Observing Users (finishing up)
CS352
Announcements, Activity
• Notice upcoming due dates (web page)
• Discussion:
– Did your observations have enough detail to
make us feel “there”?
– If we had been following the inventory
guidelines
– for Proj. Part 4, what data would we have
recorded from the in-class demo?
2
Input
• Input:
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Surveys/questionnaires
Interviews
Observation
Documentation
Automatic data recording/tracking
Output
• Output: making sense of the input:
– List of problems (e.g., Steve Krug min 6-7:30)
• When is this what you need?
– Task Outlines
– Scenarios & Use Cases
• After we show these, again ask: when is this what you need?
– Diagrams and Flow charts
• When is this what you need?
– Visualizations with counts of Phenomena
• After we show these, again ask: when are these what you need?
Task Outline
Using a lawnmower to cut grass
Step 1. Examine lawn
• Make sure grass is dry
• Look for objects laying in the grass
Step 2. Inspect lawnmower
v Check components for tightness
– Check that grass bag handle is securely fastened to the grass bag
support
– Make sure grass bag connector is securely fastened to bag adaptor
– Make sure that deck cover is in place
– Check for any loose parts (such as oil caps)
– Check to make sure blade is attached securely
• Check engine oil level
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Remove oil fill cap and dipstick
Wipe dipstick
Replace dipstick completely in lawnmower
Remove dipstick
Check that oil is past the level line on dipstick
…
Task Outlines
– Use expanding/collapsing outline tool
– Add detail progressively
– Can add linked outlines for specific subtasks
• But:
– Good for sequential tasks
– Does not support parallel tasks well
– Does not support branching well
Scenarios
• Describe tasks in sentences
• Effective for communicating general idea of task.
• Not effective for tasks with much branching, or parallel
tasks
• Scenarios: “informal narrative description”
– Focus on tasks / activities, not system (technology) use
– ~ One path thru a use-case, but from user/task perspective.
– “Say I want to find a book by G. Jeffries. I don’t remember the
title, but I know it was ... I go to the catalog and enter my ... I
don’t understand why I have to do this, since ... However, once
..., I am given a choice of ... or ..., but not ... I chose the ...
because ... but now ... When I see this, I realize that in fact I
made a mistake on ..., so I ... Finally I see the entry I want.
– (See book, p. 506, for the full version.)
Use Cases
• Use Cases
– Focus on user-system interaction, not tasks.
– Less effective than scenarios for the user emotions and
reasoning. eg:
1. System displays options for ...
2. User chooses the option to find out ...
3. System prompts user for ...
4. User enters ...
...
Alternative courses:
3. If the option entered is invalid:
3.1 System displays error message.
3.2 System returns to step 1.
5. If the ...
(See book p. 511 (?) for the full version.)
Diagrams, Flow Charts.
• To show sequence, space, relationships…
Other Visualizations
• Eg: count phenomena over time
Visualizations (cont.)
• Eg: Co-occurrence of phenomena
Visualizations (cont.)
• Eg: Across time to show interesting
change.
Gaps opened (light) and closed (dark) over time.
Time
Summary
• Inputs: Data from interviews, observations, etc.
– Lot of raw test and/or recordings.
• Outputs: Ways to make sense of it.
– Task outline (understand task)
– Scenario (understand one user’s way of doing
things)
– Use case (understand several users’ ways)
– Diagram/flow charts (relationships, paths,
sequences)
– Visualization (Understand frequencies, patterns
and relationships)