HUMAN

COMPUTER
INTERACTION
18CSE366T

Semester - 6

School of Computing
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purpose of teaching students at SRM Institute
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School of Computing
Evaluation techniques
Evaluation Techniques
Evaluation
◦ tests usability and functionality of system
◦ occurs in laboratory, field and/or in collaboration with users
◦ evaluates both design and implementation
◦ should be considered at all stages in the design life cycle

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Goals of Evaluation
assess extent of system functionality

assess effect of interface on user

identify specific problems

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Evaluating through
Expert Analysis
Cognitive Walkthrough
Heuristic Evaluation
Review-based evaluation
Model-based evaluation
Cognitive Walkthrough
Proposed by Polson et al.
◦ evaluates design on how well it supports user in
learning task
◦ usually performed by expert in cognitive psychology
◦ expert ‘walks through’ design to identify potential
problems using psychological principles
◦ forms used to guide analysis

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Cognitive Walkthrough (ctd)

For each task walkthrough considers

◦ what impact will interaction have on user?
◦ what cognitive processes are required?
◦ what learning problems may occur?

Analysis focuses on goals and knowledge:

does the design lead the user to generate the
correct goals?

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Heuristic Evaluation
Proposed by Nielsen and Molich.

usability criteria (heuristics) are identified

design examined by experts to see if these are
violated

Example heuristics
◦ system behaviour is predictable
◦ system behaviour is consistent
◦ feedback is provided

Heuristic evaluation `debugs' design.

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Review-based evaluation
Results from the literature used to support or
refute parts of design.

Care needed to ensure results are transferable to

new design.

Model-based evaluation
Cognitive models used to filter design options
e.g. GOMS prediction of user performance.

Design rationale can also provide useful evaluation

information

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 Evaluating
through User
Participation
Laboratory studies
Advantages:
◦ specialist equipment available
◦ uninterrupted environment

Disadvantages:
◦ lack of context
◦ difficult to observe several users cooperating

Appropriate
◦ if system location is dangerous or impractical for
constrained single user systems to allow controlled
manipulation of use

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Field Studies
Advantages:
◦ natural environment
◦ context retained (though observation may alter it)
◦ longitudinal studies possible

Disadvantages:
◦ distractions
◦ noise

Appropriate
◦ where context is crucial for longitudinal studies

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Experimental evaluation
controlled evaluation of specific aspects of
interactive behaviour
evaluator chooses hypothesis to be tested
a number of experimental conditions are
considered which differ only in the value of some
controlled variable.
changes in behavioural measure are attributed to
different conditions

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Experimental factors
Participants
◦ who – representative, sufficient sample
Variables
◦ things to modify and measure
Hypothesis
◦ what you’d like to show
Experimental design
◦ how you are going to do it

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Variables

independent variable (IV)

characteristic changed to produce different conditions
e.g. interface style, number of menu items

dependent variable (DV)

characteristics measured in the experiment
e.g. time taken, number of errors.

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Hypothesis
prediction of outcome
◦ framed in terms of IV and DV

e.g. “error rate will increase as font size decreases”

null hypothesis:
◦ states no difference between conditions
◦ aim is to disprove this

e.g. null hyp. = “no change with font size”

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Experimental design
within groups design
◦ each subject performs experiment under each condition.
◦ transfer of learning possible
◦ less costly and less likely to suffer from user variation.
between groups design
◦ each subject performs under only one condition
◦ no transfer of learning
◦ more users required
◦ variation can bias results.

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Experimental studies on
groups

More difficult than single-user experiments

Problems with:
◦ subject groups
◦ choice of task
◦ data gathering
◦ analysis

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Field studies
Experiments dominated by group formation

Field studies more realistic:

distributed cognition ⇒ work studied in context
real action is situated action
physical and social environment both crucial

Contrast:
psychology – controlled experiment
sociology and anthropology – open study and rich data

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Observational
Methods

Think Aloud
Cooperative evaluation
Protocol analysis
Automated analysis
Post-task walkthroughs
Think Aloud
user observed performing task
user asked to describe what he is doing and why,
what he thinks is happening etc.

Advantages
◦ simplicity - requires little expertise
◦ can provide useful insight
◦ can show how system is actually use
Disadvantages
◦ subjective
◦ selective
◦ act of describing may alter task performance

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Cooperative evaluation
variation on think aloud
user collaborates in evaluation
both user and evaluator can ask each other
questions throughout

Additional advantages
◦ less constrained and easier to use
◦ user is encouraged to criticize system
◦ clarification possible

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Protocol analysis
paper and pencil – cheap, limited to writing speed
audio – good for think aloud, difficult to match with other
protocols
video – accurate and realistic, needs special equipment, obtrusive
computer logging – automatic and unobtrusive, large amounts of
data difficult to analyze
user notebooks – coarse and subjective, useful insights, good for
longitudinal studies

Mixed use in practice.

audio/video transcription difficult and requires skill.
Some automatic support tools available

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automated analysis – EVA
Workplace project
Post task walkthrough
◦ user reacts on action after the event
◦ used to fill in intention
Advantages
◦ analyst has time to focus on relevant incidents
◦ avoid excessive interruption of task
Disadvantages
◦ lack of freshness
◦ may be post-hoc interpretation of events

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post-task walkthroughs
transcript played back to participant for
comment
◦ immediately → fresh in mind
◦ delayed → evaluator has time to identify questions
useful to identify reasons for actions and
alternatives considered
necessary in cases where think aloud is not
possible

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Query Techniques
Interviews
Questionnaires
Interviews
analyst questions user on one-to -one basis
usually based on prepared questions
informal, subjective and relatively cheap

Advantages
◦ can be varied to suit context
◦ issues can be explored more fully
◦ can elicit user views and identify unanticipated problems
Disadvantages
◦ very subjective
◦ time consuming

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Questionnaires
Set of fixed questions given to users

Advantages
◦ quick and reaches large user group
◦ can be analyzed more rigorously
Disadvantages
◦ less flexible
◦ less probing

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Questionnaires (ctd)
Need careful design
◦ what information is required?
◦ how are answers to be analyzed?

Styles of question
◦ general
◦ open-ended
◦ scalar
◦ multi-choice
◦ ranked

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 Physiological
methods
Eye tracking
Physiological measurement
eye tracking
head or desk mounted equipment tracks the
position of the eye
eye movement reflects the amount of cognitive
processing a display requires
measurements include
◦ fixations: eye maintains stable position. Number and
duration indicate level of difficulty with display
◦ saccades: rapid eye movement from one point of interest to
another
◦ scan paths: moving straight to a target with a short fixation
at the target is optimal

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physiological
measurements
emotional response linked to physical changes
these may help determine a user’s reaction to
an interface
measurements include:
◦ heart activity, including blood pressure, volume and pulse.
◦ activity of sweat glands: Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)
◦ electrical activity in muscle: electromyogram (EMG)
◦ electrical activity in brain: electroencephalogram (EEG)
some difficulty in interpreting these
physiological responses - more research needed

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Universal design
Universal design
principles
equitable use
flexibility in use
simple and intuitive to use
perceptible information
tolerance for error
low physical effort
size and space for approach and use

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Multi-Sensory Systems
More than one sensory channel in interaction
◦ e.g. sounds, text, hypertext, animation, video, gestures, vision
Used in a range of applications:
◦ particularly good for users with special needs, and virtual reality
Will cover
◦ general terminology
◦ speech
◦ non-speech sounds
◦ handwriting
considering applications as well as principles

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Usable Senses
The 5 senses (sight, sound, touch, taste and smell) are used by
us every day
◦ each is important on its own
◦ together, they provide a fuller interaction with the natural world

Computers rarely offer such a rich interaction

Can we use all the available senses?

◦ ideally, yes
◦ practically – no

We can use • sight • sound • touch (sometimes)

We cannot (yet) use • taste • smell

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Multi-modal vs. Multi-media
Multi-modal systems
◦ use more than one sense (or mode ) of interaction
e.g. visual and aural senses: a text processor may speak the words as
well as echoing them to the screen

Multi-media systems
◦ use a number of different media to communicate
information
e.g. a computer-based teaching system:may use video, animation, text
and still images: different media all using the visual mode of interaction;
may also use sounds, both speech and non-speech: two more media,
now using a different mode

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Speech Recognition
Problems
Different people speak differently:
◦ accent, intonation, stress, idiom, volume, etc.
The syntax of semantically similar sentences may vary.
Background noises can interfere.
People often “ummm.....” and “errr.....”
Words not enough - semantics needed as well
◦ requires intelligence to understand a sentence
◦ context of the utterance often has to be known
◦ also information about the subject and speaker
e.g. even if “Errr.... I, um, don’t like this” is recognised, it is a fairly useless
piece of information on it’s own

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The Phonetic Typewriter
Developed for Finnish (a phonetic language, written as it is said)
Trained on one speaker, will generalise to others.
A neural network is trained to cluster together similar sounds,
which are then labelled with the corresponding character.
When recognising speech, the sounds uttered are allocated to
the closest corresponding output, and the character for that
output is printed.
◦ requires large dictionary of minor variations to correct general mechanism
◦ noticeably poorer performance on speakers it has not been trained on

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The Phonetic Typewriter (ctd)

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Earcons

Synthetic sounds used to convey information

Structured combinations of notes (motives )
represent actions and objects
Motives combined to provide rich information
◦ compound earcons
◦ multiple motives combined to make one more
complicated earcon

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Earcons (ctd)
family earcons
similar types of earcons represent similar classes of action
or similar objects: the family of “errors” would contain
syntax and operating system errors

Earcons easily grouped and refined due to

compositional and hierarchical nature

Harder to associate with the interface task since

there is no natural mapping

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touch
haptic interaction
◦ cutaneous perception
● tactile sensation; vibrations on the skin
◦ kinesthetics
● movement and position; force feedback
information on shape, texture, resistance,
temperature, comparative spatial factors
example technologies
◦ electronic braille displays
◦ force feedback devices e.g. Phantom
● resistance, texture

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Handwriting recognition
Handwriting is another communication mechanism which we
are used to in day-to-day life

Technology
◦ Handwriting consists of complex strokes and spaces
◦ Captured by digitising tablet
● strokes transformed to sequence of dots
◦ large tablets available
● suitable for digitising maps and technical drawings
◦ smaller devices, some incorporating thin screens to display
the information
● PDAs such as Palm Pilot
● tablet PCs

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Handwriting recognition
(contd.)
Problems
◦ personal differences in letter formation
◦ co-articulation effects

Breakthroughs:
◦ stroke not just bitmap
◦ special ‘alphabet’ – Graffeti on PalmOS

Current state:
◦ usable – even without training
◦ but many prefer keyboards!

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gesture
⦿ applications
◼ gestural input - e.g. “put that there”
◼ sign language
⦿ technology
◼ data glove
◼ position sensing devices e.g MIT Media Room
⦿ benefits
◼ natural form of interaction - pointing
◼ enhance communication between signing and non-signing
users
⦿ problems
◼ user dependent, variable and issues of coarticulation

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User support
user support
Issues
◦ different types of support at different times
◦ implementation and presentation both important
◦ all need careful design
Types of user support
◦ quick reference, task specific help, full explanation, tutorial
Provided by help and documentation
◦ help - problem-oriented and specific
◦ documentation - system-oriented and general
◦ same design principles apply to both

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Requirements
Availability
◦ continuous access concurrent to main application
Accuracy and completeness
◦ help matches and covers actual system behaviour
Consistency
◦ between different parts of the help system and paper documentation
Robustness
◦ correct error handling and npredictable behaviour
Flexibility
◦ allows user to interact in a way appropriate to experience and task
Unobtrusiveness
◦ does not prevent the user continuing with work

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Approaches to user support
Command assistance
◦ User requests help on particular command
e.g., UNIX man, DOS help
◦ Good for quick reference
◦ Assumes user know what to look for

Command prompts
◦ Provide information about correct usage when an error
occurs
◦ Good for simple syntactic errors
◦ Also assumes knowledge of the command

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Approaches to user support (contd.)
Context sensitive help
◦ help request interpreted according to context in which it
occurs. e.g. tooltips
On-line tutorials
◦ user works through basics of application in a test
environment.
◦ can be useful but are often in flexible.
On-line documentation
◦ paper documentation is made available on computer.
◦ continually available in common medium
◦ can be difficult to browse
◦ hypertext used to support browsing.

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wizards and assistants
wizards
◦ task specific tool leads the user through task, step by step, using
user’s answers to specific questions
◦ example: resumé
◦ useful for safe completion of complex or infrequent tasks
◦ constrained task execution so limited flexibility
◦ must allow user to go back

assistants
◦ monitor user behaviour and offer contextual advice
◦ can be irritating e.g. MS paperclip
◦ must be under user control e.g. XP smart tags

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 Bibliography

Alan Dix- Janet Finlay Gregory D. Abowd-

Russel Beale- Human – Computer
Interaction, Pearson Education- 3 rd Edition-
2004.
John M.Caroll, Human – Computer
Interaction in the Millennium, Pearson
Education- 3rd Edition- 2000.

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 Review questions
1. What is cognitive walkthrough?
2. What is heuristic evaluation?
3. List the methods for recording user actions.
4. List the two types of query techniques.
5. Mention the different styles of questions that
are included in questionnaire.
6. What is haptic interaction?
7. Mention the four types of assistance that user’s
require.
8. What is wizard?
9. What are the main goals of evaluation?
10. List at least four factors that distinguish
different evaluation techniques.
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