To: Students in Psychology 384, Research Methods in Human Factors

From: Susan Brennan, Tony Weaver

Re: Assignment #8 (Due Tuesday, Apr. 14, 2009).

Task Analysis: Describing human actions and the requirements for supporting them

Date: Thursday, March. 26, 2009

For this exercise, you will prepare a task analysis in the form of a memo. Choose a task in some domain that could be supported by a computer application (or, the task could be one that is already computerized, if you prefer). If possible, choose a task relevant to your own interests. Here are some examples (but feel free to choose a different applications):

Task	Software Application(s)
publicizing a political event	drawing programs, email, ??
keeping track of a budget	spreadsheets, bank web site
keeping and coordinating your schedule	calendar programs
finding reference materials while writing a paper	internet, library card catalog, text editor
designing a new product or something visual	CAD and other drawingsystems
comparison shopping at the mall	???
keeping track of your diet, health, etc.	???
arranging the perfect vacation	???
planning your parents’ 30th anniversary party	???
writing a book with someone in another city	???
finding the perfect graduate school program and applying	???

Method: Your own intuitions about a task are often very helpful, but you need to get a broader view that includes how others do the task. A task analysis is done by collecting observations from other people. For this assignment, you can use one of three methods. You can either (A) interview people about how they do the task (and tape record or write down their answers), or (B) create a questionnaire and have people fill it out, or (C) observe people actually doing the task (make it clear at the beginning of your memo what method you used).

Subjects: You should include responses or observations from a minimum of 3 other people in your task analysis for this assignment. They can be friends, family members, or other people in this class. Ideally, these people should differ from each other in some relevant ways (for instance, age, experience, attitude, job, status, etc.).

Data collection: Think through your questions carefully before you start. Ask open-ended questions whenever possible to avoid biasing people's responses. Make your questions clear and as specific as possible so the responses you get will be useful. If you are observing people doing tasks, ask them to "think out loud" as they go. Take notes.

Your writeup should be in the form of a 3-4 page single-spaced memo. If relevant, include copies of your questionnaire or questions you asked in your interviews as an Appendix at the end of your memo.

Data and writeup: The questions you ask should enable you to discuss these 7 topics:

1. PEOPLE. Characterize the people you interviewed. How old are they? What are their roles or jobs? If they are part of a relevant organization, what is their status? If they are students, what do they study? How much experience do they have with the task you are studying? How much experience do they have with computers? What are their attitudes toward the task? Do you anticipate that they would welcome a new computerized tool, or would they be skeptical or resistant? How do they (or do you) think having a new tool would affect their lives? Make sure to protect your subjects' identities by referring to them by their initials.

2. USES. What different kinds of things do people do in the task domain you chose? What goals do they try to fulfill? Try to cover as much of the domain as possible. You should include parts of the task that you think are typical or important even if your users didn't mention them.

3. CONTEXT(S) OF USE. What are the social and physical contexts in which the task is conducted? (Is it done in groups, alone but near other people, entirely alone? Indoors or outdoors? etc.) How would the contexts of use constrain any technology used to support the task?

4. TOOLS. What technology currently exists to support the task? (include non-computer technology, such as paper and pencil, telephones, etc.). Do some people rely on other human beings to help them with this task?

5. TASK BREAKDOWN. Choose several goals from your list in 2), and list in detail the steps that someone might go through in order to satisfy their goals in this domain. Include the decisions a person has to make and which steps depend on completing other steps.

6. EVALUATION (of how things are currently done). What's wrong with the way things are currently done? How satisfied are your subjects with their current tools? Estimate which of the steps in 5) are easy and which are hard for people to accomplish. Estimate how long these steps take (roughly specifying a range or % of total task time is ok). This step is important: In applying new technology to a task, you should not only make impossible things possible and hard things easy, but also keep the easy things easy! If you are familiar with a computer tool for accomplishing the same task, then compare the two different ways of doing things. For instance, discuss what is hard and easy about the computerized method, and compare it to the non-computerized method. Along with the task breakdown in 5), this should probably be the largest part of your writeup.

7. CONCLUSIONS. Draw some (brief) conclusions from your task analysis. What might you recommend about providing new computer software for this task? What new technologies or techniques might improve the way the task is done?