The chapter proposes a general definition of the concept of framework, together with its derivation and exemplification. The definition and an existing conception are then applied to HCI research.The resulting core HCI research framework comprises discipline (as an academic field of study), general problem (as the design of human–computer interactions), particular scope (as the design of human–computer interactions to do something as desired), research (as the diagnosis of design problems and the prescription of design solutions, as they relate to performance, for the acquisition and for the validation of knowledge to support practices), knowledge (as acquired and validated, supporting practices) and practices (as supported by knowledge, acquired and validated by research). The core framework is sufficiently well specified for its application to approaches.

The chapter first presents a general approach to HCI research. The general approach comprises addressing the topic or problem of designing human–computer interactions, performing of actions to progress that approach to designing human–computer interactions, evaluating of the success of the actions performed to progress that approach to designing human–computer interactions and cumulating of the successes as a way of establishing whether the topic or problem of designing human–computer interactions has been addressed or not. The chapter then proposes a General Framework for HCI research (including a core framework) comprising discipline, general as common, general problem, particular scope, general research, general knowledge and general practices. The General Framework is followed by a general design research exemplar as general design research cycles. The lower-level general framework comprises application, interactive system and performance.