Example Analysis

We will use the results of this analysis to develop examples of conceptual design and detailed design.

Root Concept

Research Notes is a web application where scholars can add and retrieve their notes for research references they have found online and as paper articles.

User and Task Analysis

We conducted 6 interviews with potential users. Qualified users included anyone who must find references for articles they write. The questions focussed on their general experience with computers and how they research references for articles. The following personas, scenarios and feature list summarize the results of the interviews.

Persona: Rob Greenberg

Rob Greenberg is a senior psychology major. His advanced coursework frequently requires him to write researych papers based on findings in psychology. He mostly uses the web to find articles, especially Google Scholar. In addition to his experience with web browsers, Rob writes all of his papers using Microsoft Word. He does not know how to apply all of the formatting styles but knows enough to create a professional looking document.

Scenarios for Rob Greenberg

• Rob access Google Scholar to find relevant articles. He follows its links to articles. When Rob finds a useful article, he copies the full citation and writes a few sentences why this article is useful. He wants to be able to save this information and retrieve it later. The citation should appear in his references if he uses it in a paper he is writing.
• Rob recalls an article he previously found on the subject of crime and poor nutrition. He cannot remember the authors or the title, but he wants to retrieve the reference and what we wrote about it.
• Rob is reading one of his notes that he wrote a month ago. He now is wondering if the article has more useful information than what he wrote. He wants to quickly go back and review the article. Based on what he reads, he wants to add to the notes.

Persona: Sara Smith

Sara is a graduate student in English. She frequently references literature, most of which is not online. Sometimes she uses web resources to find relevant pieces, but she mostly relies on scholarly criticism and colleagues to find what she needs. Sara uses Microsoft Word to write her articles and only knows the minimal functionality to create and save her work. She mostly uses the internet to order products online.

Scenarios for Sara Smith

• A friend tells Sara about a novel relevant to her research topic. She checks out the novel from the library. As she reads it, she creates notes. She wants to clearly note the author, the title and the date.
• Sara wants to list her references all written by a specific author.

Functional Analysis

Research Notes supports three core tasks:

• Entering a note
• Retrieving a note
• Modifying a note

Each note must have the following modifiable information:

• Author(s)
• Title
• Date
• Generic citation information, possibly including the above information
• Written notes

Any of the fields can be blank. Simple text is acceptable for all fields, but there is no limit to length.

Users should be able to retrieve notes by providing any part of the author, title, generic citation information or written note.

Usability Specificiations

The usability of the completed design should have the following specifications:

• Most users can add a note within one minute minus any typing time.
• Most users can retrieve a note within 15 seconds.
• Most test users report that they would use an interactive system with this design.