human computer interaction-task 1 & 2

Human Computer Interaction

BSC (HONOURS) APPLIED BUSINESS COMPUTING

MILIMO MWAWI NGWIRA

MODULE CODE: CDM300

HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION

REPORT ON TECHNIQUES FOR UNDERSTANDING USERS AND PERSONAL EVALUATION

DATE: 20th MARCH 2010.

1Bsc (Hons) Applied Business Computing


AbstractHuman computer interaction is a tool that has risen in systems building so as to combat interaction design with focus on user centred systems. This report has looked at two methods (contextual inquiry and interviews) that are used for eliciting and understanding user-data and their tasks. It has come up with: the techniques’ descriptions, advantages and disadvantages of the techniques used, and how those techniques are applied.

IntroductionThere are several techniques that can be used to gain users’ understanding. Such techniques include the following: interviews, observations, contextual inquiry, surveys, and questionnaires. These techniques may be used for data gathering for system requirements or analysis.

Furthermore Preece J, et al., (2002) explain that the purpose of data gathering within the requirements activity is to collect sufficient, accurate and relevant data so that a set of stable requirements can be produced.

The chosen two techniques in this discussion are contextual inquiry and interviews.



TASK 1

1.1 DEFINING THE METHODS/TECHNIQUES FOR UNDERSTANING USERS

i. Contexual Inquiry This is a field data gathering technique that studies a few selected individuals in depth to arrive at a fuller understanding of the work practice across all customers (Beyer & Holtzblatt, 2005).

“It is an approach that emerged from the ethnographic approach to data gathering and is tailored to gather data that can be used in design and follows an apprentice model” (Preece J et al,2002). Mostly contextual inquiry uses one-on-one contextual interviews for data extraction.This approach combines other data gathering techniques such as observation.

Contextual inquiry is based on four core principles, as described by Beyer & Holtzblatt (2005) that allow it to be molded to each situation that a project encounters namely;

a) Content:Go to the customers’ workplace and watch them do their own work.

b) Partnership:Talk to them about their work and engage them in uncovering unarticulated aspects of work.

c) Interpretation:Develop a shared understanding with the customer about the aspects of work that matter

d) Focus:Direct the inquiry from a clear understanding of your own purpose.

Contextual inquiry is the technique that has embraces contextual design in its processes.



ii. Interviews

Interviews involve asking participants a set of questions verbally.Kahn & Cannell (1957 cited in Preece, 2002, p.298) that interviews are viewed as a “conversation with a purpose”.

The following are the types of interviews method discussed in Preece et al (2002) namely:

I. Unstructured interviewsIn this method ‘open-ended or unstructured interviews are at one end of a spectrum of how much control the interviewer has over the interview process. They are exploratory and are more like conversations around a particular topic; they often go into considerable depth.’

II. Structured interviewsIn structured interviews,the interviewer asks predetermined questions similer to those of a questionnaire. Typically the questions are closed,which means that they require an answer from a predetermined set of alternatives.

III. Semi-structured interviewsSemi-structured interviews combine features of structured and unstructured interviews and use both closed and open questions. For consistency the interviewer has a basic script for guidance,so that the same topics are covered with each interviewee.

1.2 Technique situational factors The first factor to affect the choice of data method is the stage in the project at which the data gathering is required.

CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY: Contextual inquiry is the appropiate method for gathering field data. The technique is

best used in the early stages of development since the information you may acquire is subjective as workers describe their feeelings towards the job and how information flows in the organization. The technique is “a popular technique for uncovering requirements, and in particular in uncovering requirements relating to the context of use”(preece et al., 2005).



Contextual iquiry is suitable for “start from scratch” situations, it has been stressed “This technique is great for finding out about work practices in domains that you know nothing about” (www.jameshom.com ) .

INTERVIEWS:

Typically interviews are best used in exploring issues and are good for gathering quantitative and qualitative data. Unstructured interviews are used to gather detailed information, opinions, and experiences and to thoroughly document processes (Preeece et al. 2002).

For instance unstructured interview will be the best approach as illustrated by Preece J et al, ( 2002).... ‘to know first impressions about how users react to a new design idea,such as an interactive sign.’ whilst structure interview would be appropiate to elicit feedback data.

Structured interview:The structured interview is suitable for circumstances where time is a limiting factor. “closed questions work well for fast interviews when the range of answers is known,and where people tend to be in a rush” (Preece et al, 2002).

1.3 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE TECHNIQUESThe techniques for understanding users have both advantages and disadvantages.

A. Strengths/Advantages of the techniques

Contexual InquiryThe advantages of applying the contextual inquiry technique include;

Enables organisation build user-centred systems.Contextual inquiry focuses on the user since the customers are the system end-users. It by incorporating the apprentice model helps the interviewer get rich details about work context through inquiry and learning. It recorgnizes the fact that the customer is the expert and not the interviewer [let the users teach you their work] (Beyer & Holtzblatt, 2005).


http://www.jameshom.com/


Interviewees are interviewed in their context,when doing their task. This leaves a little interference from the interviewer and the interviewees are comfortable thereby leading to more accurate data.

The technique interprets the data and then models the activities through contextual design. The contextual design enables dimensional designing and keeps the designers focused on the data (Beyer & Holtzblatt, 2005),such concepts leads to fruitful deliverables in the project.

InterviewsThis method registers the following advantages :

The interviewer can guide the interviewee if necessary. Open-ended interviews allow the interviewer to ask the respondent for further

information. The technique encourages contact between developers and users The respondents are able to raise issues they feel are important and express

ideas in their own words. ‘A benefit of unstructured interviews is that they generate rich data, i.e data

that gives a deep understanding of the topic’(Preece et al. 2002).

B. Weaknesses of the techniques

InterviewsThe disadvantages of this technique according to Preece et al. (2002) include:

It is time consuming and would be infeasible to visit everyone. The artificial environment may intimidate interviewee. If alot of unstructured data is generated, the harder it is to analyze. With respect to unstructured data;it is impossible to replicate the process,

since each interview takes on its own format.

Contextual inquiry The disadvantages for the technique are discussed as follows:

It is time consuming,to go through the whole apprentice model process can be quite cumbersome.

The concept of observing and interviewing the customer in their work context would bring uncomfort to some interviewees and may hide important information.

Contextual inquiry produces vast amounts of detailed data.and this renders difficulties in data analysis.



TASK 2

2.1 DEFINE PERSONA AND ITS PURPOSESHoltzblatt et al, (2005) define Persona as ‘a one-page textual description of a typical user. This typical user is an amalgam of elements drawn from several users who share common job roles, demographics, and user need characteristics. The persona is given a realistic username, a “head-shot” photo expressive of the nature of these users, and a textual description. The description covers who they are, a little of their background, and key goals. It summarizes their tasks and the primary roles they play.’The figure below illustrates how a persona looks like:

Figure 1 Example persona(Source: www.steptwo.com.au/files/kmc_personas.)

Popularized by Alan Cooper, a persona describes typical users of the proposed system as though they were real people. He is the one who came up with the approach.


http://www.steptwo.com/


On the other hand a persona is looked at as ‘a profile of a “typical” imaginary user representing a larger core user group with similar needs actually based on synthesized information gathered from actual users, for example observation and interviews’ (Module book).

Typical uses of personas

Practically personas are actually built up in written form where by certain steps are followed in building them so as to determine which of your real users the persona will represent. The creation of the persona is drawn upon field interviews where there is a need to map users and data to each one of them successfully by identifying the goals, roles and tasks (Holtzblatt et al. 2005)

The points bellow illustrate how personas are used: They aid determine user interface and define designing alternatives. They also help

‘focus additional user analysis activities, such as task analysis’ (www.steptwo.com).

Personas guide the content development so that content supports the goals of the users and answers their common questions.

The uses of persona are furthermore described by Holtzblatt et al. (2005) in the following way:

Communicative tool: personas ‘most teams need to communicate their understanding of user needs and their design plans to stakeholders-management, customer organizations and product groups. These stakeholders, with no background in contextual design and no experience with the data, do not embody the memories of the real users from the field interviews.

Personas can help bring users alive and focus the stakeholders on the relevant issues especially when built from rich contextual data.

The purpose is not to give a precise description or a complete theoritical model of the user. Instead,it is aiming at a simple, but good enough description of the user to make it possible to design the system. (www.it.uu.se).

2.2 The Strengths and weaknesses of Personasi. Persona Strengths

As a tool that enhances interaction design in the whole development process personas play advantageous roles:

a) Among their benefits, according to www.msdn.microsoft.com personas;

-Enable designers to make inferences about the needs and desires of audience segments.


http://www.msdn.microsoft.com/

http://www.it.uu.se/

http://www.steptwo.com/


-Serve to communicate user characteristics in a compact and easily understood way.

-Help the stakeholders from changing the definition of audience segments to advance narrow interests.

-Put a face on the person for whom you are designing the user interface.

b) Other advantages of personas with regard to conceptual design tools are that they provide a consistent model for all the team members. ‘ They make the user real in the mind of the designer, and also that they are easy to use with other design methods’ (www.doc.ic.ac.uk).

c) Nevertheless personas’ prominence continues to be seen in identifying needs and establishing requirements for interaction design by helping in defining usability requirements and evaluating alternatives.

d) ‘ Persona descriptions help to identify work flow and behaviour patterns, goals, environment and attitudes’ (www.cs.virginia.edu).

The following are some of the strenghts stressed from <http://www.fluidproject.org>: A product definition tool. Personas help us determine what to include in the

product, and what to leave out. A design tool. By creating realistic scenarios starring the personas, they help the

design team determine how the tool should look and behave. A measurement tool. Personas can help quality assurance testers write realistic

test scripts and prioritize bug fixes. A communication tool. Personas help articulate a focus for the design to which

others in your organiztion can respond.

Using personas offers several benefits for user- centred design in product development, personas focuses more attention on the end-user, particularly in the early stages of the project.

ii. Persona Weaknesses Much as personas play a vital role in enhancing user centred design products, they also contain drawbacks.

One weakness is that designers may lose focus ‘ The risk with personas is that the designers may be easily carried away and more or less make up personas without carefully analysing real users’ ( www.it.uu.se ).

Depending on the conceptual design perspective, personas have the following weaknesses:

They can be difficult to create if the target audience is international.


http://www.it.uu.se/

http://www.fluidproject.org/

http://www.cs.virginia.edu/

http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/


Having too many personas will make the work difficult There is a risk of incorporating unsupported designer assumptions.

Other weaknesses of persona continue to be underlined in that ‘it is difficult or impossible to verify that personas are accurate. This involves several aspects: a problematic relationship between personas and user populations; burdens on inference related to personas’ high specificity; and the possibility that personas are non-falsifiable’

2.3 Method used to build personas

Out of the methods discussed in task one both contextual inquiry and interviews are suitable for building up personas,but the major technique that can be used by personas is:

o Contextual inquiryThis is the appropiate method for building up personas,because of the following factors;

Personas will be effective when built from rich contextual data. It is contextual inquiry which yields rich contextual data through context principle in the apprentice model.

Personas used together with scenarios brings to the designers several characterstic design features which will enable interaction designers have several design evaluation alternatives.

In conclusion personas are a tool that help designers understand motives, goals and tasks so as to build systems that are user-centred.



References

Beyer H., & Holtzblatt K., (1998) Contextual Design: Customer-Centred Approach to Systems Design. Morgan Kaufmann

Dr.Charles, B. K., & Ambrose, L.2009. The power of personas, E-Magazine. Viewed on 11th April 2010.available at: <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd569755.aspx>

Karen H., Jessamyn, B.W., & Shelley, W., (2005). Rapid contextual design. Morgan Kaufmann

Preece J., Rogers Y., & Sharp H., (2002) Interaction Design

Manual Book

KM Column., (2004). An introduction to personas and how to create them, viewed on 18 th April 2010. Available at: <www.steptwo.com.au/files/kmc_personas.pdf>

Stefan, B., (2002). Persona-an overview, viewed on 30th march 2010. Available at :< www.it.uu.se/edu/course/homepage/hcinet/ht04/library/docs/Persona-overview.pdf >

<www.cs.virginia.edu/~horton/cs305/slides/user-req-anal1-f08.ppt.> Viewed on 30th March 2010.

< http://www.fluidproject.org/pipermail/fluid-work/2007-April/000028.html > Viewed on 30th March 2010.


http://www.fluidproject.org/pipermail/fluid-work/2007-April/000028.html

http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~horton/cs305/slides/user-req-anal1-f08.ppt

http://www.it.uu.se/edu/course/homepage/hcinet/ht04/library/docs/Persona-overview.pdf

http://www.steptwo.com.au/files/kmc_personas.pdf

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd569755.aspx

human computer interaction-task 1 & 2

Documents

applied business computing

human computer interaction

rich contextual data

interaction design

apprentice model

contextual design

structured interview

data gathering