IST Conference

Paper Prototyping a Dynamic Software Interface:

A Case Study Using APT

Andrew BarrettJamison Judd

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APT Overview

• APT: Analysis of Patterns in Time• A new methodology for researching

temporal relationships in a system, developed by Dr. Ted Frick of Indiana University 1990

• APT is a means to capture and analyze the temporal relationship between actions and outcomes

• Does not help to determine causality• Helps decision making involving prediction

and description

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Need for Temporal Analysis

• APT directly measures temporal relations through counting the occurrences of the values of a variable

• Comparable to approaches taken in other disciplines– people who smoke are more likely to get lung cancer

than those who do not– how often does a player scores when specific

conditions exist

• Important because knowledge of likelihoods of temporal patterns can be used to find relationships that could not be found with linear approaches

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Weather Example

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Software for Temporal Analysis

• There are a wide variety of tools available for conducting linear analysis (e.g. SPSS, SAS, MINITAB, etc.)

• Few options for performing analysis based on an APT approach

• The need for tools that are based on an APT approach has provided the stimulus for the development of associated software

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Goal

• Create a usable software interface for APT based on the following principles– Easy to use– Intuitive interface following convention– Flexible for different types of studies– Avoid modes when possible

• An iterative design approach was taken that included usability testing and rapid prototype development

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Prototype Development

• Listed out all the required functionality

• An SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) and Windows based paradigm was chosen for viewing and entering data

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Paper or Electronic Prototype?

PaperElectronic

Requirements for usability test

HumansComputer

Development time Low High

Ease of iteration / alteration

Medium High

Fidelity of simulation Low High

Flexibility of simulation Medium Low

Cost of reproduction High Low

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Paper Prototype Challenges

• Scrolling• Pop-ups• Dropdowns• Text entry (making reusable)• All possible user actions

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Methodology – Usability Testing

• Developed authentic tasks to test out the prototype– Project Tasks

• Creating, Opening, and Closing Project Files• Creating, Opening and Closing Scores• Switching between scores• Duplicating score format• Interpreting scores

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Methodology – Usability Testing

– APT Score Tasks• Adding, editing, and deleting classifications• Ordering classifications• Recording data in an APT score• Modifying data in an APT score

– APT Query Tasks• Creating a new query• Duplicating and editing an existing query• Interpreting query results

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How Prototype Was Created

• Screen captures• Excels• Arts & Crafts

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First Run Issues

• Took too long to simulate• Prototype was too modular• Hard to quick change interface

pieces

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Paper Prototype Challenges

• Pop-ups• Dropdowns• Text entry (making reusable)• All possible user actions• Dynamic interface elements• Highlighting selections

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Methodology – Usability Testing

Subjects:– 2 Faculty/Staff Members– 4 Graduate Students

• 1 Data recorder• 1 Computer simulator• Followed standard usability

procedure

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Duration by Task Box PlotOutliers: Some subjects took considerably longer to complete tasks

Small Spread: Duration didn’t vary much among subjects

Large Spread: Duration varied widely among subjects

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Result by Task Bar Graph

All subjects succeeded in tasks 1.3 – 1.7, 1.9, 2.3, 2.4

Most subjects had problems with task 1.8 “Answer questions about APT score”

All subjects had problems with task 3.3 “View the results of an APT query”

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Problem Tasks

A subjective priority level was given to each task where problems were experienced…

1.1: Create a new blank project (1)1.2: Close a project and exit program (1)1.8: Answer questions about APT score (4)2.1: Add a classification (3)2.2: Change the order of classifications (2)2.5: Record changes in an APT score (3)2.6: Edit a previously recorded change in an APT score (1)3.1: Create a new APT query (1)3.2: Create an APT query based on an existing APT query

(1)3.3: View the results of an APT query (3)

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Conclusion

• Generally we didn’t find significant issues with the prototype design

• The main problems were:– Affordance Issues: need to move

functionality to a more visible location– Difficulty with APT concepts: temporal

nature of data– Terminology: Score, results, data,

classifications

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Demo

•• Questions or comments?