1. CEN3722 Human Computer Interaction Understanding Users Part 1
Dr. Ron Eaglin

2. Objectives Describe importance of understanding users
Describe major user types and guidelines
Novices
Intermediates
Experts
Describe examples of user characteristics that may influence design
Personal
Physical
Cultural

3. Objectives Describe and provide examples of user profiles
Describe the difference between interviews and questionnaires and how they are used
Create meaningful and appropriate open ended and close-ended questions
Define scale anchor and create an appropriate set of anchors for close-ended questions

4. Design Example

5. Understanding Users For design we must know Who is the user?
What is the task?
What is the environment?

6. Why Study Users?
Users decide whether to use a product – not designers.
The more we know about users – the better the design.
Designs that do not meet the users needs – fail.
We study users to answer
What individual characteristics affect behavior?
What knowledge and experience do they have?
What values do they bring to the job?
What do they know about the subject matter?
What kind of tools do they use?

7. Personal Characteristics
Knowledge and Experience
Level of education
Reading level/native language
Typing skill
Level of computer literacy
Level of experience with similar systems
Level of experience/expertise with the task
Aspects of the task that will be familiar

8. Personal Characteristics
Learning Styles
Like to be shown how to do something
Like to work through problems on their own
Types of Assistance
Instructor led training
Comprehensive documentation/online help
Reference cards
Performance support (wizards/coaches/ )
Tool Preferences
Mouse/keyboard/touch pad

9. Physical Differences Physical Challenges
Color blindness (color only symbols)
Poor eyesight (small icons/font sizes)

10. Cultural Differences Important when product us sold globally Example
“Help” in French translates literally to “au secours” which means to cry out for help.
Solution: understand language and use Assistance instead.

11. User Classifications Novice Knowledgeable/intermittent Expert/Frequent
Classifications allow us to generalize our user population
Not possible to design for individual
The “Average person” is a myth

12. User Classification Knowledgeable/ Intermittent Novice Expert/
Frequent
Computer Expertise

13. User Types - Novice Most difficult Mental Processing is slow/laborious
Least experience
Least familiarity
Least likely to have usable mental model
Mental Processing is slow/laborious
Knowledge is declarative (vs. procedural)
Needs for help/scaffolding

14. Novice vs. Expert Expert: No instructions Novice:
-Click in the Username box
-Type your user name
-Click into password box
-Type your password
-Click on login button
-Receive message indicating
success or failure of login

15. Novice User Guidelines
Need feedback and closure (message that a task has been completed)
All initiatives come from the computer
Novice user will not know what can be done
Computer should offer suggestions of what to do
Computer should anticipate questions
Each step should be brief
Minimize chance of errors
Increase chance of step being remembered.

16. Novice User - Guidelines
Input procedures should be consistent with user expectations
Users will form expectations about system behavior
Help the user form a mental model of operation
Everything should be on screen
No special training should be needed
System messages must be clear and unequivocal (clear to expert is not equal to clear to novice)
Specify
That a problem (or other condition) exists
The problem (if there is one)
How to fix the problem (what to do)

17. Novice User Guidelines
Users should be given a small set of options for decisions
Avoid feeling of being overwhelmed
Short menu vs. full menu option
Hide some functionality for Novice users
Allow experts to turn on (or automatically turn on) complex menus
Users should control pace of interaction
Users should be allowed to become familiar with screens

18. Novice User Guidelines
User decisions should be presented in response to a request for action.
Help (human/machine/documentation) should always be available.
Novices almost always prefer a human for help.
There should always be sufficient feedback
Novices will not know if they are “doing it right”
Always present opportunity for closure

19. Knowledgeable/Intermittent Users
These users can maintain knowledge about their task and genera computer use.
They need;
Consistent Structures
Good help facility
Good documentation – context sensitive
Good documentation – suggestive/prompted help

20. Expert Frequent Users Organize knowledge differently than novices
Chunk lower level procedures into higher level conceptual structures
Experts have similar mental models of systems (novices have diverse mental models).
Example – use copy/paste

21. Expert/Frequent Users
Experts look for abbreviated command structures (keyboard shortcuts)
Experts do not need as much visibility
Example – what are keyboard shortcuts for cut, paste, print, save, copy – expert will know.

22. User Profiles
User profiles indicate the type of people that will be using the system.
User profiles must be explicit and clear, contain several details statements concerning basic skills and knowledge a potential user should possess in order to use or learn the system

23. User Profiles User related characteristics Education
Physical capabilities
Previous experience
Previous training
Specific skills based on task/system

24. Example User Profile Knowledgeable Users Average age of 37 years
Average system experience of 2.3 years
All users at least 1 year of system experience
All users trained in computerized book keeping
All users moderate to excellent typing skills

25. User Profile Questions
How many years have you been using a computer?
How often do you use a computer? (several times daily, daily, several times per month, monthly, several times per year)
How do you rate you computer skill and knowledge? (little, some, average, high)
How do you feel about using computers? (they make me very nervous, they make me a little anxious, somewhat confident, very confident)

26. Methods for Gathering User Information
Interviews
Talk with users (best)
Labor Intensive
Subjective
Questionnaires
Preset questions
Might not get unique responses
Less labor intensive
Objective

27. Interviews Structured Interviews Unstructured or flexible
Predetermined questions
No exploration of individual attitudes
Unstructured or flexible
Have a set of topics (no set sequence)
Useful in design requirements phase
Exploratory

28. Questionnaires and Surveys
Close ended questions
Users asked to select an answer from a possible set of choices
Open ended questions
Users free to provide their own information

29. Types of Questions
(Closed) In your own estimation what did you find to be the biggest problem in the system?
1. The slowness
2. Lack of functions
3. Lack of flexibility
4. Color
(Open) What is the one thing you liked least about the system?

30. Open vs. Closed Open ended advantages Open ended disadvantages
Can get more specific information
Can clarify responses
Open ended disadvantages
Time consuming for respondents
Respondents have difficulty expressing themselves
Have to be coded and interpreted

31. Open vs. Closed Close ended advantages Close ended disadvantages
Standardized data
No need to interpret individual responses
Close ended disadvantages
Limits unique responses
Must anticipate all possible responses in advance

32. Question Guidelines Must be purposeful Must be concrete
What (if any) elements of the system did you have difficulty learning?
Must be concrete
Were you able to determine how to change the font of a text selection?

33. Question Guidelines Use short, complete, and understandable sentences.
Make it easy for the user to complete the survey
Make questions clear
Limit open ended questions
No more than two pages
Include instructions

34. Questions and Scales How important is the lack of control?
5 users, responses 4,3,4,5,5 – mean of 4.2
Indicates users think that control is not important
1. Very important
2. Important
3. Neither important nor unimportant
4. Unimportant
5. Very Unimportant

35. Lesson Summary You should be able to:
Describe the importance of understanding users
Describe the major “user types,” and associated design guidelines for user types:
Novices
Intermediates
Experts

36. Lesson Summary You should be able to: Describe the term user profile
Describe how user profiles are created
Describe the interviews and questionnaires, and how they are employed in the pre-design phase to gather information for user profiles.
Demonstrate the ability the create a meaningful and appropriate close-ended question