Blog Update #6a–Pilot Tes

We ran two sets of pilots. For the first set, the experiment was conducted internally with two group members. As a result, we updated the tasks that participants complete. Originally, there were two sets with each 7 tasks in each set. To counter learning bias and ordering effects, we created 4 sets with 3 tasks with the same level of difficulty. Instead of giving participants a list with the set of tasks, we created 4 Google Slides presentations with a clear start and end to every task. This significantly decreased the difficulties of analyzing videos for task completion times. The questionnaire was edited to better reflect our hypotheses and directly compare design A vs. design B. The interview script was changed to reflect the changes in the experiment protocol.

For the second set of pilots, the full experiment was conducted with two participants. After these experiments, we decided to introduce a minute before every task set to allow the participant to become explore the interface. In these two pilots, many features were under-observed due to the pressure of the task completion time recording. The post-observation interview was expanded to discover richer answers.

Blog Update #6b -Experiment Abstract

As a student, finding a cafe well-suited for studying in is often a struggle because important information about ambiance, amenities, and availability cannot be discovered easily. We created two prototypes to address this problem. To evaluate our designs, we conducted a 2×2 within-subjects experiment to see if efficiency and preference would vary with a different number of cafes (8 cafes vs. 16 cafes) and variation of design (mosaic vs slidedeck) within 10 participants. Our results suggest a significant preference for the mosaic design when finding a specific cafe while the slidedeck design is significantly preferred for browsing. The quantitative data collected did not provide significant evidence of an interaction effect nor a main effect of number of cafes, design on task completion time. However, the qualitative responses suggests that while both designs have positive attributes, mosaic is slightly more preferred for ease of use and efficiency.

Blog Update #6c–Revised Supplementary Experiment Materials

Experiment Questions : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m8rIumM8dxHT69IOPCZg7-i0lxPO0CoWUSvJeN30ONo/edit

(was not include in previous blog post)