The Measure of Empathy in Design: How Do We Trigger Empathy Among Designers and Beyond?

Research in HCI and design positions empathy as a key factor of a successful user- centered approach, supported by the emergence of empathic design methods. However, there is a dearth of empathy measurement tools to investigate the actual ability of design methods to trigger empathy among designers and beyond within organizations. For service stakeholders, a measurement tool would facilitate understanding the value of empathy for breaking silos in the organization and delivering high-quality services and products. The Empathy in Design Scale aims at measuring the impact of empathic design methods within an organization. In this paper, we share our preliminary work on triggering and measuring service stakeholders’ empathy (e.g., service employees) in the context of a national railway service. We discuss the added value and limitations of a standardized measure of empathy and its implications to bring the field forward with new perspectives and opportunities.