Requirements I

Gathering Data with Users

Objectives

By the end of this class you should be able to…• Explain the importance of involving users in

requirements gathering• Describe various types of requirements• Choose data gathering techniques for a scenario and

justify the choice• Gather data to establish requirements for an

application and produce a simple list of requirements• Prepare your proposal for assignment 1.

User & TaskAnalysis

Scenarios

Tasks

Qualitative StudyMethods

Quantitative StudyMethods

Design guidelinesEvaluationtechniques

User studies

Prototyping

Contextual Inquiry

NaturalisticObservation

Performancemeasures

Statistics

Design

Development

DesignCycle

Think aloud

Paticipatory Design

Psychologyprinciples

Ubiquitouscomputing

Groupware

InfoVis

HapticsLikert scales

Questionnaires

Cognitive

Perceptual

All senses

Virtual Reality

Others?

Methodology

Requires

Requires

ResearchDirections

Uses

Field studies

Usability inspection(walkthrough, heuristic

evaluation

Cognitive modeling(Keystroke model,GOMS, Fitts Law)

Log analysis

What kinds of information should we gather?

• Domain knowledge, users, user characteristics…

• Tasks and task characteristics• Physical environment, social

environment, organizational environment, availability of user support…

• Usability goals, constraints, trade-offs…

Example: eBook

• What information would you want to know about users?

• What information might be irrelevant?

How can we gather data?

• Observation– Live or video

• Interview or focus group• Keystroke / mouse logging• Questionnaire

What are the advantages / disadvantages of these methods?

Interviews & Questionnaires

Questions should be– Simple– Unambiguous– Non-leading– Should not make any presumptions

Improve these questions I

• Did you click that link because you thought it would go to the homepage?

• How often do you read an online newspaper? 1 (Never) 2 3 4 5 (lots)

• What online newspaper do you read?• When you are reading your online

newspaper, do you read it in the morning, afternoon, or evening, and how long do you read it for?

Improve these questions II

• Do you read paper newspapers? If yes, how often, for how long, and what sections do you read?

• Why is the classified section better in online newspapers compared to paper newspapers?

The Usera pretend person who will mould themselves to fit your system

Jessica a real person with real constraints trying to get her job done

vs.

Personas

Personas

• Specific, imaginary examples of the real users they represent– Be as specific as possible– Give the person a name

• Create several personas, at least one for each major type of user

Example persona for eBook

Mary is an 18 year old first year English major. She has limited computer experience, but regularly uses a PC to contact friends using email or facebook. Mary reads many novels, often on the bus or in bed. She often writes notes in the margins. Although she really likes the format of paper books, Mary would like to use an eBook device because many digital books are free.

Example Persona for an ATM

Felix is 13 years old. He gets an allowance every week but spends it out with his friends, and there is usually not anything left over to bank. He often gets money from his grandparents and uncles for his birthday and this is always deposited to his account. He saves this for more expensive purchases; for example, he likes to buy video games. Plus he likes to buy trendy clothes. Felix’s account allows him to withdraw small amounts of money from ATMs.

Homework (due at the beginning of next class)

• Imagine you are designing a flight simulator for student pilots to practice flight activities.

• Describe what methods you would use to gather more information about the users, tasks, and environment. Be specific about who you would involve and what you would do. Make sure you justify your choices.

• Your answer should be approx. 400 words.

Key Points

• Use a combination of methods to gather information

• Consider all aspects of a system’s use (not just functionality)

• Use personas to describe a system’s users.