Reflections on Working with Older Adults in Visualization Research

Abstract

While older adults represent a growing proportion of the global population, their presence in visualization research remains limited. In this paper, I present reflections from a series of human-subject studies conducted with older adults as part of a multi-year research effort. These studies include a controlled laboratory experiment, online evaluations, and an in-situ investigation with participants above age 60. Based on these experiences, I provide methodological takeaways for conducting visualization research with older participants and propose directions for future work. This work ultimately aims to provide practical guidance and encourage broader inclusion of older adults as participants in visualization research.

5 pages, 2 figures, accepted to the 3rd Workshop on Accessible Visualization at IEEE VIS '26