1 1 vrije Universiteit, 2 VirTouch Ltd, 3 The Mediator Group, 4 Exact Holding NV Johan F. Hoorn 1, Simon van Dam 2, Guido Fambach 3, Arco van Nieuwland 4, Gerrit C. van der Veer 1 Looking for Win/Win Solutions between Lab-work and Hands-on Experience in IT Research 2004 /15

2 Contents  Status  Goal  Problem  Analysis  Solution  Three cases  Conclusions  Recommendations  Questions Mens-Machine Interactie /15

3 Status  Postdoc-project  Supervisors: Hans van Vliet and Gerrit van der Veer  Three international publications, one submitted  Three empirical studies in progress, two pending /15

4 Goal To arrive at IT research that is  Scientifically reliable  Valid  Relevant to business goals /15

5 Problem ScienceBusiness /15

6 Analysis  /15

7 Solution Field experiments combine  Structured observations / lab methods  Random assignment to conditions  Real situations (people and systems)  At the cost of studying single cases /15

8 Three cases Simon van Dam and VTPlayer user Stevie Wonder Contrasts are made touchable Text is translated into Braille Two 4*4 pin pads /15

9 Which blind pupils of Bartimeus Zeist are the faster and/or more effective learners; those freely exploring geographic material with the VTplayer or those with a VTPlayer and a teacher? Problem: A pretest on what someone already knows has effects on knowledge activation, and thus, on the results of working with the application Solution: Solomon’s four groups design Dependents: Speed and effectiveness of learning geography User group 1: Pretest- Teacher+ VTPlayer - Posttest User group 2: Pretest- VTPlayer - Posttest User group 3: - Teacher+ VTPlayer - Posttest User group 4: - VTPlayer - Posttest Effect of previous knowledge Effect of teaching method interaction /15

10 Question for your exams: In view of Solomon, what is wrong with the student’s knowledge assessment within the Didactor method? User group 1: Pretest- Teacher+ Didactor - Posttest User group 2: Pretest- Didactor - Posttest User group 3: - Teacher+ Didactor - Posttest User group 4: - Didactor - Posttest Three control conditions are missing /15

11 Efficiency: Trade-off between speed and accuracy measured in clock-time vs. error rate in relation to perceived speed vs. perceived accuracy System User Measuring the efficiency (and possibly effectiveness) of certain business processes before and after introduction of the e-Synergy platform /15

12 Conclusions Improved cooperation between business and science enhances performance  Money for quality information Both need ecologically valid and relevant data (business approach)  Study real business cases Both need reliable and accurate data (scientific approach)  Experimental designs and measurements /15

13 Recommendations Business  Provide a research field  Provide supplies (assistants, software)  Don’t hush up business problems  Don’t try to bias results  The time-line is NOT sacred /15

14 Recommendations Science  Don’t expect lab-conditions  Be a better experimenter/analyst instead  Conduct hit-and-run research  Don’t interfere with the business  The business’s time-line IS sacred /15

15 Questions? /15