Glossary

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SMOTE(also: Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique)

A data augmentation technique that addresses class imbalance in machine learning datasets by generating synthetic examples of the minority class rather than simply duplicating existing ones. SMOTE creates new instances by interpolating between existing minority class samples and…

SWIM Method(also: Someone Who Isn't Me, SWIM Technique, SWIM Video Prompts)

A participatory design technique where fictional characters ("someone who isn't me") are used in narrative scenarios to help co-designers envision and discuss technology concepts without the cognitive burden of self-reference. Particularly valuable in accessibility research with…

Saccade(also: Saccadic Eye Movement)

A rapid, ballistic eye movement that shifts the point of gaze from one fixation location to another. Saccades typically last 20 to 200 milliseconds, and visual processing is largely suppressed during these movements. In accessibility and eye-tracking research, saccade patterns…

Sampling Method(also: Sampling, Page Sampling, Site Sampling)

A sampling method is a rule for selecting a subset of pages, screens, or components from a larger product to be evaluated for accessibility. Because full manual evaluation of every page on a real-world website, app, or PDF library is usually infeasible, every practical audit…

Scanpath(also: Gaze Path, Eye Movement Path)

The sequence of fixations and saccades (rapid eye movements) that represent how a person visually explores an interface or document. In accessibility and usability research, scanpath analysis reveals patterns in how users process visual information, which elements attract…

Scanpath Trend Analysis(also: STA)

A method for analysing multiple eye-tracking scanpaths to identify a single representative trending path that captures the most common viewing patterns across a group of users. STA determines which visual elements of a web page are most frequently visited and in what order,…

Scoping Review(also: Scoping Study)

A scoping review is a type of research synthesis that systematically maps the existing literature on a broad topic to identify key concepts, gaps in evidence, and types of available research. Unlike systematic reviews that answer specific questions, scoping reviews chart the…

Self-Assessment Manikin(also: SAM)

A nonverbal pictorial instrument developed by Bradley and Lang (1994) for measuring the affective dimensions of valence, arousal, and dominance. Respondents select from a row of stylised manikin figures whose expressions and body states vary along each dimension, typically on a…

Self-Determination Theory(also: SDT)

A psychological framework identifying three innate human needs — autonomy (feeling in control of one's actions), competence (feeling effective and capable), and relatedness (feeling connected to others) — that drive intrinsic motivation and well-being. In accessibility and…

Self-Disclosure Statement(also: SDS)

A short first-person text in which a creator, researcher, or performer reveals personal information about their identity, background, training, and motivations for producing a piece of work. Self-disclosure statements are used in academic positionality writing, healthcare…

Self-Report Measure(also: Self-Report Assessment, Self-Report Questionnaire)

A standardized assessment tool in which individuals rate their own experiences, behaviors, or symptoms, typically using Likert scales or frequency ratings. Self-report measures are widely used in clinical and research settings to assess conditions like emotional dysregulation,…

Semi-Automatic Wizard-of-Oz(also: Semi-Automatic WoZ)

A hybrid Wizard-of-Oz study methodology in which part of a prototype system is implemented with real automation while a human researcher (the 'wizard') intervenes only for components that are not yet reliable enough to run autonomously. For example, an AI agent may generate…

Semi-structured Interview(also: Semi-structured Interviewing)

A semi-structured interview is a qualitative research method in which the interviewer works from a guide of open-ended topics or questions but adapts the order, wording, and depth of probing to the flow of each conversation. It sits between a rigid structured interview (fixed…

Sentiment Analysis(also: Opinion Mining)

A natural language processing technique that identifies and extracts subjective information from text, classifying it as positive, negative, or neutral. In accessibility research, sentiment analysis can be applied to social media posts, product reviews, and online discussions to…

Sighted Assistant(also: Sighted Guide, Visual Interpreter)

A sighted person who provides support to blind or low vision participants during design workshops, research activities, or other collaborative tasks. In accessible design contexts, sighted assistants help with tasks like locating materials, reading printed information,…

Sign Language Corpus(also: ASL Corpus, Signed Language Corpus)

A structured collection of recorded signed-language performances — typically video, and increasingly motion-capture data — annotated by expert signers with time-stamped linguistic information such as individual signs, non-manual markers, eye gaze, grammatical boundaries, and…

Signal Detection Theory(also: SDT)

A statistical framework used to measure the accuracy of a system or person in distinguishing between the presence and absence of a target signal amid noise. In accessibility and assistive technology research, Signal Detection Theory is used to evaluate how well detection systems…

Simple Reaction Time(also: SRT, Reaction Time Test)

A psychometric measure of the time it takes a person to respond to a single stimulus, such as pressing a button when a light appears. Simple Reaction Time is used in accessibility and usability research to assess motor performance speed, which can affect how well a user…

Single Case Experimental Design(also: SCED, Single Subject Design, N-of-1 Design)

A research methodology in which individual participants serve as their own control, with repeated measurements taken during baseline and intervention phases to evaluate the effect of a treatment or intervention. This approach is particularly valuable in accessibility and…

Single Ease Question(also: SEQ)

A post-task usability metric consisting of a single 7-point rating scale question asking users how easy or difficult a task was to complete. The SEQ is widely used in usability studies because it is quick to administer, easy for participants to understand, and provides reliable…

Single-Case Study(also: Single-Subject Design, Single-Case Experimental Design, N-of-1 Study)

A research methodology in which an individual participant serves as their own control, with systematic measurement of behavior across different conditions such as baseline and intervention phases. The ABA design — where A represents baseline and B represents intervention — is a…

Single-Subject Case Study(also: Single-Case Design, N-of-1 Study, Single-Subject Research Design)

A single-subject case study is a research methodology that focuses on detailed observation and analysis of one individual (or a small number of individuals) over time, rather than comparing group averages. Widely used in brain injury rehabilitation and clinical practice, this…

Single-case experimental design(also: SCED, N-of-1 design, ABAB design)

A rigorous research methodology that evaluates intervention effects by systematically alternating between baseline and treatment conditions within individual participants, using each person as their own control. Common variants include AB, ABA, ABAB, and multiple-baseline…

Situated Knowledge(also: Situated Knowledges)

A concept from feminist epistemology, developed by Donna Haraway, holding that all knowledge is produced from particular social, bodily, and historical positions rather than from a neutral, objective standpoint. In disability studies and accessibility research, situated…

Situated Play Design(also: SPD)

Situated Play Design is a design approach developed by Altarriba Bertran and colleagues that treats play as something emergent from a specific social, physical, and cultural setting rather than something to be engineered into a generic product. It combines ethnographic…

Small-n Experimental Design(also: Small-sample Design, Single-case Design)

Small-n (or single-case) experimental design is a family of research methodologies aimed at drawing rigorous causal conclusions from very few — sometimes just one — participants. The approaches include ABA reversal, multiple baseline designs, alternating treatments, and changing…

Snowball Sampling(also: Chain Referral Sampling)

A non-probability recruitment method where existing study participants recruit future participants from among their acquaintances, creating a chain of referrals. In accessibility research, snowball sampling is particularly valuable for reaching disability communities that may be…

Social Motor Synchrony(also: Interpersonal Synchrony, Motor Synchrony)

The spontaneous or intentional coordination of body movements between two or more people during social interaction, such as matching rhythms, mirroring gestures, or moving in temporal alignment. Social Motor Synchrony is considered an important indicator of social engagement and…

Social Support Behavioral Code(also: SSBC)

A classification framework used in health and social science research to categorize types of support exchanged between individuals. The SSBC identifies five categories of social support: informational (advice and guidance), emotional (empathy and caring), tangible (practical…

Sociotechnical Infrastructure

The interconnected system of social structures, organizational practices, technical tools, and institutional arrangements that collectively support a technology-based service or program. In assistive technology distribution, sociotechnical infrastructure encompasses not just the…

Soma design(also: Somaesthetic design)

A design approach rooted in somaesthetics that foregrounds the sensing, feeling, living body as both the subject and medium of design. Soma design attends to the full range of bodily experience — touch, proprioception, movement, temperature, tension — rather than privileging…

Speculative Design(also: Design Fiction, Critical Design)

A design approach that uses conceptual proposals and provocative artifacts to explore possible futures, challenge assumptions, and stimulate debate rather than solve immediate practical problems. In accessibility research, speculative design is used to imagine alternative…

Speech Prosodics(also: Prosodic Features, Suprasegmental Features)

Speech prosodics refers to the nonverbal acoustic features of speech that convey meaning beyond the words themselves, including pitch (fundamental frequency), rhythm, stress, intonation patterns, pausing, and speaking rate. In accessibility research, prosodic analysis serves as…

Stemming(also: Word Stemming, Suffix Stripping)

Stemming is a natural-language-processing technique that reduces inflected or derived words to their base or root form — 'running', 'runs', and 'ran' all map to the stem 'run'. The Porter stemmer (1980) is the canonical example for English. Stemming helps information-retrieval…

Stratified Sampling(also: Stratified Random Sampling)

Stratified sampling is a statistical technique that divides a population into non-overlapping subgroups (strata) that share some characteristic, then draws a random sample from each stratum. In accessibility evaluation, stratified sampling is used to pick test pages by first…

Study Circle(also: Folkbildning, Learning Circle)

A democratic, non-formal adult education method originating in Nordic countries where a small group of people meet regularly to discuss and learn about a specific topic. Unlike traditional classroom instruction, study circles have no teacher—instead, a facilitator guides…

Summative Evaluation(also: Summative Usability Testing, Summative Assessment)

Usability evaluation conducted on functional software or high-fidelity prototypes, typically later in the development process, to measure the effectiveness of specific design choices. Summative testing uses representative users performing representative tasks and often involves…

Support Network(also: Support Worker, Support Person, Circle of Support)

The caregivers, family members, support workers, teachers, and peers who assist a person with a disability in daily life and in participating in research or design activities. In inclusive co-design with people with intellectual or cognitive disabilities, support networks often…

Support Vector Machine(also: SVM)

A supervised machine learning algorithm used for classification and regression tasks. SVMs work by finding the optimal hyperplane that separates data points into distinct categories in a high-dimensional feature space. In accessibility research, SVMs have been used to detect…

Survey Accessibility(also: Accessible Surveys, Inclusive Survey Design)

The practice of designing surveys, questionnaires, and assessment tools so they can be completed by people with diverse abilities, languages, and communication preferences. Survey accessibility encompasses providing content in multiple formats (text, audio, sign language video),…

Systematic Review(also: Systematic Literature Review)

A systematic review is a rigorous, reproducible synthesis of research on a narrowly-defined question, using a pre-registered protocol, exhaustive database search, explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria, independent dual screening, formal quality appraisal, and - where…

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