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George S. Hackman

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Publications by George S. Hackman (bibliography)

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1992
 
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Hackman, George S. and Biers, David W. (1992): Team Usability Testing: Are Two Heads Better Than One?. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 36th Annual Meeting 1992. pp. 1205-1209.

The purpose of the study was to compare a team usability testing paradigm with that of the typical single user paradigm in terms of the quantity and quality of the user's verbalization (i.e. thinking out-loud) and performance. The study employed a three group design in which the type of usability paradigm (Single, Observer, Team) was manipulated. Users first learned to use an off-the-shelf database management package by means of a short tutorial and then engaged in six structured tasks. While engaging in the tasks, the users either thought-out-loud alone (Single condition), in the presence of an observer (Observer condition), or as participants of a team working on the tasks together (Team condition). Results indicated that there were no significant differences among the three conditions in terms of performance nor any extensive differences in their subjective evaluation of the software. However, users in the Team condition spent more total time verbalizing than those in the Single or Observer condition. More importantly, results of a verbal protocol analysis revealed that the Team spent more time making statements which had high value for designers than did the other two conditions (which did not differ from one another). When broken out by individual users in the Team, there were no significant differences between individual team members and users in the other two conditions in making high value comments. The results suggest that the Team paradigm may be more efficient in extracting high value information without any noticeable differences in performance or subjective impression of the software.

© All rights reserved Hackman and Biers and/or Human Factors Society

 
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Changes to this page (author)

24 Feb 2010: Modified
26 Jun 2007: Added

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May 23

Knowledge is commonly socially constructed, through collaborative efforts towards shared objectives or by dialogues and challenges brought about by different persons' perspectives.

-- G. Salomon (in "Distributed Cognitions: Psychological and Educational Considerations")

 
 

Featured chapter

Read the fascinating history of Wearable Computing, told by its father, Steve Mann

Read Steve's chapter !

 
 

Help us help you!