CS124/CS182: Investigation 2

Investigating Users and Discovering Tasks

Due: Friday, Feb 5, 11:55pm on Sakai

Goals

The goals of this Investigation are:

• To develop observational skills
• To learn to identify and describe users
• To identify tasks performed by users in the real world

Before you Begin

Before you begin Part 2 of this assignment you should have completed the reading assignments through Monday, Feb 1. You can do Part 1 after doing the reading for Wednesday, Jan 27.

Assignment

In this investigation you are a UI designer tasked with designing a new user interface for one of two populations: either professors, or coffee shop patrons.  To get started you must understand your users and observe them carrying out these tasks to know how best to support them.  

First, choose which population you will study.  Then you can proceed with your investigation.  However, please read this whole assignment before settling on a population.

Part 1: Pre-Observation

Choose a user population, and characterize your users.   Identify user classes and characteristics as we discussed in class.  This section should be combination of text and bulleted lists, about a page long.  

Be sure you first list the different categories of users within your population, as we did with the train ticket buyers (e.g., tourists, commuters, etc).  Then list specific characteristics of your entire user population.  You may choose to break these up by categories, if you like.  For example, when analyzing the train ticket buyers, one characteristic might be "carrying luggage (tourists only)". 

Part 2: Field Study

Next go observe your users in their "natural" setting.   How you observe will depend on which population you have chosen.

• Professors: Observe a single class in which you are not participating (i.e. you can't just use one of your own classes).  Ignore the material and focus on how the professor presents his or her material.  Make sure you get permission to sit in on the class from the professor. 
• Coffee Shop patrons/employess: Go to a local coffee shop during a time when business is high.  Order a coffee (or steamed milk or tea or whatever) and sit an observe the other patrons for one hour.  Focus on what activities people carry out in the coffee shop, as well the characteristics of the patrons you observe.  Unlike in the classroom setting, you will have the opportunity to observe many different patrons; however, you will probably not be able observe meaningful difference between groups of users, so focus on the similarities.
  Importnat note: Because you do not have the patrons' permission to treat them as users, be extra respectful.  Keep your distance, try not to stare, etc.  You are perfectly within your right to sit and drink your coffee, look around and take notes, but be aware of others' feelings.

• What tasks are your users performing?  
• How does the user use materals (e.g., the blackboard, a wallet) to support these tasks
• Are there any tasks that are not well supported?
• Which tasks are most common?
• What are the characteristics of the users?

Part 3: Post-Observation

(3a) First, dentify three high-level tasks performed by the users in your study.  To describe the tasks, we will use a combination of Hierarchical Task Analysis and Scenario Description techniques that we discussed in class.  Our goal is not to stick to a rigid method, rather to truly understand what the user is trying to do.   Using a bulleted list, describe each of the following for each task:

• Identify the user's goal
• State the preconditions (what had to be true before the task could be performed)
• Describe the process users typically currently use to acheive this taks.  Note that our focus here is not on a current specific interface, rather on steps to performing the task currently.  For example, if your task (from the train example) was "buy ticket," the process should not include "push the upper right button on the machine," rather it would include things like "select the desired destination".  If different users used vastly different processes, try to distill this process down to its essence.  What are the necessary steps in performing this task.
• Note any problems that can occur/did occur when performing this task
• Comment on how the task was supported by by tools or aids, and how well these tools supported the task.  
• Note how frequent the task was.

Some things to keep in mind:

• Choose an appropriate task level--a non-trivial tasks that does not encompass the entire global goal.  For example, in the train ticket-buying example, the task "Buy Ticket" would be too large.  But the task "insert credit card into ticket machine" is too specific (and too focused on current technologies).  An appropriate level task would be "pay for ticket", which is just one step in buying a ticket.
• Be sure you are focusing on tasks in the pure sense, rather than focusing on artifacts of the current interface (e.g., "push the button on the ticket machine" preassumes that there is a ticket machine with a button, but this is not inherently necessary).

(3b) Update your user analysis based on your observation.  You may simply copy your list from Part 1 and annotate it.

(3c) In a paragraph, comment on a few things that surprised you from your observations.  What did you observe that you had not expected?

What to Turn in

Your writeup should include your Pre- and Post-Observation analysis.  You do not need to submit your field notes.  You should submit this assignment through Sakai, and be prepared to discuss it in class on Monday, Feb 8.

Grading