Post-task Interviews Research Articles

Assessing the information environment in intensive care units

This paper describes the development and application of a methodology for evaluating how physicians and nurses view the usefulness of various sources of patient information available within a hospital intensive care unit (ICU). The methodology encompasses semi-structured interviews, task analysis, a simulated case study of a critically ill patient, verbal protocol analysis, questionnaire responses based on both past experiences in the ICU and performance on the simulated task, and a post-task interview. Eleven nurses and six physicians participated in the study. Analysis of the questionnaires revealed significant differences in the rankings of the information sources by both the nurses and the physicians on each of seven evaluation criteria. Significant differences were also found among both the physicians and the nurses in rankings of the relative importance of the individual information sources for meeting task requirements. A framework for describing information gathering applicable to critical care environments was proposed as a means for better understanding how information sources are used. Overall, the methodology was found to be useful in terms of providing valuable data regarding the utility and usability of information sources. The importance of using a systematic approach for assessing the usefulness of information sources, particularly from the perspectives of performing design interventions and predicting the effectiveness of new information technologies, as well as the limitations in adopting this type of approach, are also discussed.

Systematic evaluation methodology for cell phone user interfaces

As cell phones have expanded their functionality with enhanced mobile technology, use of cell phones has become complex. Although usability of cell phones has been improved by featuring hierarchical menu systems, designing comprehensible navigation in the menu hierarchy is still a major challenge to cell phone user interface (UI) developers as more diverse users are adopting cell phones. To develop an easy-to-use cell phone UI, an effective usability evaluation method (UE) is essential. While various usability evaluation methods (UEM) have been developed, laboratory-based usability testing produces high-quality usability data from actual users. Yet, the effectiveness of such testing can vary dramatically depending on what data is collected and how the data are analyzed. To provide a practical guidance for the effective laboratory testing, we developed a systematic evaluation methodology for cell phone user interfaces (SEM-CPU). SEM-CPU is specifically designed to integrate five empirical methods (scenario-based task performance, questionnaires, post-task interview, user observation, and retrospective think aloud) into a laboratory-based test in order to evaluate cell phone UIs. By following SEM-CPU, usability engineers should be able to (1) conduct laboratory-based testing with multiple empirical methods in an efficient way, (2) collect diverse but useful data to measure necessary usability attributes, (3) identify determinants of usability problems, and (4) integrate all usability data to generate proper solutions for the problems. Detailed descriptions of SEM-CPU are presented along with a case study where SEM-CPU was applied to a comparative cell phone usability test.

How experts and novices search the Web

Searching for information pervades a wide spectrum of human activity, including learning and problem solving. With recent changes in the amount of information available and the variety of means of retrieval, there is even more need to understand why some searchers are more successful than others. This study was undertaken to advance the understanding of expertise in seeking information on the Web by identifying strategies and attributes that will increase the chance of a successful search on the Web. The strategies were as follows: evaluation, navigation, affect, metacognition, cognition, and prior knowledge, and attributes included age, sex, years of experience, computer knowledge, and info-seeking knowledge. Success was defined as finding a target topic within 30 minutes. Participants were from three groups. Novices were 10 undergraduate pre-service teachers, intermediates were 9 final-year master of library and information studies students, and experts were 10 highly experienced professional librarians working in a variety of settings. Participants' verbal protocols were transcribed verbatim into a text file and coded. These codes, along with Internet temporary files, a background questionnaire, and a post-task interview were the sources of the data. Since the variable of interest was the time to finding the topic, in addition to ANOVA and Pearson correlation, survival analysis was used to explore the data. The most significant differences in patterns of search between novices and experts were found in the cognitive, metacognitive, and prior knowledge strategies. Survival analysis revealed specific actions associated with success in Web searching: (1) using clear criteria to evaluate sites, (2) not excessively navigating, (3) reflecting on strategies and monitoring progress, (4) having background knowledge about information seeking, and (5) approaching the search with a positive attitude.

User-Centered Design of Distributed Meeting Environments: An Initial Study of Experienced and Naive Users

In our study, a basic science approach was used to explore the constructs that defined the design of a distributed meeting space from the user's perspective. Although there is a body of literature in the group communication domain, the research in this multidisciplinary area has paid minimal attention to users' environmental preferences in the design of a meeting space. Fifty participants, half with experience and half without experience in distributed meetings, used foam-core components to create a design of their ideal distributed meeting space. Fourteen themes emerged from content analysis of responses to the post-task interview. These themes addressed the rationale participants used when creating their designs. There was a significant positive relationship between the experience level and the following design themes: visibility of displays, status, team collaboration, VTC (video teleonferencing) needs, and auditory clarity. There was also a significant positive correlation among the occurrences of several design themes.

“Experience” and WWW Searching, or the Search for the Www “Expert”

Observational, log-file and post-task interview data were collected from forty subjects while they were engaged in a directed search task and a general purpose browsing task. This data was used to determine the search strategies of experienced and novice users on the two tasks. These results suggest that the search strategies vary according to the task and according to experience. It is suggested that experienced users' strategies differ more on the two tasks than novice users. These results are discussed in relation to previous published literature on WWW cognitive search strategies.

Executive dysfunction in depression: The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

This study compared dysphoric undergraduates with controls on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. The task is to match a series of cards to key cards varying in colour, shape and number, according to correct/wrong feedback. The groups differed in the efficiency with which they were able to use feedback to match cards appropriately, and shift between the different sorting categories. The dysphoric subjects were poorer in the matching task, and also showed slight impairment in describing the sorting categories accurately in a post-task interview. The implications of the findings for our understanding of depression are discussed.