Showing papers on "Computer user satisfaction published in 1988"

The measurement of end-user computing satisfaction

Abstract: This article contrasts traditional versus end-user computing environments and report on the development of an instrument which merges ease of use and information product items to measure the satisfaction of users who directly interact with the computer for a specific application. Using a survey of 618 end users, the researchers conducted a factor analysis and modified the instrument. The results suggest a 12-item instrument that measures five components of end-user satisfaction - content, accuracy, format, ease of use, and timeliness. Evidence of the instrument's discriminant validity is presented. Reliability and validity is assessed by nature and type of application. Finally, standards for evaluating end-user applications are presented, and the instrument's usefulness for achieving more precision in research questions is explored.

The effect of user involvement on system success: a contingency approach

Abstract: Despite the fact that commercial computer systems have been in existence for almost three decades, many systems in the process of being implemented may be classed as failures. One of the factors frequently cited as important to successful system development is involving users in the design and implementation process. This paper reports the results of a field study, conducted on data from forty-two systems, that investigates the role of user involvement and factors affecting the employment of user involvement on the success of system development. Path analysis was used to investigate both the direct effects of the contingent variables on system success and the effect of user involvement as a mediating variable between the contingent variables and system success. The results show that high system complexity and constraints on the resources available for system development are associated with less successful systems.

Modeling the user in natural language systems

Abstract: For intelligent interactive systems to communicate with humans in a natural manner, they must have knowledge about the system users. This paper explores the role of user modeling in such systems. It begins with a characterization of what a user model is and how it can be used. The types of information that a user model may be required to keep about a user are then identified and discussed. User models themselves can vary greatly depending on the requirements of the situation and the implementation, so several dimensions along which they can be classified are presented. Since acquiring the knowledge for a user model is a fundamental problem in user modeling, a section is devoted to this topic. Next, the benefits and costs of implementing a user modeling component for a system are weighed in light of several aspects of the interaction requirements that may be imposed by the system. Finally, the current state of research in user modeling is summarized, and future research topics that must be addressed in order to achieve powerful, general user modeling systems are assessed.

Modeling the user's plans and goals

Abstract: This work is an ongoing research effort aimed both at developing techniques for inferring and constructing a user model from an information-seeking dialog and at identifying strategies for applying this model to enhance robust communication. One of the most important components of a user model is a representation of the system's beliefs about the underlying task-related plan motivating an information-seeker's queries. These beliefs can be used to interpret subsequent utterances and produce useful responses. This paper describes the IREPS system, emphasizing its dynamic construction of the task-related plan motivating the information-seeker's queries and the application of this component of a user model to handling utterances that violate the pragmatic rules of the system's world model. By reasoning on a model of the user's plans and goals, the system often can deduce the intended meaning of faulty utterances and allow the dialogue to continue without interruption. Some limitations of current plan inference systems are discussed. It is suggested that the problem of detecting and recovering from discrepancies between the system's model of the user's plan and the actual plan under construction by the user requires an enriched model that differentiates among its components on the basis of the support the system accords each component as a correct and intended part of the user's plan.

A Study of User Interface Aids for Model-Oriented Decision Support Systems

Abstract: The growing importance of DSS for both strategy evaluation and end user computing increases the need to provide research-based guidance for the design of user interface aids. This research study addresses the common belief that greater flexibility and choice in software aids will promote improved user performance. For model-based decision support systems, the effects of user vs. system-guided model manipulation, variable vs. exception-based report content, and display of incremental changes vs. actual outcomes on strategy formulation were investigated in a laboratory experiment with 46 undergraduate business students. The findings suggest that a system-guided or a more structured model manipulation strategy and the display of incremental changes significantly improve performance. Thus, for this task context, evidence is presented which runs counter to popular beliefs.

The use of explicit user models in text generation: tailoring to a user's level of expertise

Abstract: A question answering program that provides access to a large amount of data will be most useful if it can tailor its answers to each individual user. In particular, a user's level of knowledge about the domain of discourse is an important factor in this tailoring if the answer provided is to be both informative and understandable to the user. In this research, we address the issue of how the user's domain knowledge, or the level of expertise, might affect an answer. By studying texts we found that the user's level of domain knowledge affected the kind of information provided and not just the amount of information, as was previously assumed. Depending on the user's assumed domain knowledge, a description of a complex physical object can be either parts-oriented or process-oriented. Thus the user's level of expertise in a domain can guide a system in choosing the appropriate facts from the knowledge base to include in an answer. We propose two distinct descriptive strategies that can be used to generate texts aimed at naive and expert users. Users are not necessarily truly expert or fully naive however, but can be anywhere along a knowledge spectrum whose extremes are naive and expert. In this work, we show how our generation system, TAILOR, can use information about a user's level of expertise to combine several discourse strategies in a single text, choosing the most appropriate at each point in the generation process, in order to generate texts for users anywhere along the knowledge spectrum. TAILOR's ability to combine discourse strategies based on a user model allows for the generation of a wider variety of texts and the most appropriate one for the user.

Graphics and Natural Language as Components of Automatic Explanation

Abstract: An important component of adaptable interactive systems is the ability to model the system's users. Previous systems have relied on user models tailored to the particular needs of that system alone. This paper presents the notion of a general user model, and describes some of our research on building a general user modelling facility that could be used by a variety of applications. This work focuses on the representation, maintenance, and acquisition issues of modelling long-term beliefs of the user, and describes a general facility for accomplishing these tasks.

What we know and what we need to know: the user model versus the user's model in human-computer interaction

Abstract: An argument is made for the importance of studying the real, as opposed to idealized, behaviour of the computer user Formal methods which model user behaviour in terms of production rules are criticized because they fail to account for the unique behaviour which results either from problems arising in the normal work routine, or from novices who create their own patterns of interaction with the machine This latter point is illustrated with reference to a study of novice users How well are such users able to identify the knowledge they need when learning how to use a new system, and what kinds of knowledge of the system do they seek? It seems that in the absence of a suitable, generalizable model of a word processing system, these users structure their own learning experience badly, making poor use of the little experience they have The behaviour of such users deviates markedly from that of the ‘ideal user’ captured within formal task descriptions

A general user modelling facility

Abstract: An important component of adaptable interactive systems is the ability to model the system's users. Previous systems have relied on user models tailored to the particular needs of that system alone. This paper presents the notion of a general user model, and describes some of our research on building a general user modelling facility that could be used by a variety of applications. This work focuses on the representation, maintenance, and acquisition issues of modelling long-term beliefs of the user, and describes a general facility for accomplishing these tasks.

The quality of user documentation: an instrument validation

Abstract: :User documentation is an important tool for communication. It enhances the value of an application to the user and, in turn, improves user satisfaction. The impact of user documentation is even more considerable since interest in end-user computing is booming. Yet, there are very few practical managerial tools for measuring the quality of user documentation. This article examines two alternative forms of an instrument for measuring user perceptions of the quality of user documentation. The reliability and validity of these instruments are examined. Using a survey of 618 end-users from 44 firms, the author cross validates this instrument, conducts a factor analysis, and assesses the construct validity of the instrument. Furthermore, the reliability and validity of the instrument is assessed by nature and type of application. The results indicate a strong support for the instrument. With these instruments, management can more easily monitor and control the condition of their firm’s user documentation.

User models, discourse models, and some others

Abstract: My context for this note is natural language interfaces to complex systems, considered, as the aim is system building, from the system's point of view. I hold that the discourse model relates four other models that are all required in dialog, but which need to be distinguished. These other models, as I define them in this note, are the world model, the user model, the system model, and the text model. It is a mistake, in my view, to try to establish the relation between discourse models and user models without reference to the other models that figure in the interaction between man and machine. The case for all the models mentioned can be made through a hypothetical system example. Suppose we have an automated reference librarian in an industrial company, i.e., a highly sophisticated expert system. Suppose also that the system can sustain the kind of dialog we can, and so imagine a dialog between the system and a user as follows: U1. I 'm looking for a book on logic programming. S1. You're in Accounts, aren't you? U2. Yes. $2. So you'd like something with financial examples. U3. Well that would be very convenient, but I 'm really interested in logic programming itself. $3. Just as well: we don't have anything on Prolog for accountants. Do you want something really noddy? We've got one pretty basic book. U4. How good do you think it is? $4. It's very popular. It doesn't assume you know anything about programming. U5. Oh, but I've done a bit of Cobol. $5. There isn't anything on Prolog from a Cobol point of view, I 'm afraid. U6. I wouldn't have thought that mattered: Cobol's a good general lead in, isn't it? $6. Not especially. But we have another book that would probably suit you better than the first: it's very clear and has a lot of different examples like planning the week's menus and building an office meeting diary system, but it does assume you have some experience of programming. I assume that the system knows about the material in the library, about the company, and about the library's role in the company's activities. It also knows about the company's employees (which include the illustrative user, known to be a woman in Accounts who thinks her boss underestimates her). The system's knowledge of the library and the company are part of its permanent world knowledge, and its knowledge of the company's employees is in principle no different in kind, though the system's knowledge of people's intensional states may be less certain than some of its other knowledge. There is nevertheless a good reason for distinguishing the system's knowledge of its users, and hence of any specific user, from the rest of its world knowledge. This is a functional reason: the system exists to solve problems presented by its users. The individual user is a necessary participant in the system's problem solving, and the system's actions are driven by its view of the user's specific needs. In the dialog, the system's response $6 is motivated by the perceived fact that the user, as a user, is a person with particular characteristics who is separated out from the rest of the world because her needs have to be met. Thus the response is an appropriate one in relation not to individual utterances or facts about the user, but to the entity constituting the user model as a whole, namely that she's a non-novice female, seeking to impress her boss by improving her computing skills. (This functional view, of course, implies that whether the user is human or not is an independent, contingent matter.) But for the same functional reason, the system has to have a model of itself embodying, for example, its plan to extract more detail about the user's book request. Though the system is in principle, like the user, part of the world, it has to be functionally distinguished for it to carry out its task: thus it is the system's aim, not the general state of the world, which leads it to choose $2, asking about financial examples.

Computers: The User Perspective

Abstract: Introducing a new hobby for other people may inspire them to join with you. Reading, as one of mutual hobby, is considered as the very easy hobby to do. But, many people are not interested in this hobby. Why? Boring is the reason of why. However, this feel actually can deal with the book and time of you reading. Yeah, one that we will refer to break the boredom in reading is choosing computers the user perspective as the reading material.

An Empirical Study of the Factors Which Affect User Satisfaction in Hospitals

Abstract: Measuring and managing computer user satisfaction toward the systems they use is an important step toward making those systems more effective. In this paper, results of an empirical study to analyze the items affecting user satisfaction in hospitals are presented. The study utilized a reliable and well-validated measurement instrument with 860 subjects in 70 hospitals from across the country. Comparison norms for computer user satisfaction were determined. Analysis of the data found differences in satisfaction by hospital type, but not by computer control or application type. The importance of the factors affecting satisfaction varied considerably, but no consistent pattern existed. Average satsifaction varied significantly between factors, but were highly correlated between hospital types. Perceived “need for the system” and “relevancy of the output” were the most satisfying, while “time to process changes” and “flexibility of the system” were the least satisfying factors. The concept was subsequently used to study the satisfaction of computer users at 160 Veterans Administration Medical Centers.

User Satisfaction with Computer-Based Career Information Delivery Systems

Abstract: In this study, support for the CIDS in use in New York State emerged from each of the user groups—principals, counselors, students, and parents. There are, however, two areas of future work that emerged from the results of this study which may be applicable on a broader basis. The first deals with the information content of the CIDS. The second relates to its increased utilization.

An investigation of user performance enhancement for computer-based management information systems using an adaptive user interface

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between users' attitudes toward computers, knowledge of computers, task and interface learning performance, and the man-machine interface characteristics. The premise of this study was that a computer user may be initially classified as a novice, but that classification of expertise may change over time. The Management Information Systems (M.I.S.) literature suggest various interface characteristics for novice users which often differ from the characteristics suggested for an experienced user. This empirical study investigated the impact of using an adaptive user interface which evolves over time to match the skill level of the user. Three user interface models were developed for this study. The novice and the experienced interfaces followed human factor design considerations suggested in the M.I.S. literature. The adaptive user interface model commenced with the characteristics suggested for a novice interface and evolved through an intermediate stage to eventually become an experienced interface. The results indicate that the type of interface impacts user performance, and that matching the interface characteristics with the level of computer knowledge improves performance. In addition, users' attitudes toward computers accurately predicted the subjects' level of computer knowledge. Finally, the adaptive user interface also improved performance, regardless of the level of computer knowledge. Results of this study have important implications for system designers, managers, user trainers, and researchers. M.I.S. literature was supported with regard to the interface characteristics for both novice and experienced users. However, the previously suggested impact of computer knowledge on performance was not substantiated.

Effect of computer knowledge on user performance over time

Abstract: An experiment was conducted to assess the influence of computer semantic (conceptual) knowledge on user performance. The results indicate computer semantic knowledge differences influence user performance on computer models. However, the use of human factors software design can mitigate that influence especially during the initial periods of computer model use, as supported by the results. This study has important implications for software design and for industrial and academic training programs.

Software engineering meets user services: a methodology for developing user

Abstract: This paper will address the task of applying Software Engineering techniques of requirements analysis to one aspect of the User Services Consultant's job: analyzing a problem situation and recommending some course of action, often computer-related. While User Services consultants do not typically develop systems for users, they are frequently approached by individuals who suspect that a problem they are experiencing might be solved through the use of a computer. Consultants then attempt to help the user articulate the problem, identify data and equipment needs, and recognize personnel constraints. Various recommendations might be made, including discouraging automation, encouraging user self-implementation (i.e., user learns a package and implements on his or her own), or referring the project to M.I.S. for further analysis. The quality of this process is not carefully monitored and users receive various levels of assistance based on the particular expertise of the consultant.As a case study, I have selected a project in the Psychology Department to analyze. The result has been the development of a Requirements Specification Form which can be used in User Services. Its primary function is to force the consultant to ask the relevant questions such that an appropriate recommendation will be arrived at. It is expected that this methodology will markedly improve User Services' ability to deliver quality service in this important area.

A Method for Generating Messages of the Interactive Software Based on the Individual User Model

Abstract: Studies have been made on computer systems based on the user model reflecting the behavior of the users, aiming at the human interface which is easy to use. Recently, it has been proposed that individual models be constructed for the users, rather than a model where the only one “typical” human model represents the user in general. A case has not been observed, however, where the individual model is utilized fully in the interactive computer system which actually requires such an approach. From such a viewpoint, this paper proposes a generation of suitable messages utilizing the individual user model, by restricting the problem to the generation of the messages from the computer side in the construction of a program in the interactive programming environment. The features of the user model which will be useful in such a problem, are pointed out. The points in this study are that the skill of the user concerning the system is separated into the general understanding level and the knowledge of the individual functions; utilization of the information obtained by the operating system and for the language processor; and object-oriented user model whose contents are always updated. A human interface was implemented experimentally which indicates the individual user, the error message from Lisp interpreter according to each situation. We have conducted an experiment by using the interface. The usefulness of our method was demonstrated by the result of experiment.

Human factors issues in the acceptance of workgroup productivity tools: work in progress at applied voice technology

Abstract: The authors examine human factors issues in the development and acceptance of workgroup productivity tools. They suggest that to create these new tools, it is necessary to understand how people communicate in an organization. The user interface for workgroup productivity tools must take into account both task and social aspects of the organization. The human factors discussed include: user motivation, user perception of and attraction to the product, and user skill and knowledge. >

User Computer Interaction: Analysis of Individual Differences and Information Retrieval

Abstract: The optimum design of human/computer interfaces has become an increasingly important concern. However, it was not clear what user characteristics, beyond a limited set related to experience and training should be considered. This is a primary question addressed by this research program. A series of experiments were conducted. The results revealed that people's efficiency in using computer system depends on user cognitive characteristics and design features of com- puter interface. Furthermore, the subjects usage of interface design features significantly interacts with his or her fundamental cognitive characteristics--cognitive style.