Tech Report HCIL-91-11

Ahlberg, C., Williamson, C., Shneiderman, B. (Sept. 1991)
Dynamic queries for information exploration: An implementation and evaluation
ACM CHI `92 Conference Proc. (Monterey, CA, May 3-7, 1992) 619-626. Also Sparks of Innovation in Human-Computer Interaction, Shneiderman, B., Ed., Ablex (June 1993) 281-294. [Published Version]
HCIL-91-11, CS-TR-2763, CAR-TR-584

We designed, implemented and evaluated a new concept for direct manipulation of databases, called dynamic queries, that allows users to formulate queries with graphical widgets, such as sliders. By providing a graphical visualization of the database and search results, users can find trends and exceptions easily. Eighteen undergraduate chemistry students performed statistically significantly faster using a dynamic queries interface compared to two interfaces both providing form fill-in as input method, o ne with graphical visualization output and one with all-textual output. The interfaces were used to expore the periodic table of elements and search on their properties.