Beyond One User and One Model: Rethinking LLMs as Mediators in Collaborative Sensemaking and Ideation
Abstract
As LLMs enter qualitative data workflows, they are predominantly designed for individual researchers rather than collaborative teams—risking disruption to the collective negotiation essential to sensemaking, driving premature consensus, and potentially erasing marginalized voices. In this position paper, we argue that LLMs must be reconceived as active team mediators. Grounded in empirical studies of human-LLM collaborative analysis, we propose three design directions: quote-level traceability to preserve accountability of human and LLM contributions, controllable delegation boundaries to maintain researcher agency across workflow stages, and structured dissent mechanisms to surface interpretive conflicts that teams might otherwise suppress. We ground these directions in accessibility research as a domain where methodological rigor and representational equity are obligatory.
Pengqi Wang
PhD Student
