Block 2

Question 1

Name the four cultural dimensions introduced in this section, and for each
dimension, describe briefly the characteristics of those cultures which
score high, and those which score low

Answer 1

The four dimensions are: . Power distance (PD). In a culture with high power distance, people feel comfortable with power being invested in an elite, who have the responsibility of care and protection for others. In a culture with low power distance, people aspire to equality and shared responsibility. . Individualism (IND). In a culture which rates highly on the individualism index, freedom of the individual is valued over the interests of the group. In a culture which rates low, the interests of the group are paramount. . Masculinity–femininity (MAS). In a culture which rates highly on this index, people tend to be competitive and assertive, and differences between gender roles are marked. In a culture which rates low, people tend to be caring and nurturing and the differences between roles become blurred. . Uncertainty avoidance (UA). In a culture which rates highly on this index, uncertainty is avoided as much as possible and rules, plans and frameworks are valued. In a culture which rates low, people are happy to explore and innovate and experiment with new situations.

Question 2

Give three different types of reasons why all interaction designers should
be concerned with accessibility

Answer 2

The three different types of reasons for an interaction designer to consider accessibility are: .ethical reasons – a disabled person, so far as is possible, should have the same opportunities as anyone else . reasons of good practice – making an interactive product more accessible often represents a general improvement in the product . legal reasons – conforming to existing legislation.

Question 3

What is the difference between the medical (individual) and social models
of disability?

Answer 3

The medical (individual) model locates the ‘problem’ of disability within the individual; the social model locates the ‘problem’ as everything that imposes restrictions on disabled people

Question 4

Describe the two main aims of the requirements activity.

Answer 4

Review Question 1 Firstly, we need to understand the users, their work and the context in which they work, in order to design a system or product which supports their goals – that is, we need to identify users’ needs. Secondly, we need to establish a basic, stable set of requirements on which to base an initial design (or designs).

Question 5

In user-centred design, would you expect the initial set of requirements,
once established, to remain stable?

Answer 5

In user-centred design, it is expected that the set of requirements will be modified after the initial requirements-gathering, analysing, interpreting and representing phase. As users interact with alternative designs, it is expected that individual requirements might be added, or deleted, or modified, as in the simple lifecycle model for interaction design, which you met in Block 1.

Question 6

Describe the four main activities in establishing requirements.

Answer 6

The four main activities involved in establishing requirements are: 1 data gathering 2 analysing the data 3 interpreting the data 4 presenting the findings in a form that can be expressed as requirements.

Question 7

what could be non-functional requirements

Answer 7

data requirements . environmental requirements/context of use: the physical, social, organisational and technical context of use . user characteristics . usability goals and user experience goals.

Question 8

Name the four key issues of data gathering

Answer 8

setting clear goals; determining the level of formality of the relationship with participants; triangulation of data-gathering techniques or data analysis approaches; and pilot studies.

Question 9

Name the four most common forms of data recording.

Answer 9

taking notes; taking photos; audio recording; video recording.

Question 10

What is the difference between open and closed questions?

Answer 10

In a closed question, the respondent has to choose between a number of predetermined answers. An example of a closed question is: ‘In which month were you born?’ In an open question, the answer is not predetermined. An example of an open question is: ‘Which aspect of this interactive product do you particularly like?’

Question 11

Describe briefly the four different main types of interviews

Answer 11

The four types are: unstructured, where the interviewer has an agenda – knows what his/her goals are – but does not stick to predetermined questions; structured, where the interviewer asks the same questions of each interviewee, as if using a script; semi-structured, in which the interviewer has some predetermined questions but is prepared to follow leads offered by the interviewee; and group (which may also be unstructured, semi-structured or, possibly, structured).

Question 12

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using questionnaires, as opposed to interviews?

Answer 12

Advantages of questionnaires over interviews: Questionnaires can be used to gather data from more people than interviews. Questionnaires can be used to gather data from people in many different locations. It is easier to aggregate data from questionnaires since you know that all the people responding to questionnaires are answering the same questions. This is not true for interviews unless you are using very structured interviews and working from a script. Disadvantages of questionnaires compared with interviews: Questionnaires have to be very carefully piloted. With interviews, the interviewer is present to provide any clarifications necessary for the interviewee, so extensive piloting is not so much of an issue. Interviews may foster a positive personal relationship between the interviewer/developer and the user. This is unlikely to happen with questionnaires. In using a questionnaire, you cannot follow up any interesting topics which may arise unexpectedly from open questions. Such a follow-up is possible in unstructured or semi-structured interviews.

Question 13

What is the difference between a Likert scale and a semantic differential scale?

Answer 13

A Likert scale uses gradations of values (for example, from ‘totally disagree’ through to ‘totally agree’). A semantic differential scale uses pairs of semantic opposites to label opposite ends of the scale, for example, ‘clear’ at one end and ‘confusing’ at the other.

Question 14

Why might observations be used during the requirements activity? (b) Identify a type of direct observation which is probably more useful for evaluation than for requirements activities.

Answer 14

Observations are useful during the requirements activity in order to identify the nature of the users, the tasks that the proposed system/ product is intended to support, and the context. They might also be used to investigate the use of similar systems/products, or the use of an existing system/product which is to be redesigned

Question 15

Identify a type of direct observation which is probably more useful for evaluation than for requirements activities.

Answer 15

A controlled direct observation (see Section 7.6.2) is probably more useful as an evaluation than as a requirements activity.

Question 16

Why might it be useful to have more than one observer doing an observation?

Answer 16

It is useful to have more than one observer conducting an observation so that more ground can be covered; the data is more reliable; and different perspectives on the data enable deeper reflection

Question 17

What are the four factors which have the most impact on the choice of data-gathering techniques?

Answer 17

The four factors which have the most impact on the choice of data-gathering techniques are: the focus of the study, which determines the nature of the data to be collected; the characteristics of the participants involved; the nature of the technique; and the available resources.

Question 18

Name seven techniques for gathering data as part of the requirements activity. Which of these techniques would you use if: you wanted to foster communication between disparate groups of stakeholders

Answer 18

The seven techniques are: interviews, focus groups and workshops, questionnaires, direct observations, indirect observations such as those using interaction logs or diaries, studying documentation and researching similar products. ( I suggest that you would use focus groups or workshops in order to bring disparate groups of stakeholders together.

Question 19

Name seven techniques for gathering data as part of the requirements activity. Which of these techniques would you use if: you wanted to foster communication between stakeholders and developers

Answer 19

The seven techniques are: interviews, focus groups and workshops, questionnaires, direct observations, indirect observations such as those using interaction logs or diaries, studying documentation and researching similar products.
I suggest that you would use any technique which fosters a dialogue between stakeholders and developers, for example focus groups and workshops, or unstructured or semi-structured interviews.

Question 20

Name seven techniques for gathering data as part of the requirements activity. Which of these techniques would you use if: your stakeholders were widely distributed

Answer 20

Questionnaires are probably the most useful data-gathering tools in this case. Depending on the number of stakeholders involved, telephone interviews might also be feasible.

Question 21

Name seven techniques for gathering data as part of the requirements activity. Which of these techniques would you use if: you had already done a direct observation

Answer 21

Direct observations give you information about behaviour but not the reasons for such behaviour. You may want to probe these by interview, asking questions such as ‘Why do you have post-it notes stuck to your machine?’ The answer might lead to the following revelations: . that the steps required to perform a task are too obscure and difficult to remember, so the user needs to write her/himself an aide-memoire. In this case, you might think of how the system/ product might be redesigned so as to make the task easier or to provide automatic guidance on how to perform the task or . that the user requires information from different sources to complete the task (for example, phone numbers of colleagues), which could be incorporated in the product or . that the user needs to remember his/her beloved’s birthday!

Question 22

Name seven techniques for gathering data as part of the requirements activity. Which of these techniques would you use if: you did not want to interrupt your users?

Answer 22

You could use direct observation, the study of documents and/or researching similar products

Question 23

Give four guidelines for gathering data specifically for requirements.

Answer 23

The four guidelines given in Section 10.4.2 are: . focus on identifying stakeholders’ needs . involve all the stakeholder groups . involve more than one representative from each stakeholder group . support the data-gathering session with suitable props such as task descriptions or prototypes

Question 24

There are essentially two different types of scenarios. What are they?

Answer 24

The two different types of scenario are: (i) those which describe existing behaviour; and (ii) those which are described as being ‘futuristic’, that is, those which describe the envisioned behaviour with the new interactive product.

Question 25

There are essentially two different types of scenarios. Give brief descriptions to illustrate the essential differences between scenarios, use cases and essential use cases.

Answer 25

A scenario is an informal narrative description. In this context, it is usually a reasonably rich description of how a particular individual achieves his/her goals. Use cases describe the interaction between a user role (‘actor’) and a system/product as a sequence of high-level actions. Essential use cases are more abstract than use cases, and just allocate subtasks to users and system (or interactive product) in terms of the user’s intention and system responsibility, with no indication as to how these might be achieved. They contain no assumptions of the technology used, and can thus be implemented in a number of ways. They must have a name which expresses the user’s intention.

Question 26

There are essentially two different types of scenarios. ) Which is most useful (i) in the very early stages of establishing requirements; and (ii) when you are beginning to think of implementing a prototype?

Answer 26

Scenarios of existing behaviour are probably the most useful of these task descriptions when you are just at the beginning of establishing requirements, and that scenarios of envisioned behaviour and use cases (with their indication of how input/output is effected) are most useful just before implementation