CS552. User Interface Design
Assignment 4. Design of a User Experiment
| Size of team:
| 2 (Team A is Chisholm and Wang; Team B is Nelson and Schlatter)
|
| What's due:
| Web page describing user experiment
|
| When it's due:
| Midnight on Friday, May 5
|
To Do...
The purpose of this assignment is to design an experiment that
follows and extends Prof. Burnett's earlier studies, as described
in class. Note that you are not
designing a usability test or a user satisfaction test for the Forms3
tool itself. Instead, you are mimicking the intention of the studies
we are reading about this quarter. That is, you are trying to
establish conclusive evidence concerning some very specific
aspect of user interaction with graphical or Web-based
interfaces, from which guidelines for improving interfaces might be
derived.
Although there won't
be enough time to actually conduct the experiment as part of this
class, Prof. Burnett will review your designs and consider using
them as the basis for her next round of tests.
Describe the proposed experiment concisely and clearly. Be sure to include:
- the hypothesis you are testing
- number and characteristics of the desired subjects
- the precise procedures to be followed, including any subject training
- how subjects' performance or response will be measured
- how you intend to control the experiment (i.e., minimize variation due
to other factors)
- how the results should be analyzed to prove/disprove your hypothesis
Note that your experimental design must be practical. As a "reality
check," consider that this experiment would be carried out in Corvallis.
You will be graded according to how well thought out your design is and the
likelihood that it will yield significant, useful information.
This is your chance to put into action the ideas you've gleaned from
the empirical studies we have read for the course.
Collaborating with Others...
You may discuss general ideas with any of your
classmates, but each team should develop and describe its own experiment.
To Hand In...
Use the hand-in form to submit the
location of a directory containing the HTML file that describes
your experiment.