Lecture 13

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

Introduction to Task Analysis
• Task: This is an activity that has to be performed to achieve a goal.

• Task analysis: It is the process of analyzing the way people perform

tasks.
• Task analysis refers to techniques that analyze:
• What people do
• What things they work with
• What they must know
Example:
• For example: In order to clean the house one needs to do the following:
1. Get the vacuum cleaner out
2. Fix the appropriate attachments
3. Clean the rooms
4. When the dust bag gets full, empty it
5. Put the vacuum cleaner and tools away
• One works with things such as: vacuum cleaner, the attachments, dust
bags, etc
• One must know about: vacuum cleaners, their attachments, dust bags,
rooms, etc
General Method for Task Analysis:
• The general method for task analysis entails:
• Observing the user’s behavior
• Collecting unstructured lists of words and actions
• Organizing using notation or diagrams
• Note that in task analysis, one should focus on
• The user’s objective observable behavior (external actions) and not on the
user’s internal mental model
Task Decomposition:
• Aims:
• Describe the actions people do
• Structure them within task subtask hierarchy
• Describe order of subtasks
• There are several variants:
• Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA): The most common
• ConcurTaskTrees (CTT), by Fabio Paternò (Pisa): Uses temporal operators
• But we will only study HTA because it is most widely used technique.
Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA):
• It is a task decomposition technique
• It has Hierarchy + Plans
• Hierarchy - hierarchy of tasks and subtasks
• Plans - the order of subtasks and the conditions under
which they are performed (note that only the plans
denote the order)
Textual HTA:
• Hierarchy:
0. make a cup of tea
1. boil water
1.1. fill kettle
1.2. put kettle on stove
1.3 wait for kettle to boil
1.4 turn off gas
2. empty pot
3. put tea leaves in pot
4. pour in boiling water
5. wait 4 or 5 mints
6. pour tea
• Plans:
Plan 0: do 1 at the same time, if is pot full 2 then 3 - 4 after 4 to 5 mints do 6
Plan 1: do 1.1 – 1.2 – 1.3 when kettle boils 1.4
Diagrammatic HTA:
Refining Preliminary HTA:
• Some heuristics for checking/improving an initial HTA:
• Paired actions: e.g., There is turn off but where is `turn on gas‘?
• Restructure: e.g., Maybe too many tasks at the high level => generate
task `make pot‘ to encompass say 3, 4, 5; maybe task 6 should have
subtasks
• Balance: e.g., Are tasks on a particular of the same level of simplicity
or abstraction, for instance is `pour tea' simpler than `make pot‘?
• Generalize: e.g., Make one cup … or more
Refined HTA:
Types of Plans:
• Fixed sequence - 1.1 then 1.2 then 1.3
• Optional tasks - If the pot is full 2
• Wait for events - When kettle boils 1.4
• Cycles - Do 5.1 5.2 while there are still empty cups
• Time-sharing - Do 1; at the same time …
• Discretionary - Do any of 3.1, 3.2 or 3.3 in any order
• Mixtures - Most plans involve several of the above
Example:
• Consider that you are in a DVD shop then perform a hierarchical task
analysis both textually and diagrammatically for the goal of buying a DVD.
The main tasks involved in this activity are to locate the DVD then add DVD
to shopping basket and enter payment details. Give complete address and
then confirm order. Entering payment details can be decomposed into
other tasks such enter credit card number and enter card’s expiration date
and then confirming details.
• If the user is a regular user then entering payment details and address
details may not be performed in this case. Show the subtasks for buying a
DVD and entering payment details and write 2 plans. One plan showing
two alternative paths through those subtasks of the main task. And second
showing the flow of all the decomposed tasks of entering payment details.
Textual HTA
0. In order to buy a DVD
1. Locate DVD
2. Add DVD to shopping basket
3. Enter payment details
3.1. Enter credit card number
3.2. Enter card’s expiration date
3.3. Confirm details
4. Complete address
5. Confirm Order
Plan 0: If regular user do 1-2-5. If new user do 1-2-3-4-5.
Plan 3: do 3.1-3.2-3.3
Diagrammatic HTA:
The Why, What, Where, and When of
Evaluation.
Why to Evaluate our system?
• Nowadays users expect much more than just a usable system, they
also look for a pleasing and engaging experience. This means it is
even more important to carry out an evaluation.
• From a business and marketing perspective, well-designed products
sell.
• It enables problems to be fixed before the product goes on sale.
What to Evaluate in our system?
• What to evaluate ranges from low-tech prototypes to complete
systems, a particular screen function to the whole workflow and from
aesthetic design to safety features.
• For example, developers of a new web browser may want to know if
users find items faster with their product, whereas developers of an
ambient display may be interested in whether it changes people's
behavior.
Question??
• What aspects would you want to evaluate of a website for selling
clothes?
• Navigation would be a core concern, especially the ability to quickly
move between looking at the clothes, comparing them, and
purchasing them. In addition, do the clothes look attractive enough to
buy? Other core aspects include how trustworthy and how secure the
procedure is for taking customer credit card details.
Where to Evaluate our system?
• Where evaluation takes place depends on what is being evaluated.
Some characteristics, such as web accessibility, are generally
evaluated in a laboratory, because it provides the control necessary to
systematically investigate whether all requirements are met.
• User experience aspects, such as whether children enjoy playing with
a new toy and for how long before they get bored, can be evaluated
more effectively in natural settings.
• Living laboratories have also been built which are somewhere in
between labs and in the wild settings; providing the setting of being
in an environment, such as the home, while also giving the ability to
control, measure, and record activities.
When to Evaluate our system?
• At what stage in the product lifecycle evaluation takes place depends
on the type of product.
• For example, If the product is new, then considerable time is usually
invested in evaluation to see if the designers have interpreted the
users' requirements correctly. If the product is being upgraded then
the evaluation may not focus on establishing a set of requirements,
but may evaluate the existing product to determine what needs
improving, such as enhance navigation.
• When evaluations are done during design to check that a product
continues to meet users' needs they are known as formative
evaluations.
• Evaluations that are done to assess the success of a finished product
are known as summative evaluations.
Types of Evaluation:
• We classify evaluations into three broad categories, depending on the
setting, user involvement, and level of control. These are:
1. Controlled settings involving users.
2. Natural settings involving users.
3. Any settings not involving users.
Controlled settings involving users:
• User's activities are controlled in order to test hypotheses and
measure or observe certain behaviors. The main methods are
usability testing and experiments.
• Examples are laboratories.
Natural settings involving users:
• There is little or no control of users' activities in order to determine
how the product would be used in the real world. The main method is
the use of field studies.
• Examples are online communities and public places.
Any settings not involving users:
• Consultants and researchers review, predict, and model aspects of the
interface in order to identify the most obvious usability problems.
• The range of methods includes inspections, heuristics, walkthroughs,
models, and analytics.