Interface Design ITD34003 Past Paper PDF

INTERFACE DESIGN ITD34003 CHAPTER 3 : IDENTIFYING NEEDS AND ESTABLISHING REQUIREMENTS “NEEDFINDING”  GOALS 1. Understanding the system requirements and user needs 2. “Needfinding” 3. Knowing tools and instruments for...

INTERFACE DESIGN ITD34003 CHAPTER 3 : IDENTIFYING NEEDS AND ESTABLISHING REQUIREMENTS “NEEDFINDING”  GOALS 1. Understanding the system requirements and user needs 2. “Needfinding” 3. Knowing tools and instruments for Needfinding 2023 2  Human-Centered Design Process 2023 3  Main Needfinding questions Needfinding = Finding Potential User Needs What do users need? What do users want? That also requires Who are the users? How are they doing it, now? What is the context in which they are doing it? Can’t we just ask them? 2023 4  «Know Your Users» Know Your Users (1) Who are the users of the system? Uniform, or different categories/groups? Young/old? Novice/experienced? Do not think of “generic” users, split the categories *You* are not a [representative] user Designers and developers’ skills, knowledge, attitude, background, interests, …are totally unlike those of your users Except by chance (e.g., you are also students, developers, …) The client is not a [representative] user Bosses, managers, directors, … believe they know their employees and their jobs. Actually, they don’t Always seek the actual users that will use the system 2023 5  «Know Your Users» Know Your Users (2) Talking to users Surveys Interviews Direct involvement (participatory design) Bypass corporate policies Understand real current behavior, pain points, workarounds, … Watching users Observation sessions Video recording (and analysis) Diaries Analyze their work (artifact, processes, action sequences) Discuss with users the findings of the observation (may discover the “why”) 2023 6  «Know Your Users» Know Your Users (3) Imagining users When real users are not available Imagine how a real user would behave (very difficult) Building “imaginary” users: personas Detailed description of hypothetical persons in a given role Imagine them as they were a real person 2023 7  Needfinding methods Techniques adopted in Needfinding and Requirement Analysis 2023 8  Methods Outline Observation, ethnographic research Surveys Interviews Focus groups 2023 9 Observation “You can observe a lot, just by watching” – Yogi Berra 2023 10  Ethnographic observation Embed in the users’ environment, culture, behavior Goal: to obtain the necessary data to influence interface (re)design Learn the language of users and their environment Listen and observe carefully Sometimes ask questions and clarifications Audio-Video Record / Take Notes Risks: Misinterpret observations Disrupting normal practice Overlooking important information 2023 11  What should learn by observation? (1) What do people do now? What values and goals do people have? How are these activities embedded in a larger ecology? Similarities and differences across people Other types of context, like time of day Especially tacit (unspoken) knowledge 2023 12  What should learn by observation? (1) What do people do now? What values and goals do people have? How are these activities embedded in a larger ecology? Similarities and differences across people Other types of context, like time of day Especially tacit (unspoken) knowledge 2023 13  What should learn by observation? (2) 2023 14  What should learn by observation? (2) Process vs Practice Process: how things are officially supposed to happen, and are officially part of the training Practice: set of workarounds, practical tricks, information learnt from the field and from experience, etc., that are part of daily activities 2023 15  Types of observation (1) Controlled Observation Within a Lab environment Easy to reproduce. If you use a quantitative approach –easy to get similar results by repeating Easy to analyze. Quantitative data requires less effort to analyze than qualitative data. Quick to conduct. Recruitment may take a little time; the controlled observation is fairly fast to run. The Hawthorne Effect. The act of observation of how someone does something can change their approach to carrying out the task. How to Conduct User Observations | IxDF (interaction-design.org) 2023 16  Types of observation (2) Naturalistic Observation Studying the user “in the wild”, Less structured More reliable. When people use a product in real life – they are much more likely to encounter the frustrations(and benefits) of real-life use than they are in a lab following a set of instructions. More useful for ideation. Qualitative research can generate lots of ideas for product improvement as it opens up possibilities that aren’t found in quantitative research. Difficult to include a representative sample. More expensive and time consuming to conduct, limits the reach of the research. Use this kind of research to create ideas and then test those ideas with other forms of research. Difficult to make them replicable. Problem with sample sizes and dependence on the observer. Hard to manipulate external variables. For example, if it’s raining when you observe your users working on a smartphone – their behavior is likely to be different to when it’s sunny. You have no control over the weather “in the wild”. 2023 17  Blending in  Becoming part of the wall  Becoming “one of them”, like an (Complete Observer) apprentice (Complete  Avoid being intrusive or Participant) modifying behaviors  Undergo training process o Avoid video-recording or o Official information interruptions o Matter-of-fact information  Schedule time for discussing shared by co-workers your observations  Observe all the practices  Validate your observations with the 2023 18  Data collection Subjective Objective  Impressions  Anecdotes  Ranking/ratings by users  Critical incidents on  Observed errors different questions  Observed  Written summary report workarounds  Artifacts and “hints” in the workplace 2023 19  Interviewing Asking users about their needs and desires… …what could possibly go wrong? 2023 20  Main forms of interviews Surveys Fast, more superficial Sets of questions with predefined possible answers Paper-based or on-line In-person interviews Time-demanding, in-depth knowledge Structured vs Unstructured One-to-one vs Focus groups 2023 21  Beware! Users don’t know what they want Maybe subconsciously, but not rationally They will tell what they think you like to hear Especially for “new” products or “disruptive” technologies They lack the creativity or the technical expertise to understand the new product They take the current context for granted (e.g., required workarounds “because, yes”) Stop Asking Users What They Want https://uxplanet.org/stop-asking-users-what-th ey- want-21e9ba646bce 2023 22  Choosing participants for interviews Representative of target users [All] Stakeholders May be current users of a similar system Might also be the non-users (for a new product) Approximate, if necessary (with similar users) Incentives, motivations, small gifts 2023 23  Executing interviews Schedule time & place comfortable for users Introduce yourself, explain your purpose You are not testing them; they are helping you Begin with open-ended, unbiased, non-leading questions Ask the question and let them answer Give enough time. The 2nd reply is often more interesting than the 1st. Follow-up with related questions. Deep dive into interesting points http://dlrtoolkit.com/interview/ 2023 24  Guidelines for questions Structured questions are easier to process, unstructured questions solicit more comments Open-ended questions, with follow-up discussion For quantitative questions (e.g., rate in a scale 1 to 5, such as Likert), always ask what they mean by “4” Aim at direct, concrete, specific questions that ask for detailed answers Use the language of the user Always try the question with a smaller (trusted) group, for debugging 2023 25  Examples of open-ended questions ‘Tell me about your typical day.’ Tell me three good things about... ’ ‘and three bad things.’ ‘What has gone wrong with the application recently? How did you cope?’ ‘What else should we have asked about?’ 2023 26  Bad questions – to avoid Is feature [x] important to you? ‘Leading’ question What would you like in a tool? User are experts in their domain, not expert in design What do you like in [x]? Assuming question. Maybe he doesn’t like it What would you do in a hypothetical situation? Users cannot imagine the complete environment or an unusual situation How often do you do [x]? Humans are very bad at estimating (and biased in the answers) May obtain by log analysis (if an application already exists) Binary questions (yes/no) Don’t yield motivation 2023 27  Surveys Requirements gathering through (on-line) surveys and questionnaires 2023 28  On-line service Familiar, cost-effective, potentially reaching a very wide audience Results can be easily visualized and analyzed with statistical methods Should be very careful with setting the goal of the survey First define what statistics and/or charts you need, then design the survey structure and questions 2023 29  Risks in surveys Good for a shallow view over a large base of respondent, but not for a “deep” analysis Impossible to ask follow-up questions Biased data if questions rely on user’s memory or on “sensitive” issues (money, emotions, …) Finding a representative target population Stratification 2023 30  Survey structure Declare the purpose of the survey and the expected time One or more sections with targeted questions Background information about the users Limit “mandatory” fields to a minimum 2023 31  Background information (examples) Background demographics (age, gender, origins, native language, education, income) Experience with computers (specific applications or software packages, length of time, depth of knowledge, whether knowledge was acquired through formal training or self-teaching) Job responsibilities (decision-making influence, managerial roles, motivation) Personality style (introvert versus extrovert, risk taking versus risk averse, early versus late adopter, systematic versus opportunistic) Reasons for not using an interface (inadequate services, too complex, too slow, afraid) Familiarity with features 2023 32  Types of Questions Open-ended questions Solicit specific motivation, to avoid too generic answers Require methodology for analyzing the responses Closed-ended questions Only one possible choice Ordinal values: a scale of ordered possibilities (e.g., from 1 to 5) Nominal values: alternatives, with no ordering relationships (e.g., city or department) 2023 33  Measurement scales (1) Nominal scale Predefined set of distinct (pairwise disjoint) classes. No ordering. Example: Gender. City of residence. Course of enrollment. Preferred color. Room of your house. Meaningful statistics: Counting. Frequency. Mode. Ordinal scale Distinct classes, pre-defined ordering. No defined “distance” across the different values Example: University scores. Preference (Likert). Stars. Thumbs up/down. Meaningful statistics: Ordering. Median. Quartiles. Percentiles. Rank. 2023 34  Measurement scales (2) Interval scale (rarely used) Numerical value, arbitrary zero-value, arbitrary unit of measure Example: Date. Hour. Temperature. Meaningful statistics: Mean (Average). Variance. Ratio scale Numerical value, fixed zero-value, arbitrary unit of measure Example: Duration of a task. Length of an object. Age. Meaningful statistics: All (higher-order, geometric mean, …) Absolute scale Numerical (integer) value, corresponding to the cardinality of a set Example: Number of employees Meaningful statistics: All 2023 35  Ordinal scales: Likert scales Ask for the level of 4-level: Strongly Disagree / agreement about a Disagree/ Agree / Strongly statement agree Extreme values are very 5-level: Strongly Disagree / rare to be selected Disagree/ Neither agree nor disagree / Agree/ An even number of levels Strongly agree prevents a Numerical ranges: 1-5, 1-7, “neutral” response 1-9 2023 36  Warnings If possible, use two simpler questions instead of one complex one (separate the factors of interest) Avoid negative words in the question Biased questions solicit biased responses 2023 37  Summary “Getting “Getting the the requirements requirements right right is is crucial crucial to to the the success success of of the the interactive interactive product.” product.” There There are are different different types types of of requirements: requirements: Functional, Functional, data, data, environmental, environmental, user user and and usability. usability. Every Every system system will will have have requirements requirements under under each each of of these these headings. headings. Most Most commonly commonly used used data-gathering data-gathering techniques techniques for for establishing establishing requirements requirements include: include: Questionnaires, Questionnaires, interviews, interviews, workshops workshops or or focus focus groups, groups, naturalistic naturalistic observation, observation, and and studying studying documentation. documentation. Describing Describing user user tasks tasks such such as as scenarios, scenarios, use use cases cases and and essential essential use use cases cases can can help help to to articulate articulate existing existing user user work work practices. practices. They They also also help help to to express express envisioned envisioned use use for for new new devices. devices. Task Task analysis analysis techniques techniques help help to to investigate investigate an an existing existing situation, situation, i.e. i.e. existing existing systems systems and and current current practices. practices.  References David David Benyon: Benyon: Designing Designing Interactive Interactive Systems, Systems, Chapter Chapter 7 7 Alan Alan Dix, Dix, Janet Janet Finlay, Finlay, Gregory Gregory Abowd, Abowd, Russell Russell Beale: Beale: Human Human Computer Interaction, 3rd Edition, Chapter Computer Interaction, 3rd Edition, Chapter 5 5 Shneiderman, Shneiderman, Plaisant, Plaisant, Cohen, Cohen, Jacobs, Jacobs, Elmqvist Elmqvist & & Diakopoulos: Diakopoulos: Designing Designing the the User User In In terface: terface: Strategies Strategies for for Effective Effective Human- Human- Computer Interaction, 6th Edition, Chapter 4, Computer Interaction, 6th Edition, Chapter 4, 5.45.4 Lazar, Lazar, Feng, Feng, Hochheiser: Hochheiser: Research Research Methods Methods in in HCI, HCI, 2010, 2010, Chapter Chapter 9 9 (Observation), (Observation), Chapter Chapter 5 5 (Surveys) (Surveys) Thank you for lending me your ears Tuesday, February 2, 20XX Sample Footer Text 40