Dennis BernardoDavid ChenVikram KumarHenry LeungHagop MarkarianOlivia OngChad SeegerUser StudyStudy ProposalA. Objective1. Understand our user’s experience when he/she attempts to 1) exchange contact information 2) maintain lines of communication and 3) find a meeting time. Ideally, we would like the user to prefer our system to any other when completing these three tasks.2. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of our system and identify problems the user has when trying to complete each of the three tasks.3. Determine if the system is intuitive enough for the user to complete the three taskswith minimal effort.B. Description of the system being tested1. Our interface is intended to support group collaboration, by making it easy to exchange contact information, maintain lines of communication and find meeting times easily. Our intended users are busy students who are required to do a lot of group work, where their groups meet regularly. Thus, we expect users to send messages to their group members, as well as schedule meetings frequently.C. Task Environment and Materials1. One of the biggest reasons for designing the interface on a cell phone is that we expect our users to access the application on the run. The idea is to speed up the process and let users complete the group collaboration tasks where they are comfortable doing so. We assume that users keep their cell phones with them at all times. For the purposes of user testing, we will simulate two environments: 1) When the user is at home, preparing to go to class. 2) When the user is walking (as they would when they walk to class)The home environment is a quiet environment, with minimal distractions. Conversely, when walking to class there might be traffic distractions and noises. Obviously, when testing with a paper prototype it is hard to test while walking to class; instead, we will have the user and the tester walk slowly around the room they are in. This will help simulate multitasking. The only material that the userswill need is their cell phone. As testers, we will be recording notes with paper andpencil. In addition, we will be using a tape recorder to record the user’s “thinkingaloud” thoughts.D. Methodology1. Introductioni. Hi, I’d first like to thank you again for taking part in our project. If you remember, a month ago we talked to you during our task analysis to gaugehow you currently go about working in groups. From that task analysis, we broke down your group collaboration habits into three key tasks: 1) exchanging contact information, 2) maintaining communication with your group, and 3) setting up group meetings. Since our task analysis, we have been designing a system for a cell phone that will help make completing those three tasks more efficient.Before we begin with the testing of the interface, I’d like to make it very clear that any problems you run into when using the interface are not your fault, but are problems with the interface. The data that we collect will be anonymous. You are doing us a big service by agreeing to test our program. In fact, the reason we are doing this user testing is to find problems with our interface. If you want to stop the testing at any time, please let me know. If you are uncomfortable, for any reason, also let me know and I will guide you through the problem tasks, and teach you how to perform the tasks, or we may end the testing.ii. During the task analysis, you mentioned that you would not spend more than 5 minutes learning the system. We designed our interface to be as intuitive as possible. Therefore, we are hoping you will be able to easily figure out the functions of our interface, because we have mapped them very closely to normal cell phone functions. So, please take 5 minutes to play around with the system and familiarize yourself with the buttons and menus.After doing our first user study, we figured out that the users wanted some sort of help system. Therefore, under the menu option we added a help option which will give the users a brief tutorial on how to accomplish tasks using our system. We added the following lines to our “script.”Please feel free to use the help system in all the menu options. It shows you the all the possible functionalities available on that screen.iii. In our system, you will be able to create and join groups. Once a group has been created and members have joined, you will be able to view every member’s contact information by selecting to view the profile of each group member. This is how exchanging contact information is done in oursystem. You will now complete the three tasks mentioned above. Imaginethat you have two other people in your group. During class youmentioned to your group members that you will create a group CS160 with the password r2d2. Please do so now. Now, you have created the group and received confirmation that both group members have joined. Can you please send a message welcoming them to the group and notifying them that you have a group assignment due this Friday?Great. Now, propose a meeting time to meet and complete the assignmentby Friday.iv. We will definitely be making efforts to fix the problems that you ran into when using our interface. Now that you have used the system, do you have any general comments or feelings towards the system? I have noted the problems that you ran into when using the system. Is there anything else that you think should be changed?v. You have big such a big help. Thank you for helping us improve our application. We’ll definitely keep you updated on how our project progresses. Please, let me buy you refreshments. vi. We will have one person dedicated to noting down any problems and suggestions our users have. There will be other group members playing computer and probing for questions to get our user to think aloud. In addition, we will have a tape recorder, to capture the user’s thoughts whilethey “think aloud.”E. Tasks1. We will create a scenario for the user where they are working on a class project for CS160 with two other simulated group members. One team member offered to create a group called CS160 with the password r2d2. The first task is for the remaining group members to join the cs160fa05 group. Once they do so, each group member will receive confirmation detailing how many group members have joined. The next task is for one group member to senda message welcoming them to the group and
View Full Document
Unlocking...