Aim
The aim of this coursework is to help you practice evaluating mobile interactions. You already have experience of observing users "in-the-wild" from Coursework I- here you will think about study design and analysis, both in the lab and with real users.
Tasks
To complete this coursework, follow the steps listed below, gathering the data and information you need. Then, write a brief report, as detailed in the next section.
I. Heuristic evaluation: Choose a digital mapping app that you have access to (e.g., Google Maps, Apple Maps, Sat Nay etc).Apply Jakob Nielsen's 10 general heu¬ristics to the interfaces in the app (see: nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics), creating a table to hold your findings. Use your results to help identify potential us¬ability issues and improvements. You should do this study in a "lab" setting - for your purposes, this can be at your desk - as opposed to while actually navigating. For each heuristic, either state why the interface is a good example of this heuristic, or explain why it violates it in two to three sentences.
2. Study design: Design a study that compares the digital mapping app from step I to another way of navigating outdoors. Your study plan should define the following:
i) The instructions given to your participants in terms of what the study is for, the procedure, and their ethical rights;
ii) A plan for capturing any important information prior to the study (such as demographics, previous experience, etc);
iii) A task for the users to do;
iv) Your plans for capturing any observations when the user is completing the task, which may include both qualitative and quantitative data;
v) How you will question the user at the end of the task.
3. Pilot study. analysis and reflection: Ask one person to participate in your experiment to pilot your study design. Make sure to run through all the parts of the experiment, treating this as a real study session, in a real outdoor location. Take notes as you go.
Reflect on the success (or otherwise) of your pilot. Think about how the session went: any issues that arose: what the user did and said: anything surprising that hap¬pened: what the user suggested to change and so on. What would you change in the study design following the pilot? Did your choice of participant affect the results you got? (who did you choose, and why?). How do your results compare to those from the lab-based evaluation in step I?
Report
Create a report from Steps 1-3 above as follows:
a. Your completed heuristic evaluation table, showing the identified usability issues and the potential improvements.
b. Your study design, including all the elements listed in step 2. above.
c. A I-page summary of the pilot study you ran. Critically analyze your initial design against the results from the pilot - what went well. and what would you change?
How did your choices affect the outcome. How did this method of evaluation compare to the heuristic evaluation you did - what are the benefits of each one?
Marking
This work is worth 15% of the final mark for this module. The marking scheme is as follows: marks add up to 100. I'll calculate a percentage for the final assessment.
a. Your completed heuristic evaluation table
A good answer will show you understand each rule and can identify several in-stances for each where the rule is well applied or broken.
b. Your study design
A good answer will present a plan that when put into operation could lead to an effective study: that is. it is do-able (does not take too long, considers ethics and practicalities); allows observations to be captured in a lightweight but analyzable way; and, specifies a range of questions that would lead to useful responses.
c. A I -page summary of the pilot study you ran
A good answer will summaries findings from the pilot, reflect on how it went. identify any issues that arose and discuss changes you would make to the study design as a result of these. You should also reflect on the differences between the results from the heuristic evaluation and the results from the pilot.