User and Task Analysis

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User and Task Analysis

• Determine the boundaries of the system/network
• Identify users
• Collect information from/about uses
• Interviews
• Interviewing methods
• Observations
• Environment
• Work practices, tools
• Document analysis
• Generate a user-task matrix

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Grade system
USERS USERS USERS
TASKS Faculty students staff
View student list x x
Enter grades x
View grades x Only own x
Generate summary reports x
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Identifying users

• What is the system (service, product, and so
  forth)?
• Goals
• Boundaries
• How decided
• mandated by organizational goals, client
• In the course of interviews
• In discussions with client, team

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Social Construction of Technology (SCOT)

• Identify describe relevant social groups
• Sociologically deconstruct the artifact for what
  it means for each group
• Develop requirements, design that meets various
  groups needs, preferences
• The same artifact may solve different problems
  for different user groups
• Any one problem/need has multiple solutions
• Trying to find the overlap where one design will
  satisfy multiple groups with different needs

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Sociotechnical networks

• Amalgam of people, practices, standards, rules,
  understandings, tools.
• Social and material

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Types of Users

• Decision makers (e.g., purchasers)
• Market researchers tend to concentrate on the
  people who buy designers on the people who
  perform tasks.
• Primary users (do the work)
• Secondary users -- E.g., the customer of the
  travel agent
• Surrogate users -- e.g., librarians, customer
  service reps
• May not speak effectively for the products
  users.
• (But may be efficient source of information )
• Gatekeepers, early adopters

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CourseWeb course web pages
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Users characteristics

• Job/task/domain-related
• When relevant, technology-related
• Personal
• Physical, cultural, motivational
• Other?

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HR users based on stages of use (expertise)

• Novices
• May be new to subject, technology, product
• Are goal and task-oriented
• May not want to learn, but do
• Advanced beginners
• Use infrequently and incidentally
• Are focused on getting job done as quickly and
  painlessly as possible
• Have begun to form mental model or concept of how
  system works
• Concentrate on a few needed tasks which can
  perform well

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HR users based on stages of use (expertise) II

• Competent performers
• Have learned enough tasks that they have sound
  mental model of subject and product
• Can recognize incorrect series of actions and
  correct them
• Expert performers
• Use frequently as integral part of activity
• Have considerable subject matter knowledge
• Are skilled at solving problems
• Have comprehensive understanding of whole

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Goals, Tasks, Activities
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Goals

• Defined in USERS terms (I.e., not YOURS)
• Multiple
• Sometimes conflicting
• Between individual and organization
• Between individuals, workgroups, etc.
• Within individual
• Can change over time
• What do people do when problems, conflicts?

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Tasks

• What someone does to achieve a goal
• Multi tasks, same goal
• See how people choose tasks to achieve goals
• Time, effort, what they already know, history,
  habit, social pressure/models
• Differences across users
• What people do when problems give up goal,
  change tasks
• Changing tasks, goals
• Improvisation

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Activities

• Specific actions
• Intentional and otherwise
• Importance of unintentional consequences of
  intentional action

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Suchman on plans and situated action

• Some see plans as either formal structures that
  control action or abstractions across instances.
  
• Instead, argues plans are resources for situated
  action.
• Inherently vague detail of intent and action
  contingent on circumstantial and interactional
  particulars of situation.
• Foundation of action is not plans but local
  interactions with our environment more or less
  informed by abstract representations of
  situations and actions.
• They position us to, thru local interactions,
  exploit some contingencies and avoid others.
• Rafting as an example.

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Types and levels of task analysis

• Workflow analysis
• Job analysis
• Process analysis, task sequence
• Task hierarchies
• Procedure analysis
• how they do it now. Technology-dependent.
• Pay attention to exceptions

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Doing task analysis possible foci

• Job multi people this job
• Person not just in the job
• Task more than one person
• Place
• Flow of information, artifacts

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Types of Interviews

• Structured
• Semi-structured
• Informal, conversational
• -------------
• Group
• Individual

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Related

• Mental models
• Scenarios
• Personas

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Collecting data from users

• Questionnaires
• Interviews
• Focus groups

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Setting Up Field Studies

• Write down issues and objectives
• Identify participants to represent groups that
  you need to talk with
• Plan 1-2 hour visits with time between users
• Screen users with a questionnaire

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Selecting participants

• People who represent various activities, points
  of view, experience and skill levels
• Look for people who are thoughtful and articulate
• Ask around see who gets recommended
• Beware of the person who wants to be your best
  friend
• But key informants are invaluable people who
  know a lot and will share it with you

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Preparing for Field Studies

• Form team 1-2 observers for each user, include
  marketing and development
• Train team to observe and interview and to avoid
  being experts or defensive
• Demographic questionnaire, release forms
• Audio taping equipment, camera
• Notebook for taking notes, sketching environment

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Preparing for interviews

• Do it in their environment if you can but be
  aware of problems of noise, interruption,
  confidentiality
• NOTICE things
• Send them email ahead of time about purpose of
  study, who you are, why you are coming, what you
  will ask them about
• Tell them how much time you expect to need, and
  dont run overtime without their agreement

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The interview

• Begin by establishing rapport
• Who you are, purpose, confidentiality
• Establish stop time and how firm
• Tape if you can offer to turn the tape off at
  any time
• Note-taking
• Walking out the door comments often the most
  useful!

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Observing in Field Studies

• Take pictures, sketch the environment
• Note everything the user does, what triggers it
• Who does the user interact with
• What paper or information is passed
• Get copies of artifacts, preferably used
• Where does task end, does the user know what
  happens next

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Interviewing in Field Studies

• Ask about goals, dont just focus on tasks,
  listen for goals for the benefit of others
• Probe goals, tasks presented as goals
• Neutral vs. leading or blaming questions
• Dont be shy, ask for more information, provide
  active feedback that you are listening
• Ask user if your interpretation is correct,
  listen for no in pauses, maybes

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Gaining Trust

• Explain clearly the purpose of study, why you
  want to talk to them
• PROMISE CONFIDENTIALITY
• Be honest
• Be interested
• Be sympathetic but not artificially so
• LISTEN
• How you talk about others is how they assume you
  will talk about them
• Re sources of conflict

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Contextual inquiry