1. HCI Research in MIS Dennis Galletta University of Pittsburgh AMCIS 2002 Dallas

2. Foreward: Dallas, We Have a Problem! Some might think that interfaces have finally been “fixed.” Truth is, even current systems are problematic What kind of system, for use by the general public would puzzle a PhD (me) and two employees of the firm?

3. Dart Fares Fare types/ zones: –Local/1 –Premium/2 –Reduced/all Goal clear

4. Dart Screen New types and different zones: –full/all –full/1 –reduced/all Where is “premium 2?”

5. 1. Positioning In common with other fields: –Usually individual level of analysis –Usually experiments –Often address user attitudes, behavior, performance –Training is often a key area –Sometimes develop the interfaces and sometimes evaluate or compare them

6. Positioning Different from other fields –We seldom (never?) develop hardware –We seldom (never?) develop the operating environment –We less often build an interface –We have more pressure to show organizational impact –We have less pressure (and $) from vendors –We often focus on decision making –Interestingly: Our research community has greater expectations for theoretical justification and large samples

7. Positioning-Illustrations Fairly typical example of what you’d see at an HCI conference (from ACM-CHI)Fairly typical example A business-related example from the Research Channelbusiness-related example Shneiderman’s chapters reveal OUR bias

8. Shneiderman’s HCI System design issues –Guidelines and tools for development –Managing the design process –Testing, reviewing, surveying tools –Software tools for building an interface Devices and software interfaces –Direct Manipulation –Menu, form, dialog design –Command languages –Devices (keyboards, mice, etc.) “us” “them” * **

9. Shneiderman’s HCI Research-intensive topics –Response time/display rate –Presentation styles (positive, understandable, nonanthropomorphic, clear display design) –Documentation (manuals, help, tutorials) –Multiple-Window Strategies –CSCW –Search and Visualization –Hypermedia and the Web –Societal Issues

10. Interesting paradox Some of the most well-known HCI studies: –Publishable in an MIS journal? probably –But not heavily referenced!

11. GOMS (Card et al 83) (Goals Operators Methods Selection rules) Extensively (!) used by HCI researchers Much less commonly used by MIS researchers A family of models that permits modeling of Goals and prediction of a user’s path toward the goals Most heavily used model is the Keystroke Model

12. Screen vs paper (Gould et al.) IBM researchers tried to discover why people read more quickly and effectively on paper versus screen No overriding theoretical model or basis; just kept guessing what factor was responsible Finally discovered one

13. 2. My applications Primarily interested in user abilities (& fit) Cognitive Fit influences: –training psych course I took at Minnesota (‘it depends’) –PhD seminar question given to us by Gary Dickson –a Herb Simon CMU seminar Iris and I attended More recently examined spreadsheet detection ability Most recently investigated fit between varying web site characteristics (speed trades off against depth and familiarity)

14. Applications More successful: –Had theoretical justification –Had results –Had implications For researchers For practitioners

15. Applications Less successful: –Thesis study: system failed –CSCW study: no results –Stress study: few results

16. As an AE/Reviewer Commonly, failed studies: –Could mislead the reader/field Control was lacking Confounding effects were contained Substantial, generalizable sample was not tapped Measures were not appropriate –Contained difficulties in scope: Address a truly miniscule issue Don’t do what they say they will do in the introduction –Were poorly written: Don’t justify or set a context Lack important disclosure Don’t communicate

17. 3. Journals and Editors Is an HCI study hard to publish? I did a quick review Answer: It Depends –MISQ: 12-15% –ISR: 22-25%

18. ISR

19. MIS Quarterly

20. 4. Future Bright. –HCI is a strong area of MIS –Web developers abound –More people are using systems –More people fact ever-more terrible systems Opportunities –Usability as a driver of system development –Arrangement and categorization –User training is alive and healthy