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OCR for page R1
Methods for
Designing Software
to Fit Human Needs
and Capabilities
Proceedings of the Workshop
on Software Human Factors
Nancy S. Anderson and Judith Reitman Olson, Editors
Committee on Human Factors
Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
National Research Council
NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D.C. 1985
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was
approved by the Governing Board of the National Research
Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the
National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of
Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the
committee responsible for the report were chosen for their
special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors
according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee
consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the
National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was established by the National
Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of
science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering
knowledge and of advising the federal government. The Council
operates in accordance with general policies determined by the
Academy under the authority of its congressional charter of
1863, which establishes the Academy as a private, nonprofit,
self-governing membership corporation. The Council has become
the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of
Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in the conduct
of their services to the government, the public, and the
scientific and engineering communities. It is administered
jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. The
National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine
were established in 1964 and 1970, respectively, under the
charter of the National Academy of Sciences.
The Committee on Human Factors in the Commission on Behavioral
and Social Sciences and Education is sponsored jointly by the
Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Army Research
Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, the Office of
Naval Research, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, and the National Science Foundation.
This work relates to Department of the Navy Grant No.
N00014-85-G-0093 issued by the Office of Naval Research under
Contract Authority NR 196-167. However, the content does not
necessarily reflect the position or the policy of the
government, and no official endorsement should be inferred.
The United States government has at least a royalty-free,
nonexclusive and irrevocable license throughout the world for
government purposes to publish, translate, reproduce, deliver,
perform, dispose of, and to authorize others so to do, all or
any portion of this work.
Available from: Committee on Human Factors, National Research
Council, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.,
20418.
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WORKSHOP ON SOFTWARE HUMAN FACTORS
NANCY S. ANDERSON (Chair ), Department of Psychology ,
Un iver s ity of Maryland
ELIZABETH K. BAILEY, Software Metr ics, Inc., Falls
Church, Va.
STUART L. CARD, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center , Palo
Alto, Calif.
JOHN M. CARROLL, Watson Research Center, IBM Corporation,
Yor k town He igh ts, N. Y. .
ALPHONSE CHAPANIS, Industrial and Human Factors
Consulting Services, Baltimore, Md.
H. REX HARTSON, Department of Computer Science, Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University
DAVID R. LENOROVITZ, Computer Technology Associates, Inc.
Englewood, Colo.
MARILYN M. MANTEI, Graduate School of Business
Administration, University of Michigan
JUDITH REITMAN OLSON, Graduate School of Business
~ Administration, University of Michigan
RICHARD W. PEW, Bolt Beranek and Newman Laboratories,
Inc., Cambridge, Mass.
PHYLLIS REISNER, IBM Research, San Jose, Calif.
JANET WALKER, Symbolics, Inc., Cambridge, Mass.
JOHN A. WHITESIDE, Digital Equipment Corporation,
Maynard, Mass .
ROBERT C. WILLIGES, Department of Industr ial Eng ineer ing
and Operations Research, Virgin ia Polyteabn ic
I nsti tute and State University
iii
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COMMITTEE ON HUMAN FACTORS
THOMAS B. SHERIDAN (Chair), Mechanical Engineering and
Applied Psychology, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
NANCY S. ANDERSON, Department of Psychology, University
of Maryland
ALPHONSE CHAPANIS, Industrial and Human Factors
Consulting Services, Baltimore, Md.
JEROME ELKIND, Systems Development, Xerox Corporation,
Palo Alto, Calif.
BARUCH FISCHHOFF, Decision Research (a branch of
Perceptronics, Inc.), Eugene, Ore.
OSCAR GRUSKY, Department of Sociology, University of
California, Los Angeles
ROBERT M. GUION, Department of Psychology, Bowling Green
State University
JULIAN HOCHBERG, Department of Psychology, Columbia
University
K.~. EBERHARD KROEMER, Ergonomics Laboratory, Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University
THOMAS K. LANDAUER, Bell Communications Research,
Morristown, N.J.
JUDITH REITMAN OLSON, Graduate School of Business
Administration, University of Michigan
RICHARD M. PEW, Bolt Beranek and Newman Laboratories,
Inc., Cambridge, Mass.
STOVER H. SNOOK, Ergonomics Laboratory, Liberty Mutual
Research Center, Hopkinton, Mass.
ROBERT C. WILLIGES, Department of Industrial Engineering
and Operations Research, Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University
STANLEY DEUTSCH, Study Director
ANNE M. SPRAGUE, Administrative Secretary
or
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CONTENT S
FOREWORD
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
The Need for New Methods, 2
The Product Development Cycle, 3
ix
xi
1
HUMAN FACTORS METHODS IN RESEARCH AND PRODUCT DESIGN 4
Analys is: Gather ing Ideas, 4
Des ign: The Initial Design, 6
Formal Analysis of the Initial Design, 10
Building a Prototype, 11
Prototype Testing w ith User s ,- 12
Redes ign, 16
Implementation: Monitor ing Continued Per formance, 16
OTHER METHODS
ADVANCES AND SUCCESSES
E UTURE METHODS
CONCLUS ION
REFERENCES
· .
V11
18
21
22
25
26
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FOREWORD
The Committee on Human Factors was established in October
1980 by the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences
and Education of the National Research Council. It is
sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, the Air Force
Office of Scientific Research, the Army Research Institute
for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National
Science Foundation. The principal objectives of the
committee are to provide new perspectives on theoretical
and methodological issues, identify basic research needed
to expand and strengthen the scientific basis of human
factors, and to attract scientists both inside and
outside the field to perform needed research. The goal
of the committee is to provide the solid foundation of
research as a base on which effective human factors
practices can build.
Human factors issues arise in every domain in which
humans interact with the products of a technological
society. In order for the committee to perform its role
effectively, it draws on experts from a wide range of
scientific and engineering disciplines. The committee
includes specialists in the fields of psychology,
engineering, biomechanics, cognitive sciences, machine
intelligence, computer sciences, sociology, and human
factors engineering. Other disciplines participate in
the working groups, workshops, and symposia organized by
the committee. Each of these disciplines contributes to
the basic data, theory, and methods required to improve
the scientific basis of human factors.
1X
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PREFACE
Computers are pervasive in civilian and military
equipment systems. The compatibility of computer-based
devices and human users is predominantly dependent on the
characteristics of the software. The term software
human factors refers to the process of designing
software to be effective for human use, i.e., easy to
learn and use, productive, and efficient. However, no
specific efforts have been made to operationally define
the objectives of software human factors--a necessary
step both to focus research goals and to provide a
framework for development of general application
principles.
While a large amount of research has been performed on
software features related to ease of use or user compat-
ibility, most of these studies have been limited to a few
features investigated in a specific context. Conse-
quently, results from different studies cannot be inte-
grated, and it is hard to draw conclusions that can be
generalized to other situations. Overriding problems in
the development of principles of software human factors
are the lack of knowledge of how research on software
human factors should be conducted and a paucity of tech-
niques for measuring performance. For example, little is
known about how to collect user data on Pease of
learning, n how to define errors, how to record complex
response-time metrics, and how to measure user
satisfaction.
Researchers interested in the development of principles
for the design of user-compatible software have great
need for guidance in both research methods and performance
measurement techniques. AS an initial effort to fulfill
this need, the committee conducted a two-day workshop to
bring together highly qualified researchers with knowledge
xi
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about how to design software to be usable based on
studies in diverse fields.
The Workshop on Software Human Factors was convened in
June 1983 in Washington, D.C. The impetus for the
workshop grew directly from the review of the state of
research and practice in human-computer interaction in
the committee's 1983 report, Research Needs for Human
Factors. The workshop had three goals:
o
o
To identify current methods used to design and
evaluate human factors aspects of software,
including overall design and methods for collecting
data on user performance;
To ascertain what we know from software research
results that we did not know 10 years ago; and
o To identify new research methods that are needed,
both to develop design principles for software and
to discover how users understand software systems.
A group of 14 nationally recognized, active researchers
in the field of human-computer interaction from both
industry and academia were invited to participate in the
workshop. These workshop members represented a variety
of pertinent disciplines, including human factors, cogni-
tive psyabology, computer science, experimental psychol-
ogy, social psychology, and business administration. The
relevant bodies of knowledge represented by the partici-
pants include experimental design and data analysis, human
performance measurement, software design, information
processing, learning, and attitude assessment. Prior to
the workshop, participants prepared short, informal posi-
tion papers on the issues for distribution. To accomplish
the goal of collecting the desired knowledge about the
design of software, the group spent two days listing both
design and evaluation methods currently in use for the
product development of good software and relevant research
methods for understanding basic issues in user-software
interaction; describing each method and constructing a
list of references in which these methods are used;
categorizing methods according to their uses in various
stages of software product development or in more basic
research; and suggesting new methods and techniques,
designating their possible uses, and indicating which
appear to have high near-term payoff.
The technical aspects of the workshop were organized
by committee members Nancy S. Anderson and Alphonse
Chapanis. The meeting was chaired by Nancy Anderson.
xii
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The report that follows, edited by Nancy Anderson and
Judith Reitman Olson, is based on discussions from the
workshop and written materials and references contributed
by the participants during and subsequent to the workshop.
Special appreciation is extended to Robert T. Hennessy
and M. Jeanne Richards, formerly of the committee staff,
for the ir contributions in making the seas ions productive
and pleasant; to Stanley Deutsch, study director of the
committee, for his contributions to the organization and
preparation of the report; to Christine McShane, of the
Commission staff, for editorial support; and to Anne
Sprague, administrative secretary, for secretarial and
administrative support. They all helped to usher this
report to publication.
Nancy S. Anderson, Chair
Workshop on Software Human Factors
xiii
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