Evaluation of live human–computer music-making: Quantitative and qualitative approaches

Live music-making using interactive systems is not completely amenable to traditional HCI evaluation metrics such as task-completion rates. In this paper we discuss quantitative and qualitative approaches which provide opportunities to evaluate the music-making interaction, accounting for aspects which cannot be directly measured or expressed numerically, yet which may be important for participants. We present case studies in the application of a qualitative method based on Discourse Analysis, and a quantitative method based on the Turing Test. We compare and contrast these methods with each other, and with other evaluation approaches used in the literature, and discuss factors affecting which evaluation methods are appropriate in a given context.