Turn in (submit) an electronic copy (Word document) of your individual paper using Blackboard Assignment function (attachment only) by noon, Wednesday, May 4.
The paper is based on the attached data (DATA SET FOR STUDENT PROJECT.docx, and unscored SUS forms.pdf)
Student Project Submission
You will individually prepare the Results and Conclusion sections of a “simulated” usability study using data that your instructor is providing (“DATA SET FOR STUDENT PROJECT.docx” and “unscored SUS forms.pdf”). Your tasks are to (1) score the SUS forms; (2) compute the mean user times by tasks, the mean overall user time by product, and the mean SUS scores by product; (3) create the appropriates tables and charts/graphs considering proper format, and (4) write a one to two paragraph conclusion based on the definition of usability (efficiency, effectiveness, satisfaction). Note that how to do these tasks has been discussed in Lecture 9, with the key points repeated below.
Because of COVID restrictions, you will not be doing actual student projects, and because you are all analyzing the same data, there is no need for you to prepare the rest of a project report (Executive Summary, Introduction, Background, Method). While only preparing part of a report will be less work, I still expect that that your conclusion is logical and complete (covers the three aspects of usability) and that the charts/graphs and tables be correctly calculated and formatted. (The prior sentence is the basis for the grading rubric discussed later.)
Before you start to prepare the Results and Conclusion sections, you MUST carefully read about the data set as it provides the complete narrative of the “simulated” project, and correctly compute the individual SUS scores for the unscored SUS forms. As a reminder, scoring the SUS forms is NOT intuitive, so follow my suggestions found in lecture 9. You may mess up the first 1-3 SUS forms so take you time, but remember you only have to deal with 8 forms.
Results
The results section consists three sets of charts/graphs (Excel uses the term “charts”) and tables as shown below. Notes are included about correct format. The grading rubric is 5 points off for each format error or incorrect calculation of an average/mean.
Conclusion
The conclusion is based on the three aspects of usability – effectiveness (measured by errors), efficiency (measured by time), and satisfaction (measured by the SUS and open ended questions). However, no errors occurred in the study and so simply report that fact without further analysis. Efficiency is based on the mean time for all tasks data because this gives a basis for comparing the two products without concern about individual (and potentially fluctuating individual task times). Satisfaction considers the mean SUS scores per product, and the number of users who preferred a specific product (“Which product was easier to use…?”) and user comments (“…and why?”).
It is up to you to conclude if one product had better usability (and of course state which one), or if the products have similar usability based on the results. To make your conclusion, state which product has better efficiency based on which product has better task time (time on task), which product has better satisfaction based on a better SUS score and user preference (x out of y users considered a product easier to use). User comments about why a product has better usability should be included as these provide insights about the other results.
Note that all results are consistent with each other making it straightforward to reach your conclusion. Also, the conclusion can be written in one or two paragraphs (following the Tobi Eye Tracker video of the narrator saying that the results speak for themselves). The grading rubric for the conclusion is 10 points off for stating an incorrect conclusion, 5 points off for not discussing the efficiency results (time on task), and 5 points off for not discussing all satisfaction results (SUS and open ended question).
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