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Greenberg, S. and Thimbleby, H. (1992)
The weak science of human-computer interaction. In Proceedings of the CHI ’92 Research Symposium on Human Computer Interaction. (Monterey, California).
Type: Refereed conference (short paper).
Earlier version: Report 1991-459-43, December.

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Abstract.
This article is about science and the discipline of human-computer interaction (HCI). Science in HCI is merely one component of a wider agenda; alone science is not sufficient for ‘good’ HCI (whatever that is). We argue that science is necessary, but the way that science is undertaken-or purported to be undertaken-in HCI is inadequate. Failures are due to the sparsity of theories and risky hypotheses, the pragmatic difficulty of substantiating experiments through replication, and the over-generalization of experimental results.