IST Conference Paper Prototyping a Dynamic Software Interface: A Case Study Using APT Andrew Barrett Jamison Judd

2 APT Overview APT: Analysis of Patterns in Time A new methodology for researching temporal relationships in a system, developed by Dr. Ted Frick of Indiana University 1990 APT is a means to capture and analyze the temporal relationship between actions and outcomes Does not help to determine causality Helps decision making involving prediction and description

3 Need for Temporal Analysis APT directly measures temporal relations through counting the occurrences of the values of a variable Comparable to approaches taken in other disciplines –people who smoke are more likely to get lung cancer than those who do not –how often does a player scores when specific conditions exist Important because knowledge of likelihoods of temporal patterns can be used to find relationships that could not be found with linear approaches

4 Weather Example

5 Software for Temporal Analysis There are a wide variety of tools available for conducting linear analysis (e.g. SPSS, SAS, MINITAB, etc.) Few options for performing analysis based on an APT approach The need for tools that are based on an APT approach has provided the stimulus for the development of associated software

6 Goal Create a usable software interface for APT based on the following principles –Easy to use –Intuitive interface following convention –Flexible for different types of studies –Avoid modes when possible An iterative design approach was taken that included usability testing and rapid prototype development

7 Prototype Development Listed out all the required functionality An SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) and Windows based paradigm was chosen for viewing and entering data

8 Paper or Electronic Prototype? PaperElectronic Requirements for usability test HumansComputer Development timeLowHigh Ease of iteration / alterationMediumHigh Fidelity of simulationLowHigh Flexibility of simulationMediumLow Cost of reproductionHighLow

9 Paper Prototype Challenges Scrolling Pop-ups Dropdowns Text entry (making reusable) All possible user actions

10 Methodology – Usability Testing Developed authentic tasks to test out the prototype –Project Tasks Creating, Opening, and Closing Project Files Creating, Opening and Closing Scores Switching between scores Duplicating score format Interpreting scores

11 Methodology – Usability Testing –APT Score Tasks Adding, editing, and deleting classifications Ordering classifications Recording data in an APT score Modifying data in an APT score –APT Query Tasks Creating a new query Duplicating and editing an existing query Interpreting query results

12 How Prototype Was Created Screen captures Excels Arts & Crafts

13 First Run Issues Took too long to simulate Prototype was too modular Hard to quick change interface pieces

14 Paper Prototype Challenges Pop-ups Dropdowns Text entry (making reusable) All possible user actions Dynamic interface elements Highlighting selections

15 Methodology – Usability Testing Subjects: –2 Faculty/Staff Members –4 Graduate Students 1 Data recorder 1 Computer simulator Followed standard usability procedure

16 Duration by Task Box Plot Outliers: Some subjects took considerably longer to complete tasks Small Spread: Duration didn’t vary much among subjects Large Spread: Duration varied widely among subjects

17 Result by Task Bar Graph All subjects succeeded in tasks 1.3 – 1.7, 1.9, 2.3, 2.4 Most subjects had problems with task 1.8 “Answer questions about APT score” All subjects had problems with task 3.3 “View the results of an APT query”

18 Problem Tasks A subjective priority level was given to each task where problems were experienced… 1.1: Create a new blank project (1) 1.2: Close a project and exit program (1) 1.8: Answer questions about APT score (4) 2.1: Add a classification (3) 2.2: Change the order of classifications (2) 2.5: Record changes in an APT score (3) 2.6: Edit a previously recorded change in an APT score (1) 3.1: Create a new APT query (1) 3.2: Create an APT query based on an existing APT query (1) 3.3: View the results of an APT query (3)

19 Conclusion Generally we didn’t find significant issues with the prototype design The main problems were: –Affordance Issues: need to move functionality to a more visible location –Difficulty with APT concepts: temporal nature of data –Terminology: Score, results, data, classifications

20 Demo Questions or comments?