Requirements, cont.

…along with Ethics

Agenda

Questions? Data gathering techniques Requirements expressing Ethics

Reminder: requirements

Overall goals, success criteria User characteristics Task analysis Environment – physical, social, technical Constraints Usability goals, criteria Functional requirements

(Not All) Requirements Gathering Methods

1. Observation

2. Thinking Out Loud & Cooperative Evaluation

3. Interviews

4. Questionnaires

5. Focus groups

6. Study Documentation

7. Look at competitive products

Formative & Summative Evaluation

Formative evaluation– Conducting this process to help guide the formation

(ie, design) of a UI Summative Evaluation

– Conducting this process to help summarize (sum up) the effectiveness of an existing or developmental UI

Many techniques can be used for both formative and summative evaluation

– Our focus right now is on formative evaluation– Will revisit some of the methods again later

Observation

Watch user(s) doing activity of interest to you Possibly video or audio record (with

permission)

Swap cell phones and observe each other– Look up most recently called and return call– Add your name to the phone book

Impressions?

What was surprising? What problems did you observe? How would this be different in real world? How did you feel about being observed?

Think out loud

Problem: how do you know WHY someone does what they do?

Think out loud - encourage user to verbalize what they are thinking– Not everyone is good at this– Hard to keep it up for long time while also doing

something; need breaks

Cooperative (Participative) Evaluation

Sit with user doing activity of interest to you Talk with user as the do their activity

– Ask questions Why are you doing that? How did you know the result was what you wanted? Are there other ways to achieve the same goal? How did you decide to do things this way?

Relaxed version of thinking out loud– Observer and participant can ask each other questions

Observing Tips

Carefully observe everything about users and their environment

Think of describing it to someone who has never seen this activity before

What users say is important, so are non-verbal details

Example: airport check-in kiosk

What could you observe? How could you use think aloud?

Interview Users

Semi-structured: predetermine sets of questions Example question types

How do you perform task x? Why do you perform task x? Under what conditions do you perform task x? What do you do before you perform…? What information do you need to…? Whom do you need to communicate with to …? What do you use to…? What happens after you…? What is the result or consequence of…? What is the result or consequence of NOT…?

See ID 7.4 for more tips and discussion

Domain Expert Interviews

Expert describes how it should be done (not necessarily how it is done)

Focus Groups

Interview groups of users – 3 to 10 at a time– Use several different groups with different roles or

perspectives

Relatively low cost, quick way to learn a lot Use structured set of questions

– More specific at beginning, more open as progresses– Allow digressions before coming back on track

More challenging to lead than single interview– Some people quiet, some dominating– Easier to get off track

Questionnaires (or Surveys)

Easier to give to broader audience Shorter, more focused than interview

General criteria– Make questions clear and specific– Ask some closed questions with range of answers

Sometimes also have a no opinion option, or other answer option

– Do test run with one or two people

Numerical scales:

On a scale of 1 to 7, how comfortable are you…

Could also use just words– Strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly

disagree

Questionnaires - Example

See ID 7.5 for more tips

Other Typical Questions

Rank the importance of each of these tasks (give a list of tasks)

List the four most important tasks that you perform (this is an open question)

List the pieces of information you need to have before making a decision about X, in order of importance

Are there any other points you would like to make? (open-ended opinion question; good way to end)

Example: airport check-in

Who to interview? What questions? Who to give questionnaire to? What

questions? What about focus group?

What are differences between methods?

Study Documentation

Similar in some ways to the expert interview Often describe how things should be done

rather than how they are done– Try to understand why not done “by the book”

Look at Competitive Products

Looking for both good and bad ideas– Functionality– UI style

Do user task performance metrics to establish bounds on your system

Which Methods to Use?

Depends on– Resources– Current knowledge of tasks and users– Context

Difficult to use talking out loud in public

– Essential to use some methods– Not likely you will use all methods

See pg. 343 in ID

Which Methods to Use?

• Self-service filling and payment system for a gas station

• On-board ship data analysis system for geologists searching for oil

• Fashion website for buying clothes at large department store

Process

Gather data– Interviews, observation, surveys/questionnaires,

documentation, immersion Organize data

– Notes, cards, brainstorming, computer tools Represent data

– Lists, outlines, matrices– Narratives– Hierarchies, Networks, Flow charts

Describing requirements activities

Narratives Personas Scenarios Task Analysis & other task descriptions

– …next lecture

Scenario

Describe tasks and context in sentences Natural way of describing general idea Not effective for

– details– branching tasks– parallel tasks

GREAT as introduction to diagrams or outlines

Scenario: Example 1

Its Friday afternoon and John just got paid. He wants to deposit his check immediately so he can pay his rent. He stops at one branch of his bank on the way home from work. He waits in his car while another person finishes using the ATM in front of the bank since it is drizzling outside. He walks up to the ATM to deposit his check. Only, as he is about to put the check into the envelope at the ATM, he realizes that he has not signed the back of it, and he has no pen and can not find one on or near the ATM machine. He cancels the transaction on the ATM, and enters the bank, which luckily is still open for 5 more minutes. He goes to the counter, finds a pen, and signs his check. He also fills out a deposit slip. He then waits to see a teller in person to deposit his check, and get money for the weekend.

Scenario: Example 2

Annie walks up to the ATM to deposit her weekly pay check. She puts her ATM card into the slot in the machine. She then enters her PIN number quickly, trying to block the person waiting behind her from viewing the keypad, and knows that she does not have to press “Enter” at this particular machine. She then chooses “Deposit” and “Check.” She enters the amount of the check using the keypad, then takes an envelope from the ATM machine, puts her check inside, seals the envelope and writes the amount of the check on the outside. She feeds the envelope into the slot into the ATM machine. She then selects “No other transactions” to finish, and waits to receive her receipt and ATM card.

Example

Register for classes

What kinds of activities could we write a scenario about?

Let’s write one together

Exercise: Movie Ticket Kiosk

What data gathering techniques would you use? Who would you interact with?

Who are the stakeholders? What are typical user characteristics? What is physical/social/technical environment? What is a typical scenario of use? What is an atypical or problem scenario?

Next Assignments

Create a scenario of CURRENT activity Due next Monday

Think about your project topic Confer with teammates DO NOT write a story about your new interface, stick

with what currently happens, even if no technology is involved.

Working with People

Issues of rights, respect, ethics

YOU will be observing and talking to people to:– Gather requirements– Get initial design feedback– Perform evaluations of your design

Important to be professional with any interaction with potential users

Why an issue?

Usability testing can be arduous; privacy is important

Each person should know and understand what they are participating in:

– what to expect, time commitments– what the potential risks are– how their information will be used

Must be able to stop without danger or penalty All participants to be treated with respect

Consent

Why important?– People can be sensitive about this process and issues – Errors will likely be made, participant may feel

inadequate– May be mentally or physically strenuous

What are the potential risks (there are always risks)?– Examples?

“Vulnerable” populations need special care & consideration – Children; disabled; pregnant; students (why?)

IRB, Participants, & Ethics

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Federal law governs procedures Reviews all research involving human (or animal)

participants Safeguarding the participants, and thereby the

researcher and university Not a science review (i.e., not to asess your

research ideas); only safety & ethics

IRB @ UNCC

http://www.research.uncc.edu/comp/chuman.cfm

On-line tutorial Guidelines Consent procedures and template forms Protocol application forms

Ethics certification– Standardized training to ensure everyone

understands the issues