Susan Wiedenbeck
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"S. Wiedenbeck"
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Publications by Susan Wiedenbeck (bibliography)
» 2009 «
Myers, Brad A., Burnett, Margaret M., Wiedenbeck, Susan, Ko, Andrew J. and Rosson, Mary Beth (2009): End user software engineering: CHI: 2009 special interest group meeting. In: Proceedings of ACM CHI 2009 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2009. pp. 2731-2734. Available online
“End users create software whenever they write, for instance, educational simulations, spreadsheets, or dynamic e-business web applications. Researchers are working to bring the benefits of rigorous software engineering methodologies to these end users to try to make their software more reliable. Unfortunately, errors are pervasive in end-user software, and the resulting impact is sometimes enormous. This special interest group meeting will bring together the community of researchers who are addressing this topic with the companies that are creating and using end-user programming tools.”
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Ma, Shanshan and Wiedenbeck, Susan (2009): File management with hierarchical folders and tags. In: Proceedings of ACM CHI 2009 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2009. pp. 3745-3750. Available online
“Hierarchical folders have been widely used for managing digital files. Previous research has revealed problems with them. Users frequently have to turn to desktop search to re-find files, even if they thought they had saved them in a memorable place. Tagging may have the potential to improve information navigation and organization. This research in progress aims at exploring the possibility of incorporating tagging into the hierarchical folder structure for file management, especially for the process of file organization and file re-finding. This work will provide design implications for future file management tools.”
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» 2008 «
Subrahmaniyan, Neeraja, Beckwith, Laura, Grigoreanu, Valentina, Burnett, Margaret, Wiedenbeck, Susan, Narayanan, Vaishnavi, Bucht, Karin, Drummond, Russell and Fern, Xiaoli (2008): Testing vs. code inspection vs. what else?: male and female end users' debugging strategies. In: Proceedings of ACM CHI 2008 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems April 5-10, 2008. pp. 617-626. Available online
“Little is known about the strategies end-user programmers use in debugging their programs, and even less is known about gender differences that may exist in these strategies. Without this type of information, designers of end-user programming systems cannot know the "target" at which to aim, if they are to support male and female end-user programmers. We present a study investigating this issue. We asked end-user programmers to debug spreadsheets and to describe their debugging strategies. Using mixed methods, we analyzed their strategies and looked for relationships among participants' strategy choices, gender, and debugging success. Our results indicate that males and females debug in quite different ways, that opportunities for improving support for end-user debugging strategies for both genders are abundant, and that tools currently available to end-user debuggers may be especially deficient in supporting debugging strategies used by females.”
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Pane, John F. and Wiedenbeck, Susan (2008): Expanding the benefits of computational thinking to diverse populations: Graduate student consortium. In: VL-HCC 2008 - IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing 15-19 September, 2008, Herrsching am Ammersee, Germany. p. 253. Available online
Grigoreanu, Valentina, Cao, Jill, Kulesza, Todd, Bogart, Christopher, Rector, Kyle, Burnett, Margaret M. and Wiedenbeck, Susan (2008): Can feature design reduce the gender gap in end-user software development environments?. In: VL-HCC 2008 - IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing 15-19 September, 2008, Herrsching am Ammersee, Germany. pp. 149-156. Available online
» 2007 «
Wiedenbeck, Susan, Sun, Xiaoning and Chintakovid, Thippaya (2007): Antecedents to End Users' Success in Learning to Program in an Introductory Programming Course. In: VL-HCC 2007 - IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing 23-27 September, 2007, Coeur dAlene, Idaho, USA. pp. 69-72. Available online
Sun, Xiaoning, Wiedenbeck, Susan, Chintakovid, Thippaya and Zhang, Qiping (2007): Gender Talk: Differences in Interaction Style in CMC. In: Baranauskas, Maria Cecília Calani, Palanque, Philippe A., Abascal, Julio and Barbosa, Simone Diniz Junqueira (eds.) DEGAS 2007 - Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Design and Evaluation of e-Government Applications and Services September 11th, 2007, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. pp. 215-218. Available online
» 2006 «
Beckwith, Laura, Kissinger, Cory, Burnett, Margaret, Wiedenbeck, Susan, Lawrance, Joseph, Blackwell, Alan and Cook, Curtis (2006): Tinkering and gender in end-user programmers' debugging. In: Proceedings of ACM CHI 2006 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2006. pp. 231-240. Available online
“Earlier research on gender effects with software features intended to help problem-solvers in end-user debugging environments has shown that females are less likely to use unfamiliar software features. This poses a serious problem because these features may be key to helping them with debugging problems. Contrasting this with research documenting males' inclination for tinkering in unfamiliar environments, the question arises as to whether encouraging tinkering with new features would help females overcome the factors, such as low self-efficacy, that led to the earlier results. In this paper, we present an experiment with males and females in an end-user debugging setting, and investigate how tinkering behavior impacts several measures of their debugging success. Our results show that the factors of tinkering, reflection, and self-efficacy, can combine in multiple ways to impact debugging effectiveness differently for males than for females.”
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Beckwith, Laura, Burnett, Margaret M., Grigoreanu, Valentina and Wiedenbeck, Susan (2006): Gender HCI: What About the Software?. In IEEE Computer, 39 (11) pp. 97-101
Chintakovid, Thippaya, Wiedenbeck, Susan, Burnett, Margaret M. and Grigoreanu, Valentina (2006): Pair Collaboration in End-User Debugging. In: VL-HCC 2006 - IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing 4-8 September, 2006, Brighton, UK. pp. 3-10. Available online
Wiedenbeck, Susan, Waters, Jim, Sobrado, Leonardo and Birget, Jean-Camille (2006): Design and evaluation of a shoulder-surfing resistant graphical password scheme. In: Celentano, Augusto (ed.) AVI 2006 - Proceedings of the working conference on Advanced visual interfaces May 23-26, 2006, Venezia, Italy. pp. 177-184. Available online
» 2005 «
Wiedenbeck, Susan, Waters, Jim, Birget, Jean-Camille, Brodskiy, Alex and Memon, Nasir (2005): PassPoints: Design and longitudinal evaluation of a graphical password system. In International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 63 (1) pp. 102-127
“Computer security depends largely on passwords to authenticate human users. However, users have difficulty remembering passwords over time if they choose a secure password, i.e. a password that is long and random. Therefore, they tend to choose short and insecure passwords. Graphical passwords, which consist of clicking on images rather than typing alphanumeric strings, may help to overcome the problem of creating secure and memorable passwords. In this paper we describe PassPoints, a new and more secure graphical password system. We report an empirical study comparing the use of PassPoints to alphanumeric passwords. Participants created and practiced either an alphanumeric or graphical password. The participants subsequently carried out three longitudinal trials to input their password over the course of 6 weeks. The results show that the graphical password users created a valid password with fewer difficulties than the alphanumeric users. However, the graphical users took longer and made more invalid password inputs than the alphanumeric users while practicing their passwords. In the longitudinal trials the two groups performed similarly on memory of their password, but the graphical group took more time to input a password.”
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Beckwith, Laura, Burnett, Margaret, Wiedenbeck, Susan, Cook, Curtis, Sorte, Shraddha and Hastings, Michelle (2005): Effectiveness of end-user debugging software features: are there gender issues?. In: Proceedings of ACM CHI 2005 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2005. pp. 869-878. Available online
“Although gender differences in a technological world are receiving significant research attention, much of the research and practice has aimed at how society and education can impact the successes and retention of female computer science professionals-but the possibility of gender issues within software has received almost no attention. If gender issues exist with some types of software features, it is possible that accommodating them by changing these features can increase effectiveness, but only if we know what these issues are. In this paper, we empirically investigate gender differences for end users in the context of debugging spreadsheets. Our results uncover significant gender differences in self-efficacy and feature acceptance, with females exhibiting lower self-efficacy and lower feature acceptance. The results also show that these differences can significantly reduce females' effectiveness.”
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Wiedenbeck, Susan, Waters, Jim, Birget, Jean-Camille, Brodskiy, Alex and Memon, Nasir (2005): Authentication using graphical passwords: effects of tolerance and image choice. In: Proceedings of the 2005 Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security 2005. pp. 1-12. Available online
“Graphical passwords are an alternative to alphanumeric passwords in which users click on images to authenticate themselves rather than type alphanumeric strings. We have developed one such system, called PassPoints, and evaluated it with human users. The results of the evaluation were promising with respect to memorability of the graphical password. In this study we expand our human factors testing by studying two issues: the effect of tolerance, or margin of error, in clicking on the password points and the effect of the image used in the password system. In our tolerance study, results show that accurate memory for the password is strongly reduced when using a small tolerance (10 x 10 pixels) around the user's password points. This may occur because users fail to encode the password points in memory in the precise manner that is necessary to remember the password over a lapse of time. In our image study we compared user performance on four everyday images. The results indicate that there were few significant differences in performance of the images. This preliminary result suggests that many images may support memorability in graphical password systems.”
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Beckwith, Laura, Sorte, Shraddha, Burnett, Margaret M., Wiedenbeck, Susan, Chintakovid, Thippaya and Cook, Curtis R. (2005): Designing Features for Both Genders in End-User Programming Environments. In: VL-HCC 2005 - IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing 21-24 September, 2005, Dallas, TX, USA. pp. 153-160. Available online
Wiedenbeck, Susan (2005): Facilitators and Inhibitors of End-User Development by Teachers in a School Environment. In: VL-HCC 2005 - IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing 21-24 September, 2005, Dallas, TX, USA. pp. 215-222. Available online
» 2004 «
Wiedenbeck, Susan and Engebretson, Alec (2004): Comprehension Strategies of End-User Programmers in an Event-Driven Application. In: VL-HCC 2004 - IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing 26-29 September, 2004, Rome, Italy. pp. 207-214. Available online
» 2003 «
Corritore, Cynthia L., Kracher, Beverly and Wiedenbeck, Susan (2003): Editorial. In International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 58 (6) pp. 633-635
Corritore, Cynthia L., Kracher, Beverly and Wiedenbeck, Susan (2003): On-line trust: concepts, evolving themes, a model. In International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 58 (6) pp. 737-758
“Trust is emerging as a key element of success in the on-line environment.
Although considerable research on trust in the offline world has been
performed, to date empirical study of on-line trust has been limited. This
paper examines on-line trust, specifically trust between people and
informational or transactional websites. It begins by analysing the definitions
of trust in previous offline and on-line research. The relevant dimensions of
trust for an on-line context are identified, and a definition of trust between
people and informational or transactional websites is presented. We then turn
to an examination of the causes of on-line trust. Relevant findings in the
human-computer interaction literature are identified. A model of on-line trust
between users and websites is presented. The model identifies three perceptual
factors that impact on-line trust: perception of credibility, ease of use and
risk. The model is discussed in detail and suggestions for future applications
of the model are presented.”
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Thomas, C., Corritore, C., Kracher, Beverly and Wiedenbeck, Susan (2003): Development and Validation of a Tool for Measuring Online Trust. In: Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction 2003. pp. 716-720.
Jenkins, C., Corritore, C. and Wiedenbeck, Susan (2003): The Effects of Expertise in Web Searching. In: Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction 2003. pp. 778-782.
» 2002 «
Engebretson, Alec and Wiedenbeck, Susan (2002): Novice Comprehension of Programs Using Task-Specific and Non-Task-Specific Constructs. In: HCC 2002 - IEEE CS International Symposium on Human-Centric Computing Languages and Environments 3-6 September, 2002, Arlington, VA, USA. pp. 11-18. Available online
» 2001 «
Corritore, Cynthia L. and Wiedenbeck, Susan (2001): An Exploratory Study of Program Comprehension Strategies of Procedural and Object-Oriented Programmers. In International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 54 (1) pp. 1-23
“This exploratory study examines the nature of program understanding strategies employed during a series of comprehension and maintenance activities carried out over time. Two dimensions of comprehension were examined: the direction of comprehension and the breadth of comprehension. Thirty expert procedural and object-oriented (OO) programmers studied a program and then performed modifications during two sessions held 1 week apart. The results showed that the direction of comprehension was mixed. The OO programmers tended to use a strongly top-down approach to program understanding during the early phase of familiarization with the program but used an increasingly bottom-up approach during the subsequent maintenance tasks. The procedural programmers used a more bottom-up orientation even during the early phase, and this bottom-up approach became even stronger during the maintenance tasks. The breadth of the programmers' comprehension was found to be greater for the procedural programmers than for the object-oriented programmers. However, after carrying out a series of tasks, all programmers had examined the majority of the program code. The results suggest that, regardless of paradigm, expert programmers eventually build a broad systematic, rather than a localized, view of a program over time.”
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Davis, Sidney A. and Wiedenbeck, Susan (2001): The Mediating Effects of Intrinsic Motivation, Ease of Use and Usefulness Perceptions on Performance in First-Time and Subsequent Computer Users. In Interacting with Computers, 13 (5) pp. 549-580
“This study examines how certain software interfaces and prior exposure to other interfaces lead to effective learning. In particular, it studies the roles of the interaction style and the learner's prior exposure to other interaction styles mediated by the engagement of the learning environment, users' perceptions of the usefulness of the software, and users' perceptions of their ability to use the software successfully. In the experimental paradigm, two groups that learned a menu-driven or command-driven word processors after prior exposure to the assimilative context of a direct manipulation interaction style were compared to groups that learned those same interaction styles with no prior exposure to the assimilative context of the direct manipulation style software. The results confirm the importance of directness in the interaction style and of a prior assimilative context for learning. However, they also indicate that engagement has a strong effect on performance via its effect on perceived ease of use (PEU). This suggests that software designers should not only give special attention to creating software that promotes interface directness, but that also promotes engagement. Our results also suggest that it may be difficult to create engaging learning environments for learners who do not possess a relevant assimilative context to support software learning.”
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Corritore, C., Kracher, Beverly and Wiedenbeck, Susan (2001): Trust in the Online Environment. In: Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction 2001. pp. 1548-1552.
Wiedenbeck, Susan and Davis, S. (2001): Intrinsic Motivation, Ease of Use and Usefulness Perceptions as Mediators in Computer Learning. In: Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction 2001. pp. 1553-1557.
» 1999 «
Wiedenbeck, Susan (1999): The Use of Icons and Labels in an End User Application Program: An Empirical Study of Learning and Retention. In Behaviour and Information Technology, 18 (2) pp. 68-82
“This research compared the learning of an application program whose interface was implemented using buttons with text labels, icons, or a fully redundant combination of icons and text labels. The objective was to: 1) evaluate the success of novice computer users in initially learning to use the application and in later use in a delayed session and 2) measure users' attitudes toward the application. Each session was divided into four blocks, and performance in the blocks was measured in terms of correctness of the tasks performed, time to perform tasks, and number of times the help facility was accessed. In addition, at the end of each session the participants' perceptions of the ease of use and usefulness of the software were measured. The results showed that in the first session performance was best on the label-only and icon-label interfaces. Performance on the icon-only interface was much poorer in session 1, particularly in terms of time and help references, but improved in session 2 to the point where it approached the performance on the other interfaces. Retention of skill between the initial and the delayed session was worse for the icon-only interface, but the effect was short-lived. Perceptions of ease of use were consistently better for the icon-label interface than for the other two interfaces. Perceptions of usefulness were higher for the icon-only and icon-label interfaces than for the label-only interface in the first session. Perceptions of usefulness became more positive for the icon-only group in the delayed session, but did not change for the other groups.”
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Corritore, Cynthia L. and Wiedenbeck, Susan (1999): Mental Representations of Expert Procedural and Object-Oriented Programmers in a Software Maintenance Task. In International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 50 (1) pp. 61-83
“This study examines the mental representations formed during program comprehension and maintenance by procedural and object-oriented (OO) experts. The programmer's mental representation reflects comprehension of a program and guides tasks carried out on the program, such as debugging and modifications. The goals of the research were three-fold: (a) to determine if and how the mental representations of procedural and OO experts differ, (2) to investigate the initial mental representation formed while comprehending a moderately large program and (3) to examine the evolution of the mental representations of procedural and OO experts over time as they carried out several modifications of the same program. Fifteen expert procedural programmers and 15 expert object-oriented programmers studied and then performed three program modifications during two sessions which were 7-10 days apart. They answered two question sets designed to elicit the categories of knowledge present in their mental representations at different times. The initial mental representation of the OO participants was dominated by problem domain-based knowledge and contained relatively little detailed program information. The procedural participants' initial representation was more balanced, containing domain-based knowledge and also substantial program detail. After performing the modifications, the procedural participants' representations remained essentially the same, while those of the OO participants became more balanced with respect to the program and domain elements. The results suggest that, regardless of paradigm, expert programmers build a mixed mental representation of a larger program, which includes detailed program knowledge as well as domain-based knowledge.”
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Wiedenbeck, Susan and Scholtz, Jeanne (1999): Introduction to the Special Issue "Best of Empirical Studies of Programmers 7. In International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 51 (1) pp. 3-5
Wiedenbeck, Susan and Ramalingam, Vennila (1999): Novice Comprehension of Small Programs Written in the Procedural and Object-Oriented Styles. In International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 51 (1) pp. 71-87
“This research studied the comprehension of small procedural and object-oriented programs by novice programmers. The objective was to find out what kinds of information novice programmers extract from small programs and to infer from this the mental representation formed during program comprehension. In particular, the question was whether novices' mental representations focus more on domain-level or program-level knowledge and whether the mental representation of object-oriented program differ from procedural programs. The experiment indicated that novices tend to develop a mental representation of small object-oriented programs strong in function-related knowledge, but weaker in data flow and program-related knowledge. By contrast, novices' mental representations of small procedural programs were stronger in program-related knowledge. The results are discussed in terms of theories of program comprehension and programming pedagogy.”
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Wiedenbeck, Susan, Ramalingam, Vennila, Sarasamma, Suseela and Corritore, Cynthia L. (1999): A Comparison of the Comprehension of Object-Oriented and Procedural Programs by Novice Programmers. In Interacting with Computers, 11 (3) pp. 255-282
“This paper reports on two experiments comparing mental representations and program comprehension by novices in the object-oriented and procedural styles. The subjects were novice programmers enrolled in a second course in programming which taught either the object-oriented or the procedural paradigm. The first experiment compared the mental representations and comprehension of short programs written in the procedural and object-oriented styles. The second experiment extended the study to a larger program incorporating more advanced language features. For the short programs there was no significant difference between the two groups with respect to the total number of questions answered correctly, but the object-oriented subjects were superior to the procedural subjects at answering questions about program function. This suggests that function information was more readily available in their mental representations of the programs and supports an argument that the object-oriented notation highlights function at the level of the individual class. For the long program a corresponding effect was not found. The comprehension of procedural subjects was superior to object-oriented subjects on all types of question. The difficulties experienced by the object-oriented subjects in answering questions in a larger program suggest that they faced problems in marshaling information and drawing inferences from it. We suggest that this result may be related to a longer learning curve for novices of the object-oriented style, as well as to features of the OO style and the particular OO language notation.”
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» 1998 «
Davis, Sid and Wiedenbeck, Susan (1998): The Effect of Interaction Style and Training Method on End User Learning of Software Packages. In Interacting with Computers, 11 (2) pp. 147-172
“This paper reports two studies of software learning by individuals who use packages as a tool but never become experts. Using assimilation theory, we studied the effect of three interaction styles (direct manipulation, menu, and command) and two training methods (instruction and exploration) on the initial learning of a package and the subsequent learning of functionally equivalent packages. Results suggest that direct manipulation aids initial learning and that previous experience is a moderate aid in learning a subsequent package, but only when the interaction styles are similar. Exploration training does not appear to aid learners in a short training period.”
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» 1997 «
Ramalingam, Vennila and Wiedenbeck, Susan (1997): An Empirical Study of Novice Program Comprehension in the Imperative and Object-Oriented Styles. In: Empirical Studies of Programmers - Seventh Workshop October 24-26, 1997, 1997, Alexandria, Virginia. pp. 124-139. Available online
“The objective of this study was to determine whether the mental representation of object-oriented programs differs from imperative programs for novice programmers. In our study novices who had little or no previous programming experience studied and answered questions about three imperative and three object-oriented programs. The questions targeted information categories making up the program model and the domain model representations of the programs. It was found that there was a sharp contrast between the mental representations of the imperative and object-oriented programs. While the comprehension of the imperative programs was better overall than that of the object-oriented programs, the mental representations of the imperative programs focused on program-level knowledge. On the other hand, the mental representations of the object-oriented programs focused more strongly on domain-level knowledge. The results tend to support the view that language notations differ in how well they support the extraction of various kinds of information.”
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Wiedenbeck, Susan and Davis, Sid (1997): The Influence of Interaction Style and Experience on User Perceptions of Software Packages. In International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 46 (5) pp. 563-588
“In recent years, a body of literature has developed which shows that users' perceptions of software are a key element in its ultimate acceptance and use. We focus on how the interaction style and prior experience with similar software affect users' perceptions of software packages. In our experiment, direct manipulation, menu-driven and command-driven interfaces were investigated. We studied users' perceptions of the software in two hands-on training sessions. In the first session, novice users were given initial training with word-processing software, and in the second session the users were trained on a word processor which was functionally equivalent to the prior one, but had a different interaction style. In the initial training session, we found that the interaction style had a reliable but small effect on learners' perceptions of ease of use. The direct manipulation interface was judged easier to use than the command style. The interaction style, however, did not affect learners' perceptions of the usefulness of the software. In the second training session, subjects who had used a direct manipulation interface in the first session learned either the menu-based or command-based software. The perceptions of these users were compared to those of learners, who had used the menu or command software in the initial training session. We found that both interaction style and the prior experience with a direct manipulation interface affected perceptions of ease of use. Subjects with prior experience of a direct style interface tended to have very negative attitudes toward a less direct interface style. The interaction style did not affect perceptions of usefulness of the package, but the prior experience did. These results suggest that users' attitudes toward software are strongly influenced by their past history of usage, including what interaction styles the user has encountered, and this should be considered in the design of software and training programs.”
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Wiedenbeck, Susan and Zila, Patti L. (1997): Hands-On Practice in Learning to Use Software: A Comparison of Exercise Exploration, and Combined Formats. In ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 4 (2) pp. 169-196
“This research addresses two issues in the domain of computer training: (1) whether learners are able to use exploration-based practice methods effectively to learn to use software and (2) whether some minimal computing background is necessary to be successful with minimalist training and exploration practice. An empirical study was carried out to compare exploration, exercises, and a combined format consisting of an exercise followed by exploration. Subjects of both high and low computer experience were included in the study. It was thought that the combined format might lead to superior training outcomes because it would both structure learning through an exercise and allow learners to go beyond the simple procedures in the training manual through exploration. The results showed that the performance of the low-experience subjects at test did not differ based on the type of practice. However, high-experience subjects who were trained using exercises or the combined format did significantly better than those trained using exploration alone. The similarity of performance of subjects in the exercise and combined practice conditions suggests that the exercise component of the practice explains their success.”
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» 1996 «
Wiedenbeck, Susan (1996): Adaptation of Programming Plans in Transfer Between Programming Languages: A Developmental Approach. In: Gray, Wayne D., Boehm-Davis, Deborah A. and Spohrer, James C. (eds.) Empirical Studies of Programmers - Sixth Workshop January 5-7, 1996, 1996, Alexandria, Virginia. pp. 233-255.
» 1995 «
Wiedenbeck, Susan, Zila, Patti L. and McConnell, Daniel S. (1995): End-User Training: An Empirical Study Comparing On-Line Practice Methods. In: Katz, Irvin R., Mack, Robert L., Marks, Linn, Rosson, Mary Beth and Nielsen, Jakob (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 95 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference May 7-11, 1995, Denver, Colorado. pp. 74-81. Available online
“An empirical study was carried out comparing three kinds of hands-on practice in training users of a software package: exercises, guided-exploration, and a combination of exercises and guided-exploration. Moderate to high experience computer users were trained. Subjects who were trained with exercises or the combined approach did significantly better in both time and errors than those trained using guided-exploration. There were no significant differences between the exercise and the combined approach groups. Thus, it appears that the better performance of these groups can be attributed to the exercise component of their practice.”
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» 1993 «
Fix, Vikki, Wiedenbeck, Susan and Scholtz, Jean (1993): Mental Representations of Programs by Novices and Experts. In: Ashlund, Stacey, Mullet, Kevin, Henderson, Austin, Hollnagel, Erik and White, Ted (eds.) Proceedings of the ACM CHI 93 Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference April 24-29, 1993, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. pp. 74-79. Available online
“This paper presents five abstract characteristics of the mental representation of computer programs: hierarchical structure, explicit mapping of code to goals, foundation on recognition of recurring patterns, connection of knowledge, and grounding in the program text. An experiment is reported in which expert and novice programmers studied a Pascal program for comprehension and then answered a series of questions about it designed to show these characteristics if they existed in the mental representations formed. Evidence for all of the abstract characteristics was found in the mental representations of expert programmers. Novices' representations generally lacked the characteristics, but there was evidence that they had the beginnings, although poorly developed, of such characteristics.”
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Scholtz, Jean and Wiedenbeck, Susan (1993): An Analysis of Novice Programmers Learning a Second Language. In: Cook, Curtis, Scholtz, Jean and Spohrer, James C. (eds.) Empirical Studies of Programmers - Fifth Workshop December 3-15, 1993, 1993, Palo Alto, California. pp. 187-205.
“This research studied novice programmers with some Pascal knowledge during their initial attempts at learning another programming language. We wanted to identify the programming knowledge they had previously acquired and determine if they were able to use this knowledge in learning a second language. We found that plan structure differences could be used to predict problems programmers encountered. Additionally, we discovered that novices were hampered in transferring to a new language, not only by features of the new language, but by inadequate or missing knowledge of both programming constructs from their first language and programming concepts in general.”
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Wiedenbeck, Susan, Fix, Vikki and Scholtz, Jean (1993): Characteristics of the Mental Representations of Novice and Expert Programmers: An Empirical Study. In International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 39 (5) pp. 793-812
“This paper presents five abstract characteristics of the mental representation of computer programs: hierarchical structure, explicit mapping of code to goals, foundation on recognition of recurring patterns, connection of knowledge, and grounding in the program text. An experiment is reported in which expert and novice programmers studied a Pascal program for comprehension and then answered a series of questions about it, designed to show these characteristics if they existed in the mental representations formed. Evidence for all of the abstract characteristics was found in the mental representations of expert programmers. Novices' representations generally lacked the characteristics, but there was evidence that they had the beginnings, although poorly developed, of such characteristics.”
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Santhanam, Radhika and Wiedenbeck, Susan (1993): Neither Novice Nor Expert: The Discretionary User of Software. In International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 38 (2) pp. 201-229
“Most studies that examine users' interaction with computers focus either on novices or experts. Discretionary users of computers, such as lawyers, executives, administrators and professors have been ignored. Using techniques of process analysis, this study investigated the characteristics of discretionary users by observing their interaction with commercial word-processing software. Their performance was compared to groups of novices and experts. Results indicate that discretionary users exhibit expert-like characteristics on a small set of routine editing tasks, beyond which their behavior is quite novice-like. A procedural model that indicates areas where software design could improve the editing performance of discretionary users is also discussed.”
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Scholtz, Jean and Wiedenbeck, Susan (1993): Using Unfamiliar Programming Languages: The Effects on Expertise. In Interacting with Computers, 5 (1) pp. 13-30
“The paper begins by describing a model of the influences operating when an experienced programmer learns to program in an unfamiliar language. It then reports on an empirical study which investigated how a change of programming language affects experienced programmers. Programmers solved a familiar problem using two unfamiliar languages. It was found that programmers used knowledge from past experience in solving the problem, but often had to adapt the knowledge to take good advantages of the new languages. They were only partly successful in doing this, and overall performance was poor. The solution process of the programmers was disrupted, as shown by more plan changes and more extensive backward planning. The two unfamiliar languages had impacts at different levels in the planning process.”
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» 1992 «
Scholtz, Jeanne and Wiedenbeck, Susan (1992): Learning New Programming Languages: An Analysis of the Process and Problems Encountered. In Behaviour and Information Technology, 11 (4) pp. 199-215
“Experienced programmers transferring to a new language have a far easier time than the novice learning a first language. However, they still experience considerable difficulties. The objective in this exploratory study was to characterize the kinds of learning and transfer that take place in the early stages of using a new programming language and where difficulties develop. 'Think-aloud' protocols were videotaped as subjects went about trying to write a program in a new programming language. Subjects used one of two unfamiliar languages, one similar to their known language (Pascal) and the other dissimilar. Three types of analyses were done on the recorded protocols: a procedural analysis showing the activities the subjects engaged in as they learned the new language, a programming knowledge analysis showing in which areas of program development difficulties were encountered, and a solutions analysis showing how successful the programmers were at using unique features of the new language. We found that the procedures programmers used to learn a new language were independent of the language being learned. The slight differences that existed in procedures were between levels of expertise. Programmers spent the majority of their time reading a language textbook. The programming knowledge analysis showed that programmers' main area of concentration was planning how to implement their approach given the constructs available in the language. We observed many iterations of programmers trying to implement plans, failing and having to revise their plans. Examination of the subjects' solutions and implementation approaches in Pascal led us to believe that programmers learning a new language are often biased by their implementation of algorithms in previous languages.”
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Scholtz, Jean and Wiedenbeck, Susan (1992): The Role of Planning in Learning a New Programming Language. In International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 37 (2) pp. 191-214
“This paper reports on a protocol analysis of experienced programmers beginning to program in an unknown programming language. The data show that programmers have greatest difficulty with and spend by far the largest portion of their time engaged in planning activities. Many of the subjects produced working solutions to the problem they were given, using plans coming from their previous experience with other languages. Such plans failed to take good advantage of the features of the new language. From our data we present a model of planning in a new language which shows planning to be mostly a depth-first process which uses a top-down strategy of adopting plans which have proven successful in other languages, as well as a bottom-up strategy of searching for features in the new language which may suggest an appropriate plan.”
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Scholtz, Jean and Wiedenbeck, Susan (1992): The Use of Unfamiliar Programming Languages by Experienced Programmers. In: Monk, Andrew, Diaper, Dan and Harrison, Michael D. (eds.) Proceedings of the Seventh Conference of the British Computer Society Human Computer Interaction Specialist Group - People and Computers VII August 15-18, 1992, University of York, UK. pp. 45-56.
“This paper begins by describing a model of the influences operating when an experienced programmer learns to program in an unfamiliar language. It then reports on an empirical study which investigated how a change of programming language affects experienced programmers. Programmers solved a familiar problem using an unfamiliar language. It was found that programmers used knowledge from past experience in solving the problem but often had to adapt the knowledge to take good advantages of the new language. They were only partly successful in doing this, and overall performance was poor. Their solution process was disrupted, as shown by more plan changes and backward planning.”
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» 1991 «
Corritore, Cynthia L. and Wiedenbeck, Susan (1991): What Do Novices Learn During Program Comprehension?. In International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 3 (2) pp. 199-222
“Comprehension of computer programs involves identifying important program parts and inferring relationships between them. The ability to comprehend a computer program is a skill that begins its development in the novice programmer and reaches maturity in the expert programmer. This research examined the beginning of this process, that of comprehension of computer programs by novice programmers. The mental representations of the program text that novice form, which indicate the comprehension strategies being used, were examined. In the first study, 80 novice programmers were tested on their comprehension of short program segments. The results suggested that novices form detailed, concrete mental representations of the program text, supporting work that has previously been done with novice comprehension. Their mental representations were primarily procedural in nature, with little or no modeling using real-world referents. In a second study, the upper and lower quartile comprehenders from Study 1 were tested on their comprehension of a longer program. Results supported the conclusions from study 1 in that the novices tended towards detailed representations of the program text with little real-world reference. However, the comprehension strategies used by high comprehenders differed substantially from those used by low comprehenders. Results indicated that the more advanced novices were using more abstract concepts in their representations, although their abstractions were detailed in nature.”
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Wiedenbeck, Susan (1991): The Initial Stage of Program Comprehension. In International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 35 (4) pp. 517-540
“Beacons are stereotypical segments of code which serve as typical indicators of the presence of a particular programming structure or operation. Four experiments were carried out to study the role of beacons in programmers' initial formation of knowledge of program function. It was found that the presence of a beacon made a program easier for experienced programmers to comprehend on initial study. This was found to be true even when the specific program containing the beacon was previously unfamiliar to the programmer. Also, beacons which were inappropriately placed in a program where they did not belong lead to "false comprehension" of the program's function. If a strong beacon for some operation was present, programmers tended to use it to form their initial idea of a program's function and to largely ignore other information which contradicted it. As a whole, the results of the experiments suggest that beacons may play an important role in the initial high-level comprehension of programs.”
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Santhanam, Radhika and Wiedenbeck, Susan (1991): Modeling the intermittent user of word processing technology. In JASIST - Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 42 (3) pp. 185-196
» 1990 «
Scholtz, Jean and Wiedenbeck, Susan (1990): Learning Second and Subsequent Programming Languages: A Problem of Transfer. In International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 2 (1) pp. 51-72
“Learning second and subsequent programming languages is easier than learning a first programming language because many concepts and constructs are shared. However, it is still a hard task. In this protocol analysis of moderately experienced programmers transferring to a new programming language, we classified episodes by whether they involved the syntactic, semantic, or planning level of programming knowledge. We discovered that most episodes involve planning and that in solving a given subproblem there are typically many cycles of language-independent tactical planning followed by language dependent implementation planning. On the other hand, programmers have relatively minor problems with the syntax and semantics of a new language. Our subjects' protocols and their final programs revealed that the plans they develop are strongly influenced by their knowledge of what would be convenient and appropriate in other languages they know. This prevents them from taking full advantage of the capabilities of the new language.”
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Scholtz, Jean and Wiedenbeck, Susan (1990): Learning to Program in Another Language. In: Diaper, Dan, Gilmore, David J., Cockton, Gilbert and Shackel, Brian (eds.) INTERACT 90 - 3rd IFIP International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction August 27-31, 1990, Cambridge, UK. pp. 925-930.
“Our objective in this study was to examine how programmers go about learning new programming languages and to identify which areas of program development presented difficulties. Verbalizations from think aloud protocols were classified as one of five kinds of knowledge: syntax, semantics, strategic planning, tactical planning, and implementation planning. Implementation planning occupied over 50 percent of subjects' efforts, irrespective of language and level of expertise. Difficulties in a dissimilar language were due to subjects' failure to construct appropriate tactical plans. In a similar language difficulties centered on subjects' inability to locate appropriate constructs.”
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» 1989 «
Wiedenbeck, Susan (1989): Learning Iteration and Recursion from Examples. In International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 30 (1) pp. 1-22
“Recursion is basic to computer science, whether it is conceived of abstractly as a mathematical concept or concretely as a programming technique. Three experiments were carried out on learning iteration and recursion. The first involved learning to compute mathematical functions, such as the factorial, from worked out examples. The results suggest the subjects are quite able to induce a computational procedure for both iterative and recursive functions. Furthermore, prior work with iterative examples does not seem to facilitate subsequent learning of recursive procedures, nor does prior work with recursive examples facilitate subsequent learning of iterative procedures. The second experiment studied the extent to which people trained only with recursive examples are able to transfer their knowledge to compute other similar recursive mathematical functions stated in an abstracted form. It turned out that subjects who transferred to abstractly stated problems performed somewhat worse than they had performed previously when given examples. However, they did far better than a control group trained only with an abstract description of recursion. The third experiment involved comprehension of iterative and recursive Pascal programs. Comprehension of the iterative program was not affected by prior experience with the recursive version of the same program. Comprehension of the recursive version was only weakly affected by prior experience with the iterative version.”
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Wiedenbeck, Susan and Scholtz, Jean (1989): Beacons and Initial Program Comprehension. In ACM SIGCHI Bulletin, 21 (1) pp. 90-91
Wiedenbeck, Susan and Scholtz, Jean (1989): Beacons: A Knowledge Structure in Program Comprehension. In: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction 1989. pp. 82-87.
“Beacons are surface features of program code which serve as keys to program comprehension. They are significant because they allow the programmer to determine program function quickly without line-by-line study of the code. The two experiments reported here were designed to establish a causal connection between presence of beacons and superior program comprehension. One experiment showed that when a beacon in a familiar program is disguised in some way, program comprehension of experienced programmers declines. Another experiment showed that this result holds true even for programs unfamiliar to the programmer.”
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Scholtz, Jeanne and Wiedenbeck, Susan (1989): Learning a New Programming Language. In: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction 1989. pp. 152-159.
“Experienced programmers transferring to a new programming language have a far easier time than the novice learning a first language. However, they still experience considerable difficulties. Our objective in this study was to characterize the kinds of learning and transfer that take place in the early stages of using a new programming language and where difficulties develop. Transfer of skill has been studied in text editing, but not in programming, so this work is an initial contribution. It has theoretical significance for the understanding of transfer processes in a complex domain and practical significance for the training or retraining of programmers. We are interested in using what we discover to design automated systems to facilitate transfer among programming languages.”
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» 1986 «
Wiedenbeck, Susan (1986): Processes in Computer Program Comprehension. In: Soloway, Elliot and Iyengar, Sitharama (eds.) Empirical Studies of Programmers June 5-6 1986, 1986, Washington, DC. pp. 48-57.
“Beacons are key features in a program which serve as typical indicators of the presence of a particular structure or operation. According to Brooks's top-down theory of program comprehension, programmers do not study a program line-by-line but rather search for beacons to verify their hypotheses about a program's function. This paper reports on an experiment which used a memorization and recall method to study beacons in program comprehension. Novices and experienced programmers memorized and recalled a short Pascal program. The results showed that experienced programmers recalled key lines, or beacons, much better than other parts of the program. However, novices did not recall them better. This supports the idea that certain key parts do exist in programs, and they serve as focal points for comprehension by experienced programmers.”
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Wiedenbeck, Susan (1986): Beacons in Computer Program Comprehension. In International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 25 (6) pp. 697-709
“In programming, beacons are lines of code which serve as typical indicators of a particular structure or operation. This research sought evidence for the existence and use of beacons in comprehension of a sort program. In the first experiment, subjects memorized and later recalled the whole sort program. Experienced programmers, but not novices or intermediates, recalled the beacon lines much better than non-beacon lines. In the second experiment, experienced programmers studied the same program and then were asked to recall several isolated parts of it. They did not know in advance that they would be asked to recall. Subjects recalled the beacon much better than non-beacon parts. They also were more certain that they recalled the beacon correctly. The results of both experiments support the idea that beacons exist as a focal point for study and understanding of programs by experienced programmers.”
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» 1985 «
Wiedenbeck, Susan (1985): Novice/Expert Differences in Programming Skills. In International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 23 (4) pp. 383-390
“Automation is the ability to perform a very well-practised task rapidly, smoothly and correctly, with little allocation of attention. This paper reports on experiments which sought evidence of automation in two programming subtasks, recognition of syntactic errors and understanding of the structure and function of simple stereotyped code segments. Novice and expert programmers made a series of timed decisions about short, textbook-type program segments. It was found that, in spite of the simplicity of the materials, experts were significantly faster and more accurate than novices. This supports the idea that experts automate some simple subcomponents of the programming task. This automation has potential implications for the teaching of programming, the evaluation of programmers, and programming language design.”
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Mar 21st, 2010
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