Question

human computers interaction

1. What kind of data gathering would be appropriate to evaluate requirements? Why?

2.What method(s) would you use to analyze the data?

3.What kind of prototype would you use to evaluate your design during an early stage of development? Why?

Answer 1

1. There are different ways to gather data for requirements. Three of the most commonly used ways are as follows:

a) Interviews:

Interviews can be formal or not, structured or not. It depends on the situation and it focuses more on the needs of the client. Some of them can be conducted over phone when customers can't be there for face to face interaction. They are helpful because not only the data is gathered but questions can be modified as per the need.

b) Questionnaires:

These are simple doducents that contain different types of questions to get to know the client better. They are helpful when the population is large. They should be carefully crafted. If not, it can cause time but will not deliver results properly.

c) Observations:

Observations take place in a chosen environment and can be used as recorded information. The people to be involved in the study are also selected. Sometimes the observation is limited to a certain number of people. There are many factors that are considered such as demographics, functions, etc.

2. Following are the methods to be used to analyze the data:

a) Quantitative approach:

In this approach data is prepared, validated, and edited. After that it is coded and statistics are prepared.

• Data validation is required to make sure that data gathered is free from any type of fraud. The validation procedure can be a screening method where the research criteria is picked and respondents are also chosen. It also makes sure that all the relevant questions were asked by the team members and they got the answers.
• Once the data has been validated, it is edited for the proper use. Usually it is done to remove certain errors. The fields are filled correctly in the survey sheets etc. The bugs are removed and data is checked for the outliers as well. It is done to make sure that accuracy of the data is maintained.
• The last step is coding in which data is assigned to different classes or categories. This approach can be used to search for different types of categories. In this step, classes are simplified.
• While preparing statistics mean, mode, median etc. are considered. It helps in finding the patterns and summarizing them as per the needs.

b) Qualitative approach:

In this approach, one gets familiar with the data first. For that data is read many times and then patterns are looked for. Data is also transcribed when needed.

• Research objects are regularly visited. The important questions are identified and a framework is developed. Framework is made specific by the use of indexing and other phrases.
• There are sometimes different types of responses to questions. Coding and framework can help in structuring those data labels.
• Once the framework has been set and coded, patterns are identified and connections are made. Different themes are also identified and common responses are also collected.

3. Prototype for design evaluation:

For the early stages in the evaluation of design, the efficient prototype would be low-fidelity prototyping. It helps in working out the concepts for users. For the medium stage, in which screen design and sometimes usability testing is used, medium fidelity is also useful.

The reason for using them is the time and modifications. They take less time in the design process and changes are made very easily. There is less pressure and hence the designer will also feel less exhausted.