Designing Autism Research for Maximum Impact

Abstract

In recent decades, rates of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have risen dramatically, and research into assistive technologies for this population has similarly escalated. For technology to be adopted, technologists need to communicate with practitioners across fields and match methodological and evaluation standards. We provide a set of recommendations for researchers to bridge the gap between fields and maximize the impact of their research, including instructions on how to identify and describe research participants and how to avoid research confounds and challenges specific to this population. We also advocate that researchers in ASD maintain a nimble, adaptable approach when performing experiments.