Teaching the empirical approach to designing human-computer interaction via an experiential group project
MC Clarke - Proceedings of the twenty-ninth SIGCSE technical …, 1998 - dl.acm.org
Proceedings of the twenty-ninth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer …, 1998•dl.acm.org
Empirical research plays an important role in the design of user-interfaces and is frequently
included in university courses on human-computer interaction. For instance, the ACM
SIGCHI guidelines refer to the importance of empirical research, although they do not
specify how this approach to user-interface design should be taught. In an Honours (fourth-
year) course at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, the theoretical foundation of
empirical research is augmented with a real experience of running a simple experiment …
included in university courses on human-computer interaction. For instance, the ACM
SIGCHI guidelines refer to the importance of empirical research, although they do not
specify how this approach to user-interface design should be taught. In an Honours (fourth-
year) course at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, the theoretical foundation of
empirical research is augmented with a real experience of running a simple experiment …
Empirical research plays an important role in the design of user-interfaces and is frequently included in university courses on human-computer interaction. For instance, the ACM SIGCHI guidelines refer to the importance of empirical research, although they do not specify how this approach to user-interface design should be taught. In an Honours (fourth-year) course at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, the theoretical foundation of empirical research is augmented with a real experience of running a simple experiment. This experiment is planned, executed and analysed by the class as a whole. This paper describes the type of empirical studies carried out and discusses the benefits and limitations of such studies in this educational context.