Improving the methodology of text entry experiments

Abstract

In this paper, the methodology of text entry experiments is discussed and the current practice is compared to the text entry experiment standardized by ISO 9241-4. Text entry experiments focus on measuring and comparing performance of users entering text. Vast majority of research of new text entry methods does not follow the ISO 9241-4 methodology. We express the need for a new standard which should be discussed in the research community. A text entry method is usually examined in a series of text-copy tasks, a setup in which the user is requested to copy the presented phrase using the method that is being examined. The outcome of the text-copy task is influenced by many factors. This paper examines the effect of one of these factors - the relative position of the presented phrase and the transcribed text. We conducted a controlled experiment with 62 participants using 3 different text entry methods. We found that the position has a significant effect on the subjective evaluation of the text entry method.