Chapter 4

Question 1

form trumping function

Answer 1

the look of something gets in the way of its function

Question 2

empirical research (3 definitions)

Answer 2

• originating in or based on observation or
  experience.
• Relying on
  experience or observation alone, often without due regard for system and theory
  (Heliocentric).
• Capable of being verified or disproved
  by observation or experiment.

Question 3

observational method

Answer 3

Observing, generally concerned with discovering and explaining the reasons
underlying human behavior.

Question 4

experimental method

Answer 4

knowledge is acquired
through controlled experiments conducted in laboratory settings.

Question 5

manipulated variable

Answer 5

typically a property of an interface or
interaction technique that is presented to participants in different configurations.

Question 6

user study

Answer 6

conducting a controlled
experiment where different configurations of a system are tested and compared.

Question 7

usability evaluation

Answer 7

usually involves assessing a single user interface for strengths and weaknesses

Question 8

nominal/categorical scale

Answer 8

involves arbitrarily assigning a code to an attribute or a
category

Question 9

ordinal scale

Answer 9

provide an order or ranking to an attribute.

Question 10

interval scale

Answer 10

have equal distances between adjacent values.
However, there is no absolute zero.

Question 11

ratio scale

Answer 11

a have an absolute zero and support a myriad of calculations to summarize,
compare, and test the data.

Question 12

internal validity

Answer 12

is the extent to which an effect observed is due to the test conditions.

Question 13

external validity

Answer 13

the extent to which experimental results are generalizable to
other people and other situations.

Question 14

random sampling

Answer 14

that is, the participants selected for testing were drawn at
random from the desired population.

Question 15

ecological validity

Answer 15

Similar to external validity, but ecological validity refers to the methodology (using materials, tasks, and situations typical of the real world), whereas external validity refers to the outcome (obtaining results that generalize to a broad range of people and situations).

Question 16

established baseline

Answer 16

can help in assessing which method works best when doing research and performing experiments

Question 17

comparative evaluation vs single-interface evaluation

Answer 17

A comparative evaluation yields more valuable and insightful results than a single-interface
evaluation.

Question 18

cause and effect conclusions

Answer 18

can’t always be drawn, especially when there are independent variables that can’t be manipulated at play (man vs woman, left vs righ handed, might influence a conclusion)