HCI Notes - Unit 3

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HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION

B.V. Raju Institute of Technology


(Autonomous)
Vishnupur, Narsapur, Medak (District) – 502313
Department of Computer Science and
Engineering

SYLLABUS

Unit I: (12 Periods)


Interactive system design: Concept of usability, HCI and software engineering, GUI Design
and aesthetics. Prototyping techniques.
Model-based design and Evaluation: Basic idea, introduction to different types of models,
GOMS family of models (KLM and CMN-GOMS), Fitt’s law and and Hick-hyman’s
law,Model-based design.
Unit II: (10 Periods)
Guidelines in HCI: Shneiderman’s eight golden rules, Norman’s seven principles, Norman’s
model of interaction, Nielsen’s ten heuristics with example of its use , Heuristic evaluation,
contextual inquiry, Cognitive walkthrough.
Unit III: (10 Periods)
Empirical research methods in HCI: Introduction (motivation, issues, research question
formulation techniques), experiment design and data analysis.
Task modeling and analysis: Hierarchical task analysis (HTA), Engineering task models
and Concur Task Tree (CTT).
Unit IV: (6 Periods)
Dialog Design: Introduction to formalism in dialog design design using FSM (Finite State
Machines), State charts and (Classical) Petri Nets in dialog design.
Unit V: (8 Periods)
Cognitive Architecture: Introduction to CA, CA types, relevance of CA in IS design, Model
Human Processor (MHP).

Textbooks:
1. Dix A., Finlay J.,Abowd G. D. and Beale R. Human Computer Interaction, 3 rd edition,
Pearson Education, 2005
References:
1. Yvonne Rogers, Helen Sharp, Jennifer Preece; Interaction Design 3 rd Edition Wiley 2011.
2. Preece J., Rogers Y.,Sharp H.,Baniyon D., Holland S. and Carey T. Human Computer
Interaction,Addison-Wesley, 1994.
3. B.Shneiderman; Designing the User Interface,Addison Wesley 2000 (Indian Reprint).
NPTEL Course https://nptel.ac.in/content/syllabus_pdf/106103115.pdf

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Unit III

Empirical research methods in HCI


Empirical research is defined as any research where conclusions of the study is strictly
drawn from concretely empirical evidence, and therefore “verifiable” evidence.
This empirical evidence can be gathered using quantitative market
research and qualitative market research methods.
Types and methodologies of empirical research
Empirical research can be conducted and analysed using qualitative or quantitative methods.
 Quantitative research: Quantitative research methods are used to gather information
through numerical data. It is used to quantify opinions, behaviors or other
defined variables. These are predetermined and are in a more structured format. Some
of the commonly used methods are survey, longitudinal studies, polls, etc
 Qualitative research: Qualitative research methods are used to gather non numerical
data. It is used to find meanings, opinions, or the underlying reasons from its
subjects. These methods are unstructured or semi structured. The sample size for
such a research is usually small and it is a conversational type of method to provide
more insight or in-depth information about the problem Some of the most popular
forms of methods are focus groups, experiments, interviews, etc.
Steps for conducting empirical research
Since empirical research is based on observation and capturing experiences, it is important to
plan the steps to conduct the experiment and how to analyse it. This will enable the researcher to
resolve problems or obstacles which can occur during the experiment.
Step #1: Define the purpose of the research
This is the step where the researcher has to answer questions like what exactly do I want to
find out? What is the problem statement? Are there any issues in terms of the availability of
knowledge, data, time or resources. Will this research be more beneficial than what it will cost.
Before going ahead, a researcher has to clearly define his purpose for the research and set up
a plan to carry out further tasks.
Step #2 : Supporting theories and relevant literature
The researcher needs to find out if there are theories which can be linked to his research
problem. He has to figure out if any theory can help him support his findings. All kind of relevant
literature will help the researcher to find if there are others who have researched this before, or
what are the problems faced during this research. The researcher will also have to set up
assumptions and also find out if there is any history regarding his research problem
Step #3: Creation of Hypothesis and measurement
Before beginning the actual research he needs to provide himself a working hypothesis or
guess what will be the probable result. Researcher has to set up variables, decide the environment
for the research and find out how can he relate between the variables.
Researcher will also need to define the units of measurements, tolerable degree for errors,
and find out if the measurement chosen will be acceptable by others.
Step #4: Methodology, research design and data collection
In this step, the researcher has to define a strategy for conducting his research. He has to set
up experiments to collect data which will enable him to propose the hypothesis. The researcher

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HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION
will decide whether he will need experimental or non experimental method for conducting the
research. The type of research design will vary depending on the field in which the research is
being conducted. Last but not the least, the researcher will have to find out parameters that will
affect the validity of the research design. Data collection will need to be done by choosing
appropriate samples depending on the research question. To carry out the research, he can use
one of the many sampling techniques. Once data collection is complete, researcher will have
empirical data which needs to be analysed.
Step #5: Data Analysis and result
Data analysis can be done in two ways, qualitatively and quantitatively. Researcher will need
to find out what qualitative method or quantitative method will be needed or will he need a
combination of both. Depending on the unit of analysis of his data, he will know if his hypothesis
is supported or rejected. Analyzing this data is the most important part to support his hypothesis.
Step #6: Conclusion
A report will need to be made with the findings of the research. The researcher can give the
theories and literature that support his research. He can make suggestions or recommendations
for further research on his topic.
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Empirical research methodology cycle

Observation: At this phase an idea is sparked for proposing a hypothesis. During this phase
empirical data is gathered using observation. For example: a particular species of flower bloom
in a different color only during a specific season.
Induction: Inductive reasoning is then carried out to form a general conclusion from the data
gathered through observation. For example: As stated above it is observed that the species of
flower blooms in a different color during a specific season. A researcher may ask a question
“does the temperature in the season cause the color change in the flower?” He can assume that is
the case, however it is a mere conjecture and hence an experiment needs to be set up to support
this hypothesis. So he tags a few set of flowers kept at a different temperature and observes if
they still change the color?
Deduction: This phase helps the researcher to deduce a conclusion out of his experiment. This
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HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION
has to be based on logic and rationality to come up with specific unbiased results.For example: In
the experiment, if the tagged flowers in a different temperature environment do not change the
color then it can be concluded that temperature plays a role in changing the color of the bloom.
Testing: This phase involves the researcher to return to empirical methods to put his hypothesis
to the test. The researcher now needs to make sense of his data and hence needs to use statistical
analysis plans to determine the temperature and bloom color relationship. If the researcher finds
out that most flowers bloom a different color when exposed to the certain temperature and the
others do not when the temperature is different, he has found support to his hypothesis. Please
note this not proof but just a support to his hypothesis.
Evaluation: This phase is generally forgotten by most but is an important one to keep gaining
knowledge. During this phase the researcher puts forth the data he has collected, the support
argument and his conclusion. The researcher also states the limitations for the experiment and his
hypothesis and suggests tips for others to pick it up and continue a more in-depth research for
others in the future.
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Advantages of Empirical research


There is a reason why empirical research is one of the most widely used method. There are a
few advantages associated with it. Following are a few of them.
 It is used to authenticate traditional research through various experiments and
observations.
 This research methodology makes the research being conducted more competent and
authentic.
 It enables a researcher understand the dynamic changes that can happen and change his
strategy accordingly.
 The level of control in such a research is high so the researcher can control multiple
variables.
 It plays a vital role in increasing internal validity.
Disadvantages of Empirical research
Even though empirical research makes the research more competent and authentic, it does
have a few disadvantages. Following are a few of them.
 Such a research needs patience as it can be very time consuming. The researcher has
to collect data from multiple sources and the parameters involved are quite a few, which
will lead to a time consuming research.
 Most of the time, a researcher will need to conduct research at different locations or in
different environments, this can lead to an expensive affair.
 There are a few rules in which experiments can be performed and hence permissions are
needed. Many a times, it is very difficult to get certain permissions to carry out different
methods of this research.
 Collection of data can be a problem sometimes, as it has to be collected from a variety of
sources through different methods.

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Task Analysis
 Task Analysis forms an important part of User Requirements Analysis.
 Task analysis is a study of users, work flow patterns, conceptual frame works, &
sequential execution of interaction with the GUI.
 Task analysis results in an user’s mental map of how he / she breaks down ‘goals’ into a
series of smaller tasks & sequences them.

Task analysis focuses on understanding ‘User’


 Users’ goals and how they achieve them.
 Personal, social, and cultural characteristics, users bring to their tasks.
 Physical environment’s influence on users.
 The influence of previous knowledge and experience on: How users think about their
work.
 The workflow users follow to perform their tasks.

Task
 A set of human actions that contributes to a functional objective and to the goal of the
system.
 Task analysis defines performance of humans & not computers.
 Task Analysis means understanding User’s needs, sequencing them into a series of
hierarchical acts (interactions) so as to facilitate the achieving of the goal.
 There is a sequence and a hierarchy of actions to be followed. One cannot go to the next
step in making calls unless the previous one is complete.

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Collecting user data for Task Analysis
 Ethnography: Observing and noting users behavior in the use context
 Interviews: Interviewing users about their experience with an interactive system
provides a direct and structured way of gathering information. Interviews have the
advantages that the level of questioning can be varied to suit the context and that the
evaluator can probe the user more deeply on interesting issues as they arise. An interview
will usually follow a top-down approach, starting with a general question about a task
and progressing to more leading questions (often of the form ‘why?’ or ‘what if ?’) to
elaborate aspects of the user’s response. In order to be as effective as possible, the
interview should be planned in advance, with a set of central questions prepared. Each
interview is then structured around these questions. This helps to focus the purpose of the
interview, which may, for instance, be to probe a particular aspect of the interaction. It
also helps to ensure a base of consistency between the interviews of different users.
 Protocol analysis: Observing and documenting actions of the user by validating user’s
mental thinking.
Methods for recording user actions include the following:
 Paper and pencil: This is primitive, but cheap, and allows the analyst to note
interpretations and extraneous events as they occur. However, it is hard to get detailed
information, as it is limited by the analyst’s writing speed. A variation of paper and
pencil is the use of a notebook computer for direct entry, but then one is limited to the
analyst’s typing speed, and one loses the flexibility of paper for writing styles, quick
diagrams and spatial layout. If this is the only recording facility available then a
specific note-taker, separate from the evaluator, is recommended.
 Audio recording: This is useful if the user is actively ‘thinking aloud’. However, it may
be difficult to record sufficient information to identify exact actions in later analysis, and
it can be difficult to match an audio recording to some other form of protocol (such as a
handwritten script).
 Video recording: This has the advantage that we can see what the participant is doing (as
long as the participant stays within the range of the camera). Choosing suitable
camera positions and viewing angles so that you get sufficient detail and yet keep the
participant in view is difficult. Alternatively, one has to ask the participant not to
move, which may not be appropriate for studying normal behavior! For single-user
computer-based tasks, one typically uses two video cameras, one looking at the
computer screen and one with a wider focus including the user’s face and hands.
 Computer logging: It is relatively easy to get a system automatically to record user
actions at a keystroke level, particularly if this facility has been considered early in the
design. It can be more difficult with proprietary software where source code is not
available (although some software now provides built-in logging and playback facilities).
Obviously, computer logging only tells us what the user is doing on the system, but this
may be sufficient for some purposes. Keystroke data are also ‘semantics free’ in that they
only tell us about the lowest-level actions, not why they were performed or how they are
structured (although slight pauses and gaps can give clues).
 Automatic Protocol Analysis Tool: EVA (Experimental Video Annotator) is a system
that runs on a multimedia workstation with a direct link to a video recorder. The
evaluator can devise a set of buttons indicating different events. These may include
timestamps and snapshots, as well as notes of expected events and errors. The buttons are
used within a recording session by the evaluator to annotate the video with notes.
During the session the user works at a workstation and is recorded, using video and
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HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION
perhaps audio and system logging as well.

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Modeling user data for HTA: Tools


Flow Diagrams: Indicate flow of information through a system. They illustrate dependency of
system elements (states) and how information moves -one from another. They can also be
indicative of roles that are assigned within an organization and how data moves between these
assigned roles as well as between organization as a whole & the outside world. An example of a
Flow Diagram showing flow of information in an organization executing the task of checking
stock and ordering supplies is shown in the next slide. The diagram is called as DFD-short for
Data Flow Diagram and is a standard form of depiction used in Information Systems Design in
Systems Engineering

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Sequence Diagrams: Sequence diagrams are procedural analysis diagrams. While flow diagrams
track work through a system, a sequence diagram uses TIME to track actions & decisions.
Sequence diagrams are critical because they give the OBJECTS, FUNCTIONS & ATTRIBUTES
of a system which in turn are used to derive the UI information Architecture.

HTA Structure Chart Notation


 Activities
 Flow of control (Downward)
 Sequencing (Left to Right)
 Repetition (*)
 Selection (0)

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Advantages
 HTA is a simple and flexible method that does not depend on a methodological context.
 HTA enables the representation of a task hierarchy that could be further detailed.
 Although HTA is task oriented and to some extent user oriented it still maintains
a strong relationship with traditional software engineering.
 HTA provides information, inefficiencies in tasks that can be used for developing
product requirements.
Disadvantages
 There are no strict rules for creating an HTA diagram so different analysts will generate
inconsistent hierarchies at varying levels of detail.
 HTA requires both training and experience. It is not a tool that can be applied
immediately.
 HTA is not a predictive tool. It focuses on existing tasks.
 HTA diagrams can become quite complex.

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Engineering Task Models


Problems with HTA
 HTA is easy to understand, therefore it can serve as a good starting point for modeling
tasks. However, HTA is not very helpful when implementation comes into the picture
 In order to implement something, we need to specify it in an unambiguous way. The
HTA lacks the rigor and formalism required for such specification
 Engineering task models are more useful as they can be specified formally

Engineering Task Models –Characteristics


 Engineering task models should have flexible and expressive notations, which are able to
describe clearly the possible activities
o Notations should be sufficiently powerful to describe interactive and dynamic
behaviors
o Notations should be readable so that they can also be interpreted by people
with little formal background
 An engineering task model should have systematic methods to support the specification,
analysis, and use of task models in the design
o Otherwise, it will be difficult to use the knowledge gained from task analysis
o Such methods can also be incorporated in tools aiming to support interactive
designers
 Another characteristics of an engineering task model is that, it should have support for
the reuse of good design solutions to problems that occur across many applications
o This is especially relevant in industrial context, where developers often
have to design applications that address similar problems

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 Finally, it is also important that engineering task models make automatic tools
available to support the various phases of the design cycle.
o Tools should have intuitive representations and provide information
useful for the logical activities of designers
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Concur Task Tree (CTT)
 CTT is an engineering approach to task modeling
 A CTT consists of tasks and operators
o Operators are used to depict temporal relationships between tasks

 The key features of a CTT are


o Focus on activities that users aim to perform
o Hierarchical structure
o Graphical syntax
o Rich set of temporal operators

CTT –Task Categories


In CTT, four task categories are defined:
 User task: these are tasks that represent only internal cognitive activity of a user, such as
selecting a strategy to solve a problem
o It is graphically depicted with the symbol
o Can have subtypes such as planning, comparing, problem solving …
 Interaction task: these are user actions with possibility of immediate system feedback,
such as editing a diagram
o It is graphically depicted with the symbol
o Can have subtypes such as selection, edit, control …
 Application task: these refer to tasks performed by the system only, such as generating a
query result
o It is graphically depicted with the symbol
o Can have subtypes such as overview, comparison, locate, grouping, and
processing feedback…

 Abstract task: These refer to tasks whose subtasks are of different types (e.g., one user
task and one application task) or the task type is not yet decided
o It is graphically depicted with the symbol
 CTT provides facilities to take care of more task characteristics, namely iterative tasks
and optional tasks
o An iterative task T is denote by T *
o An optional task T is denoted by [T]

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CTT –Hierarchy
 CTT supports hierarchical task representation. Task at the same level can represent
different options or same abstraction level to be performed
Example: in order to do T1, you have to perform T2 and/or T3
 Note that in CTT, hierarchy does not imply sequence
 In order to represent sequence, the tasks have to be modeled at the same level in a left-to-
right manner

CTT –Temporal Operators


There are eight temporal operators defined in CTT
 Enabling operator (>>): if two tasks T1 and T2 are related by the operator as T>>T2, it
means that T2 cannot occur before T1
Example: you cannot enroll in a course unless you select the course

 Choice operator ([ ]): if two tasks T1 and T2 are related by the operator as T[ ]T2,
it means that both T1 and T2 are enabled, however, only one can be performed at a
time
Example: you can either browse a web site or follow a link for details

 Enabling with information passing operator ([ ]>>): if two tasks T1 and T2 are related
by the operator as T[ ]>>T2, it means that T2 can’t be performed before T1 and depends
on the results of T1
Example: a system can generate result only after user specifies query. The result
depends on the query

 Concurrent operator (|||): if two tasks T1 and T2 are related by the operator as T|||T2, it
means that T1, T2 can be performed at any time, in any order
Example: to check the overall course load, we need to check the semester as well as the
course workload

 Concurrent communicating operator (|[ ]|): if two tasks T1 and T2 are related by
the operator as T|[]|T2, it means that T1, T2 can be performed concurrently and can
exchange information
Example: an onscreen calendar highlighting dates being entered by the user

 Task independence operator (|=|): if two tasks T1 and T2 are related by the operator as
T|=|T2, it means that T1, T2 can be performed independent to one another, however,
when one starts, it has to finish before the other can start
Example: when installing a new software, you can either register and then install or
vice-versa

 Disabling operator ([>): if two tasks T1 and T2 are related by the operator as T
[>T2, it means that T1 (usually iterative) is completely interrupted by T2
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Example: a user can iteratively input data in a form until it is sent

 Suspend-resume operator (|>): if two tasks T1 and T2 are related by the operator as
T|>T2, it means T1 can be interrupted by T2. When T2 ends, T1 can resume
from where it stopped
Example: editing some data and then printing it, assuming the two can’t be performed
together
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