - Hornbæk, Kasper
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - This essay addresses a foundational topic in applied sciences with interest in design: how do theories inform design? Previous work has attributed theory-use to abduction and deduction. However, design is about creating an intervention, a possible state that does not exist presently, and these accounts fail to explain how theories permit taking this leap. We argue that the practical value of a theory lies in counterfactual thinking. Theories are like “speculation pumps”: they produce (pump) counterfactual thought experiments of the type: If design was , then interaction would be . The more valid these thought experiments are and the better they direct the solution of design problems toward desirable and reliable outcomes, the more useful the theory. Counterfactual thinking sheds new light to design methods and, importantly, can reconcile an underlying tension between design sciences and applied sciences.
AB - This essay addresses a foundational topic in applied sciences with interest in design: how do theories inform design? Previous work has attributed theory-use to abduction and deduction. However, design is about creating an intervention, a possible state that does not exist presently, and these accounts fail to explain how theories permit taking this leap. We argue that the practical value of a theory lies in counterfactual thinking. Theories are like “speculation pumps”: they produce (pump) counterfactual thought experiments of the type: If design was , then interaction would be . The more valid these thought experiments are and the better they direct the solution of design problems toward desirable and reliable outcomes, the more useful the theory. Counterfactual thinking sheds new light to design methods and, importantly, can reconcile an underlying tension between design sciences and applied sciences.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85106468444&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10447318.2021.1925436
DO - 10.1080/10447318.2021.1925436
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85106468444
VL - 38
SP - 78
EP - 92
JO - International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction
JF - International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction
SN - 1044-7318
IS - 1
ER -
ID: 283137036