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HCI Validation. Richard F. Riesenfeld University of Utah Fall 2004. Major Considerations - 1. Stage of design Conceptual, preliminary, detail Novelty of project Do we know what we are doing? Number of expected users How important is this? How amenable to change will it be?.
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HCI Validation Richard F. Riesenfeld University of Utah Fall 2004
Major Considerations - 1 • Stage of design • Conceptual, preliminary, detail • Novelty of project • Do we know what we are doing? • Number of expected users • How important is this? • How amenable to change will it be?
Major Considerations - 2 • Criticality of the interface • Are lives at stake if there are problems? • Cost of product • Allocation for testing • Time available for testing • Experience of designers and evaluators
Expert Review methods - 1 • Heuristic evaluation • Experts critique it wrt established criteria • Guidelines review • Does it meet “spec” • Can be an overwhelming list • Bureaucratic approach
Expert Review methods - 2 • Consistency inspection • Experts check of style, function, form, etc. • Cognitive walkthrough • Experts perform role of users • Try to assess its success from experience
Expert Review methods - 3 • Formal usability inspection • Moot court • Countervailing opinions • Can be unwieldy
Comparative Evaluations - 1 • Different experts see different issues • Can get caught with conflicting advice* • Limit the number of experts • Get a “bird’s-eye” view in the beginning • Throw images on a wall, etc. * “For every PhD, there is an equal and opposite PhD” * “
Comparative Evaluations - 2 • Formal (statistical) methods • Form a hypothesis • Determine dependent variables • Identify independent variables * “
Usability Labs, etc • Hard to employ because of time and money constraints in product development • Development cycle schedule • Budgets • Corporate/Cultural Attitude
Controlled Experients • Statistical testing • Establish level of statistical significance • At the 95% confidence level we know… • Usability testing • Find flaws in the interface through more informal (inconclusive) methods • Empirical methods
Human Subjects -1 • Careful, “This isn’t Kansas anymore!” • Many new dimensions need attention • Human respect and dignity • Voice generated check outs violated privacy • Military has NO privacy • Other cultures treat matters differently
Human Subjects -2 • Real LEGAL issues, so get it right! • Informed consent • Understand your liability • Get it in writing, copy to each party • Government, or institutional rules • We are not accustomed to this • Need cognizant approvals • IRBs, etc. • Research proposals, etc
Observations methods • Have subjects “think aloud” • Will subjects be honest, etc. • Use video recording • Field tests • Study the successes/failures of the interface • Getting access • Reliance on memories • “How is it going?” (We tend to react to most recent)
Destructive Testing • Hey, can you break this? • Good for security • Good for games • Durability testing appropriate for some environments • ATM in high crime area • Military • Students, they can’t resist a challenge
Competitive Testing -1 • Consumers Union, Road & Track, style • Take several into lab and have a “shoot out” • Expensive • Takes skill (like a movie review) • Depends on the criteria • Depends on good and representative judgment
Competitive Testing -2 Major Limitations • Limited coverage of features • Depends on initial user experiences
Surveys • Tricky business, can lead to nearly any conclusion • Population selection • Question choices • Size • Leading questions, other bias • Negative bias – users with complaints
Online Surveys • More issues…
Conclusions • HCI is a new game • Not exact science • Old methods not entirely applicable • Need newer, faster, light weight, flexible, informal, subjective, intelligent approaches
Recommendations • Use good judgment • Trust good judgment • Yours • Others, whom you trust • Be open to criticism and suggestion
Interpretation • What is being said? • What is the real issue? • What is the real fix? • RSI is a problem • Pain • Keyboard or mouse? • Need different devices, or speech, or simply a better mouse and keyboard?
acm.org/~perlman/question.cgi • Please rate the usability of the system. • Try to respond to all the items. • For items that are not applicable, use: NA • Make sure these fields are filled in: System:Email to: • Add a comment about an item by clicking on its icon, • or add comment fields for all items by clicking on Comment All. • List the most negative aspect(s): • List the most positive aspect(s): • Top of Form
acm.org/~perlman/question.cgi • To mail in your results, click on: Mail Data • System: Email to: • Optionally provide comments and your email address in the box. • List the most negative aspect(s): • List the most positive aspect(s): • Top of Form
acm.org/~perlman/question.cgi • List the most negative aspect(s): • List the most positive aspect(s): • Top of Form
acm.org/~perlman/question.cgi • List the most negative aspect(s): • List the most positive aspect(s): • Top of Form
acm.org/~perlman/question.cgi • List the most negative aspect(s): • List the most positive aspect(s): • Top of Form • List the most negative aspect(s): • List the most positive aspect(s): • Top of Form
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