Paper Evaluation Summary

Aims of the paper Determine whether personal support played a role in the uptake of the internet. Determine if this uptake can be increased by computer support. Determine if people can use the browser unaided.

General Points Literature Review incomplete. Mainly refers to own work Usability issues for visually impaired Usability issues for elderly General web usability problems Terminology not explained Negatively focused

Study Design Group A - Got written instructions for the browser and were observed carrying out search tasks Group B - Got a demo of the software, carried out the same tasks but with a helper. Measurers: self report

Methodological Problems Use of online survey seems strange Why use the same people again - there will be some carry over from one study to the next. No clarification of the term elderly Not enough subjects Did users have same level of Technological acceptance?

Methodological Problems continued... No independent measure of confidence No independent measure of visual impairment No independent measure of memory impairment.

Guess what? More methodological problems... The robustness of the rating scale is questionable. Self report is subject to what the users can remember about the interaction - these people were meant to have memory problems!

Nah - couldn’t be more problems, could there? The demo is a possible confound. Both groups should have received the same instructional material There isn’t a control Have no idea about the validity of the task set used

Better Measures of Usability? Independent measures on set tasks Time on task Number of errors What type of errors were made Number of times voice overs switched off

The Good Points A very worthwhile area of study. and An excellent demonstration of how NOT to do research in this area!