CSC 484 Assignment 3
Participation in Usability Studies

DUE: Weeks 9 and 10, per Milestone 3-4 Writeup

POINTS POSSIBLE: 100

WEIGHT: 10% of total class grade

READING: Textbook ch 7; milestones 3-4 writeup; team-prepared study instructions

Assignment 3 entails the participation aspects of the 484 usability studies. Specifically, your work for this assignment involves participating in the studies of teams other than your own.

As discussed in the Milestone 3-4 writeup, each team will prepare instructions and other materials for the human subjects who will participate in the studies. You need to read and understand all of these materials. You also need to complete the team questionnaires, and any other data gathering materials a team provides.

During week 9, all class members will act as experiment coordinators in the week-long 2d3d study. During the times that you are not acting as coordinators, you will participate in the 2d3d study as end-user subjects. This latter form of participation may be done outside of lab.

During week 10, all class members will participate as experimental subjects in the usability studies of the other five teams. Scheduling information on these studies is in the Milestones 3-4 writeup.

Experimental Subjects

As noted in the Milestones 3-4 writeup, all teams must prepare, and have subjects sign an informed consent form. There is a Cal Poly website devoted to the topic of human subjects in experiments and studies:

http://www.calpoly.edu/~sdavis/human.htm

That site, as well as the textbook, describe the rights and responsibilities of human subjects.

Rights:

As a human subject in an experiment or study, you have the following rights:

• divulge personal information on an entirely voluntary basis
• be informed about the purpose of the study, who is conducting it, and the types of tasks you will be asked to perform
• discontinue participation in the study at any time, with the understanding the any valuable consideration offered for study participation may be subject to completing your participation

Having agreed to participate in a study, and assuming none of the preceding rights is violated, you have the following responsibilities:

• complete the study in good faith
• answer questions truthfully, and to the best of your ability