Running a Masters Level Study on Usability at The MMU Usability Lab

David Edmundson-Bird

Principal Lecturer Digital Marketing

MMU Business School

Running a Masters Level Study on Usability at The MMU Usability Lab

• Agenda – A look at the project

• The development of a methodology for the measurement of intention on mobile devices

– What’s it like to support a mobile marketing professional? • The Consultancy Dissertation

– What’s it like to conduct a study in our new lab? • The experience of the lab • Conducting ground-breaking research at an industrial

university • Why is it okay not to get the answers you're looking for?

Who? Paul McManus Mobile Marketing Manager at Win Technologies

David Edmundson-Bird Principal Lecturer Digital Marketing at MMU

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A METHODOLOGY FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF INTENTION ON MOBILE DEVICES

The Project Title

Background

• Trying to understand “intention”

– Theory of Reason Action (Azjen & Fishbein, 1980)

• Affected by attitude, “norms”, how you feel about behaviour

• Difference between goals and behaviour

• Alternatives

• Intention vs. estimation

• Accepting technology (Davis, 1989)

Background

• Multi-modal HCI

– Body, gesture, gaze, expression & audio emotion

• Problems with being given tasks

– Tasks given affect intention

• Intention Modelling (Spyrou & Darzentas (1996)

– Series of rules have to be applied

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO SUPPORT A MOBILE MARKETING PROFESSIONAL?

The Consultancy Dissertation

Supporting a Professional

• MMU/Econsultancy MSc Digital Marketing Communications

• Dissertation styles

– Empirical study

– Market survey & business planning

– Consultancy Dissertation

CONDUCTING A STUDY IN THE MMU UX LAB

Experience, Research and Professionalism

Paul’s Study

• Paul acted as my “Consultant”

• We wanted a methodology for measuring intention on mobile devices

• Paul’s work is about the experience of creating a methodology rather than to simply create a methodology

Paul’s Plan

• Develop an understanding of the test environment – Data collection tools

• Mobile eye-trackers

• UX room cameras

• PC with cam

– There was a lot Paul didn’t know about the lab, software, data relay etc.

– Inviting participants • Qualifying to be a participant

Paul’s Results

Paul’s Results

• Self-calibration with mobile eye-tracker, target focus and the software is impossible

• Mobile eye-tracking runs on 2 not 3 dimensions

• Other results

REFLECTIONS

Supervision

• Managing a professional (as opposed to a full-time student)

• Consultant approach vs. Empirical Study vs. “Inventing Something”

Methodology

• Intention measurement in mobile still has a long way to go

• Current technology has certain limitations

• DIY workaround solution shows we can manually deal with the problem

• Analysis incomplete as of 19/03/11 hence “other results”