COM 415: HUMAN FACTORS IN COMPUTERS AND COMPUTING

CAT 2

NAME: MBURU KENNEDY

REG NO : COM/0808/20

a. You have been asked by a software company to provide a training session on User-centered
Design. Describe a user-centred design approach and techniques used[10Marks]
User-centered design (UCD) is an iterative design process in which designers focus on the users
and their needs in each phase of the design process. In UCD, design teams involve users throughout
the design process via a variety of research and design techniques, to create highly usable and
accessible products for them.

The following are the general phases of the UCD process:

Requirements gathering
Identify the people who will use the product, what they will use it for, and under what conditions
they will use it.
Specifying requirements: Identify any business requirements or user goals that must be met for the
product to be successful.
Create design : This part of the process may be done in stages, building from a rough concept to a
complete design.
Evaluate designs: Evaluation — ideally through usability testing with actual users is as integral as
quality testing is to good software development.Some of evaluation techniques include cognitive
walkthrough, heuristic evaluation, focus groups.

Tools and techniques used to support the User-centered Design lifecycle:

User personas: User personas are fictional representations of the target users of a product or
service. Describe user characteristics, user job functions and i,pact of interaction on users job.
Personas are used to help designers understand the needs and goals of the users.
User stories: User stories are short, informal descriptions of a user's interaction with a product or
service. They are written from the user's perspective and describe the user's goal, the steps they take
to achieve that goal, and the success criteria. User stories are used to help designers prioritize
features and to communicate the requirements of the product or service to the development team.
Wireframes: Wireframes are low-fidelity sketches of the user interface of a product or service.
They are used to represent the layout and structure of the interface, without any of the visual design
elements. Wireframes are used to help designers iterate on the design and to communicate the
requirements of the interface to the development team
Usability testing: Usability testing is a method of evaluating the usability of a product or service
by observing users as they interact with it. Usability testing can be used to identify usability
problems and to improve the usability of the product or service.

Heuristic evaluation: Heuristic evaluation is a method of evaluating the usability of a product or

service by applying a set of heuristics, or usability principles. Heuristic evaluation can be used to
identify usability problems and to improve the usability of the product or service.

Card sorting: Card sorting is a method of organizing information into categories. It can be used to
understand how users think about information and to improve the usability of the information
architecture of a product or service.

b. Questionnaires play an important role in the Evaluation Process. Describe in detail the possible
structure for questionnaires along with the pros and cons for this type of evaluation method [10
Marks]
A questionnaire is a specific set of written questions which aims to extract specific information
from the chosen respondents.
Questionnaires focus on the sampling of a smaller group of people that are statistically
representative of the wider population in question. 
Broadly speaking there are two categories – fixed response and open-ended questionnaires.
With fixed response the users are either presented with a number of alternative responses
to a question and asked to mark the one which they feel is most appropriate, or they are
asked to register on a scale the strength with which they hold an opinion. It is important the
response choices given cover the full range of possible responses and the wording is clearly
understood. Complex language should be avoided.
With open-ended questionnaires, respondents are asked to write their own answers to
questions. Open-ended questionnaires can be particularly useful in situations where the
investigator does not know what the important issues are likely to be with respect to design
usability. Questions can be framed more broadly, enabling the respondents to highlight the issues
that they find most relevant.
Generally, open-ended questionnaires are, more suited for the early stages of a design,
before the important usability issues have been clearly defined. (Producing qualitative data) In
contrast the quantitative data which can be obtained via fixed-response questionnaires can
provide a metric by which to judge usability.

Advantages of Questionnaire:
Economical:There is no need to visit each and every respondent personally. So it does not require
high cost for conduct of the research.
Wide Coverage:It is best method to collect information, compared to the other methods like
interview or observation, when the sample population is spread over a large territory. 
Uniformity:It helps in focusing the respondent’s attention on all the significant items. As it is
administered, in a written form, its standardized instructions for recording responses ensure some
uniformity.
Disadvantages of Questionnaire:
Lack of Personal Contact: Researcher does not go to the field, they are not able to establish a
proper personal relationship with the respondents. If the respondent fails to understand some of the
technical terms or he has any doubt, there is nobody to clarify these technical terms or doubts.
Missed exploration of unforeseen issues:Participants might not have the opportunity to mention
issues or concerns that were not covered by the questionnaire.
Lack of emotional context:Questionnaires often struggle to capture the emotional context of user
experiences, which can be crucial in understanding overall satisfaction.
Limited depth of responses:Questionnaires often provide predefined answer options or scale
ratings, limiting participants' ability to provide detailed or nuanced feedback. This can result in
missing out on rich qualitative insights that could be obtained through more open-ended methods.

c. Shneiderman (1998) devised Eight Golden Rules for interface design. List six of these
rules, give an explanation of what the rule is [ 10 Marks]
1. Strive for consistency .Consistent sequences of actions should be required in similar situations;
identical terminology should be used in prompts, menus, and help screens; and consistent color,
layout, capitalization, fonts, and so on, should be employed throughout.

2. Enable frequent users to use shortcuts .With increased use comes the demand for quicker
methods of completing tasks so as the user becomes more experienced, they can navigate and
operate the user interface more quickly and effortlessly.E.g. command keys or function keys

3. Offer informative feedback.The user should know where they are at and what is going on at all
times. For every action there should be appropriate, human-readable feedback within a reasonable
amount of time.

4. Design dialogs to yield closure.Don’t keep your users guessing. Tell them what their action has
led them to, example ‘Printing completed’

5. Prevent errors.As much as possible, design the interface so that users cannot make serious
errors.
 If users make an error, the interface should offer simple, constructive, and specific instructions for
recovery.

6. Permit easy reversal of actions. As much as possible, actions should be reversible. This feature
relieves anxiety, since users know that errors can be undone, and encourages exploration of
unfamiliar options. e.g. undo facility

7. Support internal locus of control Allow your users to be the initiators of actions. Give users the
sense that they are in full control of events occurring in the digital space. Earn their trust as you
design the system to behave as they expect.

8. Reduce short-term memory load. Designers should avoid interfaces in which users must
remember information from one display and then use that information on another display.
E.g. use options rather than make users remember