Reference no: EM133465839
Usability Engineering
Contextual Inquiry Assignment
Approach to Contextual Inquiry
The purpose of your contextual inquiry assignment is to observe/document how 2 different people use the same software tool or interactive website. If possible, the exercise should take place in each user's typical environment/setup. If you can find 2 individuals that are somewhat proficient with the software, this would be a great opportunity for you to learn from their experiences. Alternatively, you may end up with recruiting one expert user and one novice user or 2 users that are inexperienced. Depending on your users' expertise, your goal is to learn about one of the following:
• What matters to users in using this type of software tool to support their work process?
• How computer novices learn to use the Web and this software tool, and what factors seem to be key to making the transition from non-computer user to computer user successfully?
• A specific interest or process you want to investigate related to the purpose of the software tool or website you have selected.
To give you some examples of what other students selected to research: GoToMeeting, Skype, Auto CAD, Adobe Photoshop, Do It Yourself, Google+, WebEx, Pinterest, Facebook (too many of those!), Ubuntu, a mobile university page, an academic registration system, etc. You will need to submit your choice of an application/website along with any details you feel necessary for my review. There will be a dedicated conference (discussion) topic just for posting your selection. When selecting an app/website for this project, keep in mind that this is the same application/websiteyou use for your other assignment, Interface Analysis and Redesign.
Recording
In this project, you will be conducting 2 separate interviews while facilitating and recording each of these sessions. You need to beboth a facilitator and a note taker for each session. Video is the best media to capture your study. The benefit of recording is that you do not have to take too many notes while facilitating. This way, you can pay close attention to what your participants are doing or saying. You can always go back to individual recordings for clarifications or to make additional notes. Taking still photographs of a user environment as well as capturing any artifacts related to the use of the software or website (such as cheat sheets, printed documentation, online help) is also highly advisable.
To video-record interactions on computer screen as well as your participants' facial expressions, you can use a recording software of your choice that produces files readable on both Windows PCs and Macs, for example (but not limited to):
• Screencast-o-matic Screencast-o-matic is a web-based screen capture tool. There is a free version and no installation. The features of the free version may change. For example, in the past the free version:
o Was only available for 30 days
o Only could record 14 minutes (if so, you can make a Part 1 and Part 2).
• Silverback for Mac by Clearleft, is a software tool that enables the recording, analysis, editing and playback of usability testing sessions. All you need is a Mac with a built-in iSight camera.
• Open Broadcaster Studio Open Broadcaster Studio Versions are available for download for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. This software is free and allows recordings of unlimited length.
If you decide to work with a mobile device, consider setting up a webcam close to your phone/tablet, preferably on tripod, or an audio recorder. No matter what setup you ultimately choose, please make sure to test it before your sessions to ensure it does work. There is no need to purchase any equipment for what we will be doing.
Attachment:- Contextual Inquiry Assignment.rar