onsdag 16 september 2015

Alexander Koski - Individual Notes for Seminar 1

Notes for Seminar 1.

Following every highlited word is a pagenumber of where you will find the keyword in the coursebook Interaction Design by Sharp, Rogers and Preece. 2nd Edition.


The two chapters we are about to read for this seminar goes hand in hand according to me. One cannot live without the other. If you gather your data poorly you cannot draw any conclusions from your analysis. The same scenario occurs if the opposite is true also. If you have done a splendid job gathering data but does not analyze it well the results will again not be reliable. 

Because our task of conducting interviews for our project, I find it important that we know the principles and purposes with gathering data through interviews. It is also important know the limitations of an interview. It is harder to get the interviewee to reflect deeper on her answers than it would be if we instead conducted a questionnaire. Therefore to get a good view of the reality we should if we had the time for a triangulation and gather data from other kind of methods too.

How come Grounded theory is such a well-established analyzing method? The Grounded theory finds a theory to explain and predict a set of data. I feel that this behavior, to come up with theories, is the sole purpose of gathering data in the first place and therefore does not need a theory to explain the only thing you can do with that data.

Chapter 7 - Data gathering.

Data recording
Sid 294. There are lots of different methods for gathering data. You can record data with a film camera, audio recorder, taking photographs or even using pen and paper to take notes and draw pictures.

Interviews
Sid 298. In interview is a conversation with a purpose. The interview we are going to conduct in this course is an open ended.

Questionnaires
Sid 308-309. A survey fore people to answer with pen and paper.

• Observation
Sid 321. Apart from making an interview, an observation is another way of gathering data but without having to interfere with the subject of the study. It can sometimes be difficult for people to explain what and why they are doing something, in those cases it is just easier to let the subject do its thing while you observe.

Triangulation
Sid 293. Triangulations the use of multiple data gathering techniques on the same amount of data to get better and more accurate results.

Rating scales
Sid 313-314. The use of the right kind of rating scale is vital for getting the right information from your participants. For example, it is important to keep in mind that providing a scale with four steps, you will force a user to take sides on a problem.

Ethnographic data
Sid 323. Ethnographic data is data connected to a specific group och people.

Think-aloud technique
Sid 335-336. This is an observation of how a user uses a system meanwhile the user is instructed to speak out loud what he is thinking when using the system. This gives the observer a way so understand what the user is thinking when using the system.

• Indirect observation
Sid 338-339. An indirect observation is an observation taking place with the observer not present when the user uses the system. This can be done with the user getting a video camera and being asked to film his reactions while using the system. A diary is also a method for indirect observations.

• Controlled environment
Your observation may take place in a controlled environment such as a lab aside from observing the subject in his daily day to day life.




Chapter 8 - Data Analysis

• Quantitative analysis
Sid 373. Qualitative data is data that can can easily be translated into numbers and is most usable in a bulk with other quantitative data.

Recurring patterns
Sid 373-374. When getting familiar with the data you’ve collected, you will hopefully start to see different patterns. These pattern are a good way to start your analysis

• Categorization data
Sid 378. Data is categorized to make it easier­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ to analyze the data. It is important that this is done right so that the categorization and the results of the analysis can be reproduced.

• Qualitative analysis
Sid 359. This is done by looking at patterns in the collected data

• Presenting findings
Sid 405. The finding is to be presented in different ways for different audiences. Storytelling, and summarizing the findings are two methods of doing it.

• Grounded theory
Sid 389. A way to analyze qualitative data. This method makes you come up with a theory that explains why the data is the way it is. And this new Grounded theory can be used to explain and predict different scenarios.

• Empirical data
Sid 389, 393. Empirical data is data from which you can derive a ground theory from.
Chapter 10

• Task description
Sid 504-506. Alot of software has the sole purpose of solving a problem the user is experiencing. To be able to design a program that solves the users problems in the right way you will need a task description of what your program will have to do and in what scenarios the user will be needing your software.

• Task analysis
Sid. 514. A task analysis separates itself from a task description in the way that the task analysis analyses a user’s behavior on an existing system.

Non-functional requirements
Sid 477. “The product must be delivered within six months” or “The program must run om both a Mac and a PC”

• Context of use
Sid 530. Context of use is a kind of requirement that has to do with the environment the system is placed in.

• Cultural probes
Sid 489-491.These are used to find inspiration rather than find specific user needs. The user is sent a special care package including a camera, postcard etc. The user then gets a task, for example, take some pictures of your home, the first person you meet today and the clothes you are waring and write a story about it. From this you might get inspiration for new areas to improve.

• Use cases
Sid 511. Use cases studies a specific scenario between a user and a system. For example if the user often goes to the library to find books, a use case could be to closely study the steps a system takes the user trough to reach 

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