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Part 1 (Chapter 1-4) : Fundamental Components of Interactive System

The document summarizes various techniques for evaluating interactive system designs, including: 1) Cognitive walkthrough which involves experts analyzing a design to identify potential learning problems by "walking through" example tasks and questions. 2) Heuristic evaluation where experts examine a design against usability heuristics like consistency and feedback to identify issues. 3) User participation methods like thinking aloud, cooperative evaluation, and post-task walkthroughs where users provide feedback on their experience with a design.

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M. Talha Nadeem
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45 views46 pages

Part 1 (Chapter 1-4) : Fundamental Components of Interactive System

The document summarizes various techniques for evaluating interactive system designs, including: 1) Cognitive walkthrough which involves experts analyzing a design to identify potential learning problems by "walking through" example tasks and questions. 2) Heuristic evaluation where experts examine a design against usability heuristics like consistency and feedback to identify issues. 3) User participation methods like thinking aloud, cooperative evaluation, and post-task walkthroughs where users provide feedback on their experience with a design.

Uploaded by

M. Talha Nadeem
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Part 1 (chapter 1-4): fundamental

components of interactive system

Part 2 (chapter 5-11): design


chapter 9

evaluation techniques
Evaluation

• assesses and tests the design to assure that the


system behaves as we expect

• occurs in
– laboratory, field and/or in collaboration with users

• evaluates both design and implementation

• at all stages in the design life cycle


Goals of Evaluation

• assess extent of system functionality


– Availability and reachability of intended
tasks (requirements)

• assess effect of interface (user’s


experience) on user – Chap. 7

• identify specific problems


Evaluation Techniques

expert analysis
user participation
choosing an evaluation method
Evaluation through expert analysis

Cognitive Walkthrough
Heuristic Evaluation
Review-based evaluation
Cognitive Walkthrough

• evaluates design on how well it


supports user in learning task
• Easy to learn and learning by exploration
• usually by expert in cognitive
psychology
• expert ‘walks though’ design to identify
potential problems
• forms used to guide analysis
Cognitive Walkthrough

needs
– A specification or prototype
– A description of the task to be performed
– A list of actions to complete the task
– An indication of who the users are
Cognitive Walkthrough

Evaluators answer the following questions


for each action
– Is the effect of the action the same as the
user’s goal at that point?
– Will users see that the action is available
– Once users have found the correct action, will
they know it is the one they need?
– Will users understand the feedback they get?
Cognitive Walkthrough (ctd)

• For each task, walkthrough considers


– what impact will interaction have on user?
– what cognitive processes are required?
– what learning problems may occur?

• Analysis focuses on goals and


knowledge: does the design lead the
user to generate the correct goals?
Example: programming a video recorder by remote control,
HCI by Alan Dix
Heuristic Evaluation

• usability criteria (heuristics) are identified


• design examined by experts (3 to 5) to see if
these are violated

• Example heuristics
– system behaviour is predictable
– system behaviour is consistent
– feedback is provided

• Heuristic evaluation `debugs' design


Heuristic Evaluation

• Nielsen’s ten heuristics


• User Interface Design Guidelines: 10 Rules of Thumb
– https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/
article/user-interface-design-guidelines-10-rul
es-of-thumb
Review-based evaluation

• Results from the literature used to support or


refute parts of design

• Care needed to ensure results are transferable


to new design
Evaluating through user
Participation

Styles of evaluation
Empirical methods
Observational techniques
Query techniques
Monitoring physiological responses
Style - laboratory studies

• Advantages:
– specialist equipment available
– uninterrupted environment

• Disadvantages:
– lack of context
– difficult to observe several users cooperating

• Appropriate
– if system location is dangerous or impractical for
constrained single user systems to allow controlled
manipulation of use
Style - field studies

• Advantages:
– natural environment
– context retained (though observation may alter it)
– longitudinal studies possible

• Disadvantages:
– distractions
– noise

• Appropriate
– where context is crucial for longitudinal studies
Empirical methods
experimental evaluation

• controlled experiment of specific aspects of


interactive behaviour
• Provides empirical evidence to support a claim
or hypothesis
• a number of experimental conditions are
considered which differ only in the value of
some controlled variable
• changes in behavioural measure are attributed
to different conditions
experimental factors

• Subjects
– who – representative, sufficient sample
• Variables
– things to modify and measure
• Hypothesis
– what you’d like to show (predicted outcome)
• Experimental design
– how you are going to do it
Variables

• independent variable (IV)


characteristic changed to produce different
conditions
e.g. interface style, number of menu items

• dependent variable (DV)


characteristics measured in the experiment
e.g. time taken, number of errors.
Hypothesis

• prediction of outcome
– framed in terms of IV and DV

e.g. “error rate will increase as font size decreases”

• null hypothesis:
– states no difference between conditions
– aim is to disprove this

e.g. null hyp. = “no change with font size”


Experimental design

• within groups design


– each subject performs experiment under each
condition.
– transfer of learning possible
– less costly and less likely to suffer from user
variation.
• between groups design
– each subject performs under only one condition
– no transfer of learning
– more users required
– variation can bias results.
Analysis of data

• Before you start to do any statistics:


– look at data
– save original data

• Choice of statistical technique depends on


– type of data
– information required

• Type of data
– discrete - finite number of values
– continuous - any value
Analysis of data (cont.)

• What information is required?


– is there a difference?
– how big is the difference?
– how accurate is the estimate?
Experimental studies on groups

More difficult than single-user experiments

Problems with:
– subject groups
– choice of task
– data gathering
– analysis
Subject groups

larger number of subjects


 more expensive

longer time to `settle down’


… even more variation!

difficult to timetable

so … often only three or four groups


The task

must encourage cooperation

perhaps involve multiple channels

options:
– creative task e.g. ‘write a short report on …’
– decision games e.g. desert survival task
– control task e.g. ARKola bottling plant
Data gathering

several video cameras


+ direct logging of application

problems:
– synchronisation
– sheer volume!

one solution:
– record from each perspective
Field studies

Experiments dominated by group formation

Field studies more realistic:


distributed cognition  work studied in context
real action is situated action
physical and social environment both crucial

Contrast:
psychology – controlled experiment
sociology and anthropology – open study and rich data
Observational Methods

Think Aloud
Cooperative evaluation
Protocol analysis
Automated analysis
Post-task walkthroughs
Think Aloud
Think Aloud

• user observed performing task


• user asked to describe what he is doing and why,
what he thinks is happening etc.

• Advantages
– simplicity - requires little expertise
– can provide useful insight
– can show how system is actually use
• Disadvantages
– subjective
– selective
– act of describing may alter task performance
Cooperative evaluation

• variation on think aloud


• user collaborates in evaluation
• both user and evaluator can ask each other
questions throughout

• Additional advantages
– less constrained and easier to use
– user is encouraged to criticize system
– clarification possible
Protocol analysis
• paper and pencil – cheap, limited to writing speed
• audio – good for think aloud, difficult to match with other
protocols
• video – accurate and realistic, needs special equipment,
obtrusive
• computer logging – automatic and unobtrusive, large
amounts of data difficult to analyze
• user notebooks – coarse and subjective, useful insights,
good for longitudinal studies

• Mixed use in practice.


• audio/video transcription difficult and requires skill.
• Some automatic support tools available
automated analysis – EVA

• Experimental Video Annotator (EVA)


• Workplace project at Xerox
• Post task walkthrough
– user reacts on action after the event
– used to fill in intention
• Advantages
– analyst has time to focus on relevant incidents
– avoid excessive interruption of task
• Disadvantages
– lack of freshness
– may be post-hoc interpretation of events
post-task walkthroughs

• transcript played back to participant for


comment
– immediately  fresh in mind
– delayed  evaluator has time to identify
questions
• useful to identify reasons for actions
and alternatives considered
• necessary in cases where think aloud is
not possible
Query Techniques

Interviews
Questionnaires
Interviews

• analyst questions user on one-to -one basis


usually based on prepared questions
• informal, subjective and relatively cheap

• Advantages
– can be varied to suit context
– issues can be explored more fully
– can elicit user views and identify unanticipated
problems
• Disadvantages
– very subjective
– time consuming
Questionnaires

• Set of fixed questions given to users

• Advantages
– quick and reaches large user group
– can be analyzed more rigorously
• Disadvantages
– less flexible
– less probing
Questionnaires (ctd)

• Need careful design


– what information is required?
– how are answers to be analyzed?

• Styles of question
– general
– open-ended
– scalar
– multi-choice
– ranked
Physiological methods

Eye tracking
Physiological measurement
eye tracking
eye tracking

• head or desk mounted equipment tracks the


position of the eye
• eye movement reflects the amount of
cognitive processing a display requires
• measurements include
– fixations: eye maintains stable position. Number and
duration indicate level of difficulty with display
– saccades: rapid eye movement from one point of
interest to another
– scan paths: moving straight to a target with a short
fixation at the target is optimal
physiological measurements
• emotional response linked to physical changes
• these may help determine a user’s reaction to
an interface
• measurements include:
– heart activity, including blood pressure, volume and pulse.
– activity of sweat glands: Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)
– electrical activity in muscle: electromyogram (EMG)
– electrical activity in brain: electroencephalogram (EEG)
• some difficulty in interpreting these
physiological responses - more research needed
Choosing an Evaluation Method

when in process: design vs. implementation


style of evaluation: laboratory vs. field
how objective: subjective vs. objective
type of measures: qualitative vs. quantitative
level of information: high level vs. low level
level of interference: obtrusive vs. unobtrusive
resources available: time, subjects,
equipment, expertise
Simon Kneebone – cartoonist and illustrator

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