Analysis Paper
The Analysis Paper applies two different measures to the interface for some part of a software application with which you are reasonably familiar: a GOMS analysis and a heuristic analysis.
Remember that you need to keep the task clearly defined and pretty small. Otherwise you will be overwhelmed when you try to analyze the whole thing.
A heuristic analysis is carried out by applying a set of questions and/or known principles to a given interface. You should use the various principles you have encountered in Raskin and in Shneiderman and Plaisant, supplemented by the work of other user research experts such as Jakob Nielsen, to determine the questions and/or principles you need to apply to the piece of the software you are working with.
The following steps will guide your work on your analysis paper:
- Define a task (or a small cluster of tasks) in Web-based application you have used.
- Document the steps the application requires to accomplish the task - screen shots help in this phase a great deal.
- Using the concepts from Raskin, from Shneiderman and Plaisant, and from any ACM readings that you find applicable (e.g., locus of attention, short term memory, cognitive consciousness, usability, efficiency, pleasure), undertake a "heuristic" analysis of the interface - that is, assess it by applying known principles to its elements.
- Undertake a GOMS analysis of the segment of the interface you think is the weakest. If it is a complicated task or interface, you need to focus your analysis on just one segment to keep the assignment to an appropriate scale.
Please send me and each other email if you have questions about the assignment and need clarification.
