Projects
Visualizing Directions and Schedules on Handheld
Devices
A Pilot Study of Maps vs. Text and Color vs. Monochrome
Participants - Irina Ceaparu, Pankaj Thakkar, Cemal Yilmaz
Research Paper
Presentation
Project Description -
Rover is a location aware information service framework
for handheld devices being developed at the University of Maryland. It
can be deployed in places like shopping malls, museums and schools.
This project is aimed at developing the user interface for an
in-building Rover system to be deployed in the AV Williams building of
the Department of Computer Science. The design is determined by
different treatments of the system functionality. Some of the
functions that are part of the Rover are: navigation aid, scheduling,
locating people, and email/chat.
Our study conducted with 20 subjects
focused on 2 different tasks corresponding to navigation directions
and scheduling. We conducted tasks to compare the use of colors vs.
monochrome displays and map-based vs. text-based directions. The
results show subjective preference for maps and colors over text and
monochrome respectively but the performance differences are not
statistically significant.
A Comparison of Map vs. Text Directions for a Handheld
Device in a Campus Setting: A Pilot Study
Participants - Liz Atwater, Jason Burke, Andrea Monique Kirk
Research Paper
Presentation
Project Decription -
This project explores some of the options available for providing
point-to-point directions. We are testing part of the interface for a
campus-wide system to determine if there is any difference between
map-based directions and text-based directions. We are also trying to
determine if complexity of the route (complexity defined as number of
turns) affects users' performance time and user satisfaction between the
maps and text. The results showed no statistical difference between map
or text directions, but that there are some differences among the
different complexity levels. While the statistical results of this
experiment are inconclusive, this pilot study is valuable for the many
observations revealed through the experiment that could prove useful in
further studies.
Single Item Search and Selection in Hand-Held Devices
A
Pilot Study on the Effects of Font Size & Menu Design
Participants
- Ketan Babaria, Alexandre S Giacoppo, Ugur Kuter
Research Paper
Presentation
Project Description -
There is much literature regarding the effects of differing font sizes and
menu types on a users ability to efficiently complete a search task.
However, almost all of this literature investigated these issues on large
sized monitors. This experiment investigated the effects of differing font
sizes and menu types on a search task on a personal digital assistant
(PDA), e.g. Palm Pilot. Results found that participants are quicker in a
simple search task when using scrolling menus, as opposed to expanding
menus. Results also suggest that small font size has an affect of
performance only for expanding menus.
Project Guidelines
Team Project: 2-4 members
Proposal One page: project title, list of team members (3-4
people), paragraph or two describing your project, list of independent variables
(and treatments for each) and dependent variables (usually performance variables
such as time or errors, plus subjective ratings), your hypotheses, and number
plus source of subjects.
Materials The first draft of the full set of materials you
will need to run your experiment. These may include instructions to the
participants, background surveys, questionnaires, task lists, programs,
etc. If possible provide me a disk of your experiment or do a demo at my
office.
References Hand in a one page list of 5-12 references to the
literature related to your experimental project with a sentence or two of
how each relates to your project. These should be as specific as possible
and include previous experimental studies.
Pilot results One page: report how many pilot subjects you
tested (should be at least 1-2 per experimental treatment), list the changes
you made to your materials, and give the planned times for each phase of
your experiment (beware of too short or too long).
Statistics Create fake data that you would like to get from
your experiment and format it properly for processing by a statistics package,
spreadsheet, or programs you create. Generate the statistical analysis,
produce the tables (means, standard deviations, ranges, etc.) and figures
(plots, bar charts, etc.) that you will use for your final report. When
you have your actual data it should be easy to simply re-run your analysis
programs to generate your actual final report. You are welcome to use whatever
statistical package you like (SAS, SPSS, MyStat, PCStat, etc.) and get whatever
statistical assistance you can find on campus or elsewhere.
You can find the useful information at Mike Stark's Statistics Page
Raw Data Should be a small number of pages, preferably one,
with the raw data from your experiment.
Draft Intro Your chance to get my feedback. I'll provide
comments within a week.
Final Project This is it! No excuses, no delays. Everyone
prepares their project on the class website. Class presentations - 10
minutes per project using PowerPoint or good slides.
Comments Students sign up to read one other project and
send an email note (to me and the project team) with one paragraph of
supportive comments and one paragraph of suggested improvements. The project
team uses this feedback plus the my comments to revise their web presentation.
Revision Revise your paper based on comments. You may send
me an email explaining significant changes.
Guidelines for Project
Writeup
FORMAT FOR HUMAN FACTORS REPORTS
Title page: Title, Authors, Addresses, Electronic Mail, Addresses, and
Date
Abstract: 100-150 word overview of experiment, results and discussion
Credits: Indicate who did what
1. Introduction (3-6 single spaced pages)
Overview of the problem, possibly including:
Review of
commercial systems
Discussion
of extracts from relevant textbooks
Personal
encounters with the problem
Review of previous experiments
Relevant psychological or other theories
2. Experiment (3-6 pages)
2.1 Introduction and Hypotheses
Independent and dependent variables
2.2 Pilot study results
2.3 Subjects
2.4 Materials
Training, tasks, questionnaires
2.5 Procedures and problems
Administration
Grading
3. Results (2-5 pages)
Objective report on what the numbers show
Refer to Raw Data in Appendix
Refer to statistics programs in Appendix
Report Means and Standard deviations in neat
tables
Include graphs, plots, histograms, etc.
4. Discussion (1-4 pages)
Interpret the results, Explain statistics, Account
for anomalies, Describe subjects' comments
5. Conclusions (1-4 pages)
5.1 Impact for practitioners
5.2 Suggestions for future researchers
5.3 Refine the theory or develop a new one
Other suggestions
Acknowledgements (a few sentences)
Thanks to teachers, bosses, organizations, or
friends who helped you conduct your experiment
References (5-20 references):Citations in a neat standard
form
Appendices (5-200 pages)
A. Experimental materials
Programs, Instructions,
Questionnaires, Test materials, Transcripts of sessions
B. Raw Data
C. Statistics runs from computer
D. Experimental consent forms (one copy of form
used)
Photos of screen presentations
Maintained by Ketan Babaria: kbabaria@cs.umd.edu
© University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Last updated December 15, 2001
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