Message-Id: <7CA9187B-7C0A-4B6D-A44C-438871C48B89@cs.dal.ca>
From: "J. Blustein" <jamie@cs.dal.ca>
Subject: [CS3160 (UID)] Update on testing strategies
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:39:52 -0400


   Dear CSCI 3160 (User Interface Design) Student,
The Ethics Authority and I met this afternoon to discuss your strategies.
He was not done with them yesterday so this was the earliest that we could
meet.

   As I told the class yesterday, I only sent 5 of them for review.  The
others I sent back to the students for substantial revision.  I forwarded
strategies from the following groups to the Authority: B, D, E, F, G.

   The Authority was not fully satisfied with any of the five that he saw,
although most require only minor revisions.  I will be writing to each of
the five groups with specific comments.  The general comments however will
help all of you so I am passing them on now.

   (1) the consent form must include:

      (a) an estimate of how long the testing will take per participant.
          That estimate must include time to do the tests and answer any
          questions you ask them.  Just list a total time rounded up to
          the nearest 5 minutes.

      (b) where the data will be stored (answer: a lockbox inside a
          locked room under my supervision).

   (2) when you write that you will compare to benchmarks you must state
       specifically what those benchmarks are, e.g. it takes 20 steps to
       perform this task with the existing system.

   (3) when you refer to data that you plan to collect you must stat how
       you will be collecting it.  For example when collecting time data
       say if you will be using a clock, stopwatch, or counting the  
       number of actions (steps) that the user will perform.

   (4) when using technical terms (such as `mistake', `error', `slip',
       `incorrect navigational decision') you must define the terms in
       your strategy.  If you want to quote standard definitions but be
       sure to properly cite the source.

   (5) if you are using more than one person to record data (always a  
       good idea) then explain briefly why.  The Authority is not a CS  
       expert so use lay terms.

   (6) your strategy should say how you will recruit the participants.

   (7) the Authority has not seen your designs or other documents so put a
       brief description of the background of your project at the start of
       your strategy to help give him the necessary context.

   Note that I have improved the consent form template at <URL:
http://users.cs.dal.ca/~jamie/CS3160/Project/ConsentFormTemplate/> to  
make this easier for you.

   With best wishes,
--
Jamie Blustein <jamie@cs.dal.ca>