Empirical Research Methods in Usable Privacy and Security

Summary

Researchers in the usable privacy and security (UPS) field study privacy- and security-relevant perceptions and behaviors and aim to design systems that simul- taneously address requirements for usability/user experience, security, and privacy. Human-computer interaction (HCI) and social science research methods are well-suited to study many of the types of questions that are relevant in UPS, which often involve concepts such as subjective experience, attitudes, understanding, behavior and behavior change. However, there are many challenges specific to UPS that are not usually described in more generic methods textbooks. We highlight techniques for risk representation, options for participant recruitment, ethics-related topics in study design, and biases that may play a role in UPS studies with human participants.