skip to main content
10.1145/273133.274296acmconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication PagessigcseConference Proceedingsconference-collections
Article
Free Access

Teaching the empirical approach to designing human-computer interaction via an experiential group project

Authors Info & Claims
Published:01 March 1998Publication History

ABSTRACT

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.

References

  1. 1.ACM SIGCHI Curricula for Human Computer Interaction, ACM Press, 1992Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  2. 2.Campbell, S. K. Flaws and Fallacies in Statistical Thinking, Prentice-Hall, 1974Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  3. 3.Conway, R., Kember, D., Sivan, A., and Wu, M. Peer Assessment of an Individual's Contribution to a Group Project, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education 18, 1 (1983), pp. 45-56Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  4. 4.Finlay, J., Abowd, G., Beale, R., and Dix, A. J. Human-Computer Interaction, Prentice-Hall, 1997Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  5. 5.Eberts, R. E., and Eberts C. G. Four Approaches to Human-Computer Interaction. In Hancock, P. A., and Chignell, M. H. (eds) Intelligent Interfaces: Theory, Research and Design, North-Holland, 1989Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  6. 6.Fenton, N. E., and Pfleeger, S. L. Software Metrics: A rigorous and practical approach, International Thomson, 1997 Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  7. 7.Kolb, D. A. Experiential Learning: Experience as the source of (earning and development, Prentice-Hall, i984Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  8. 8.MeNeill, J; B. Peer Appraisal of Group Projects, Proceedings of the 27th Annual ~Conference of the Southern African Computer Lecturers' Association, (1997)Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  9. 9.Pfleeger, S. L. Experimental Design~ and Analysis in Software Engineering (Parts 1, 2 and 3), Software Engineering Notes (Oct 1994, Jan 1995, Apt 1995) Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  10. 10.Shneiderman, B. Designing the User Interface -- Strategies for effective human-computer interaction, Addison-Wesley, 1992 Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  11. 11.Single),, M. K. The Transfer of Cognitive Skills, Harvard Um'versity, 1989 Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  12. 12.Solso, R. L. An Introduction tO Experimental Design in Psychology: A case approach, Harper and Row, 1984Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  13. 13.Weft, M. M., and Rosen, L. D. The Psychological Impact of Technology from a Global Perspective, Computers in Behaviour 11, 1 (1995)Google ScholarGoogle Scholar

Index Terms

  1. Teaching the empirical approach to designing human-computer interaction via an experiential group project

        Recommendations

        Comments

        Login options

        Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

        Sign in
        • Published in

          cover image ACM Conferences
          SIGCSE '98: Proceedings of the twenty-ninth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
          March 1998
          396 pages
          ISBN:0897919947
          DOI:10.1145/273133

          Copyright © 1998 ACM

          Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

          Publisher

          Association for Computing Machinery

          New York, NY, United States

          Publication History

          • Published: 1 March 1998

          Permissions

          Request permissions about this article.

          Request Permissions

          Check for updates

          Qualifiers

          • Article

          Acceptance Rates

          SIGCSE '98 Paper Acceptance Rate72of201submissions,36%Overall Acceptance Rate1,595of4,542submissions,35%

          Upcoming Conference

          SIGCSE Virtual 2024
          SIGCSE Virtual 2024: ACM Virtual Global Computing Education Conference
          November 30 - December 1, 2024
          Virtual Event , USA

        PDF Format

        View or Download as a PDF file.

        PDF

        eReader

        View online with eReader.

        eReader