Studying and understanding users

1. Judy Kay Ref: Rogers et al Chapter 7 Hartson and Pyla 12.5.3 Studying and understanding users

2. Overview You will be able to Design questionnaires to learn about users And to learn about their perceptions of an interface Explain why the above should draw on standard instruments Design questions for interviews Explain classes of questions suitable for interviews and ones that are not Describe the nature of ethnographic studies (Next week, observation of users)

3. Goals of INFO3315 Learn about the range of techniques to: Understand users Establish requirements Brainstorm alternatives creatively Prototyping alternative Evaluate these Reflect on strengths and weaknesses of prototypes Learn how to actually use a core set of these techniques

4. Reasons to study users

5. To gain insights into what would be useful in your design (early) • To learn about the usability of your interface (fairly early, from first prototype) • To learn about aspects of the person that may influence the above responses (in conjunction with any of the above, to define generality)

6. Questionnaires For large scale Quantitative as well as qualitative Tools to administer online egSurveyMonkey Tools to crowdsource responses egMechanical Turk https://www.mturk.com/mturk/

7. Open and closed questions Closed – have fixed set of responses Likert scale Yes/No True/False Ranges Open give freer responses But space allotted is indicative Useful to ask for reasons an closed response was chosen

8. Open and closed questions Closed – have fixed set of responses Likert scale eg Strongly Agree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree eg Strongly Agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 Strongly Disagree eg Strongly Agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Disagree Yes/No True/False Ranges eg Age 18-25 26-50 >50 Open give freer responses But space allotted is indicative Useful to ask for reasons an closed response was chosen

9. Analysing these Closed Likert scale Average? Mean? Median? Yes/No Count/percentage True/False Count/percentage Ranges Count/percentage Open responses Identify common responses Report actual comments Use to interpret closed responses

10. Class activity To be done in groups of 2-3, within your groups Write your names and group ID

11. Suppose your interface is intended for heavy computer users Write a question you would ask a person to assess whether they are your target population. Write a question you would ask a person to assess their perceived level of inactivity. Write a question you would ask a person to assess their perceived level of activity. Be ready to justify your design of the questions.

12. The reading… Standard instruments

13. When less is not actually less useful • This system’s capabilities meet my requirements • This system is easy to use

14. SUS – System Usability Scale (from http://www.measuringusability.com/sus.php Jeff Sauro) • I think that I would like to use this system frequently. • I found the system unnecessarily complex. • I thought the system was easy to use. • I think that I would need the support of a technical person to be able to use this system. • I found the various functions in this system were well integrated. • I thought there was too much inconsistency in this system. • I would imagine that most people would learn to use this system very quickly. • I found the system very cumbersome to use. • I felt very confident using the system. • I needed to learn a lot of things before I could get going with this system. • Answers on Likert Scale: • 1 (strongly disagree) .. 5 (strongly agree) • Transform to a single number

15. Class discussion question (in the same groups, written down, too) Advantages of SUS? Disadvantages? Potential for class research to follow up?

16. Interviews

17. Interviews • Structured… close to a questionnaire, tightly scripted • Unstructured … loose script, each may be very different and hard to compare and aggregate • Semi-structured … scripted but with options to explore some aspects in depth (similar to branching questionnaire) • Work well right after people have used your interface

18. Analysis • Structured… • as for questionnaire • Unstructured … • Qualitative methods • Use illustrative comments • Grounded Analysis • Read them all to identify emerging themes • Code them, look for combinations and patterns

19. About people … … implications for questions/interviews http://www.nngroup.com/articles/interviewing-users/

20. About people • What people say versus what they do • Memory is fallible • People remember striking experiences • And recent experiences • People rationalise • People cannot reliably predict the future • People are (often) polite • Users are not designers • People are better at comparing multiple interfaces than critiquing a single one • People are more willing to critique lo-fi prototypes

21. Implications for designing questions • Research studies identify the validity of questions • During the last 7 days, how much time in total did you usually spend sitting on a week day? • ____ hours ______ minutes • People can state whether they are heavy computer users (with some reliability) • Work • Entertainment • Right after a person has used your system, they can report on how they experienced that • (and it seems polite to ask them) • Critical incidence method asks people to recall specific problems they recall • People can explain why they

22. Class discussion Also noted on your group’s paper

23. Discuss the usefulness of the following questions • Should the “Help” button be green? • Would you use a FitBit? • Do you use rule filters to manage your email? • Suppose the display provided shows data from a FitBit for a person called Alex: • How many minutes Alex was inactive on Aug 1 2013? • Alex bought a dog in June 2013. Did this help him reduce his level of inactivity?

24. Ethnographic methods

25. Observations • In the field • Immersive • Aim to observe without preconceptions • Collect rich data including • Diaries • Logs • Materials people use

26. Example • To inform design of reminiscence interfaces for elderly people • Wanted to learn how people reminisce so asked

31. Summary Study users: Questionnaires, interviews, ethnographic studies To learn about people to inform design To learn about your interface

32. Class Activity – Group-based Also noted on your group’s paper But needs to be the whole group Record it to trac site asap (now if you have a laptop/tablet/phone)

33. Defining the project User tasks Default: user can determine how many minutes they were inactive in each day over the last five years User population Default: students whose primary concern about inactivity is related to time spend sitting as part of their studies

34. Class Activity - individual New sheet of paper With your name

35. Defining the project One paper prototype/storyboard for the user who wants to be able to answer the following questions: Have I been less inactive over the last 3 months Have I reduced the amount of uninterrupted time I spend at a computer over the last 6 months Split your group so individuals draw one of the following cases, to show their lo-fi prototype, as drawn, displays the interface where: Q1 – yes – Q2 – no Q1 – yes – Q2 – yes Q1 – no– Q2 - no Q1 – no– Q2 - yes

36. Defining the project Have I been less inactive over the last 3 months Have I reduced the amount of uninterrupted time I spend at a computer over the last 6 months In June 2013, I acted on the following hypothesis: If I install unRSI (software that the user to take breaks every half hour) Then I will reduce the long periods of inactivity Has that worked?