Analyzing Your Users ITSW 1410 Presentation Media Software Instructor: Glenda H. Easter

Analyzing Your Users

ITSW 1410

Presentation Media Software

Instructor: Glenda H. Easter

Analyzing Your Users, Chapter 2 2

Problems Encountered If You Don’t Know Your Audience

Anger at complexity Wary of over simplification Puzzled by assumptions you make Frustrated


Analyze Users and Choose Your Audience Carefully

The user analysis makes up the basic research phase of the documentation process; therefore, choose users carefully.

Ask yourself which users would most probably use the program and which users can be interviewed easiest?

You need to find the most typical users or the ones who represent the most probable intended users of the program.


Locate Sources of Information About Your Audience

Who will read what you write? Your answers will suggest an appropriate structure and style for your writing. Actual Users

• Respect the inarticulateness of users -- watch what they do.

• Observe what users do and ask them to describe what they do.

• The most relevant experts are the people who will actually use the product you’re writing about.



Who will read what you write? (Continued) Intermediaries -- Most of what you learn

about your audience comes from the second-best source of information:

• Talk to those who support the system.• Talk to trainers and those who develop training

material.• People who sell the product to customers or • People who help them solve their problems or

troubleshooters.



Talk to those who talk to customers.• Talk with customer support staff

• Talk with technical support engineers or those who spend a great deal of time troubleshooting things that don’t work correctly.

Talk to trainers and the people who develop the training materials:

• They tend to home in on a meaningful sequence of ideas similar to what you may need to present in a tutorial or general overview.



Find Ways to Learn What Users Think:• Focus groups

• Trade shows

• Field visits

• Users group

• Product newsletter



Become a User Yourself: This is a must for your projects.

• If the product is far enough along in development, use it regularly.

• If you’re writing about a product that you can’t use regularly or don’t have a personal need for, be sure to test it thoroughly anyway.

• You should have a clear enough understanding of your audience to be able to use the product the way they do.


Guidelines for Conducting a User AnalysisStudy Non-Computer-Mediated Tasks

In analyzing job duties, you should describe the non-automated situation, meaning those things the user does without your program.

Study the attitudes your users have towards use of the computer and your program development.

Mock Up Hard-to-Contact Users If you do not have actual users available, create a

mock-up or a model to used a resource in making design decisions.


Guidelines for Conducting a User Analysis (Continued)

You may wish to write user scenarios. You can use a scenario in a documentation

plan. A scenario describes how the program is used.

Plan interviews carefully You obtain your research through good

interviews. You encounter potential users.


Interviewing or Creating a User Analysis

Not all documentation projects require the same kinds of questions of users.

Take the time to gather everything you’ve learned into a profile you can use as a tool when you write the actual documentation.

If you plan to interview, plan how to carry out the interview to obtain the most information possible.


How to Conduct an Interview or Create a User Analysis

Know Your Users Gather as much background information on

your audience as possible.

Know Your Program This maybe accomplished through the

development of your task list or knowledge of the software you’re writing about.



Get Authorization Make sure an employer does not object to your

asking the user questions.Write and Listen a Lot

Record responses either through tape or pencil and paper.

Do not be the one who talks all the time. Your goal is to listen and record.



Collect Samples If the user can provide actual samples of the

work, you can provide relevant examples in your manual or use them in scenarios.

How to Observe You may wish to observe users performing

their jobs and recording the sequence of tasks, and also taking in the atmosphere of the workplace.


How to Write a Questionnaire

A questionnaire enables you to get information from a variety of users. It allows you to get unique responses from a

variety of users. It increases your chances of getting a unique

and very valuable piece of information. It shows a reliable pattern of use.

? ? ? ? ? ?


How to Write a QuestionnaireCarefully word your questionnaire that ask

yes/no or multiple choice questions.Guidelines for writing a good questionnaire:

Try sample questions on a few people to see if it is a good questionnaire.

Provide clear instructions and leave enough room to provide complete answers.


How to Write a Questionnaire

Guidelines for writing a good questionnaire (Continued): Focus on the topic, but leave the questions

unstructured. Phrase questions in a positive nature. You may want to include sample passages.


Identify Document Goals

Develop goals to keep you on track and something by which you can measure performance.

The goals of all software documentation: To encourage users to learn features of the

program and to put those features to work. Goals should state how you will provide users

with the necessary knowledge for a particular set of users and one particular program.


Tie the User Analysis to Document Features

You should base all your decisions on the user task needs that you discover in your user analysis.

The user analysis allows you to determine what tasks the user needs to perform with the software.

Your user analysis will provide you with examples to use in your tutorials, but the user analysis does not apply strictly to the level of the task support. It applies to all levels of task support--tutorial, guidance and reference.


Things to Ask Your Users

What tasks will the user perform?What are the user’s informational needs?

What information does the user need? How does the user communicate? What work motivations affect the software user?

What are the user’s work motivations?What’s the user’s range of computer

experience: novice, experienced, expert?


Things to Ask Your Users (Continued)

How much does the user know of the subject matter of the program?

What’s the user’s workplace environment: (organizational structure)?

What is the user’s preferred learning method (instructor/manual/online)?

What is the user’s usage pattern (learning curve regular, casual, intermittent)?


Getting to Know Your UserYou need to determine the direction of information

flow: Vertical or horizontally?Where does information come from? Personal

experience, trade magazine reports, information about research.

In what form does the information come to the user? How does the user communicate? Information tasks

(storing and sharing work in progress) or communication tasks which requires sharing of finished work.


The User’s Work Motivations

Building on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, we can look at those factors that motivate professional users.

People respond to different types of motivation. We refer to these motivations as needs.

People not only have multiple needs, but these needs fall into categories depending on their importance.


The User’s Work Motivations (Continued)

Some motivations, specific to the work environment, called work motivations come from two sources (internal and external motivation). They include such things as: Achievement The use of one’s abilities One’s desire for status.

Motivation by these needs relates directly to the idea of task orientation; the concept of task orientation means that the person operates out of his or her individual job initiative.


The User’s Work Motivations (Continued)

Internal motivation that affects software users is derived primarily from the individual’s personality, personal background, and training.

External motivations that affect software users come from the employee’s environment. It results from the kind of job situation in which a

person works. Other motivation relate to how one sees the work

environment.


Range of Computer Experience: Novice, Experienced, Expert

The range of computer experience they have, coupled with their strategic uses of the program determine, in part, the level of task support they require.

Anxiety affects a user’s performance. The more experienced the user, the less likely the user will feel computer anxiety.


Range of Computer Experience: Novice, Experienced, Expert

Experience with computers creates a pattern of knowledge that helps users transfer their knowledge from past experience to current experiences.

Users with very little computer experience tend to take more time to learn functions and their learning curve remains gradual.


Determine Their Levels and Types of Expertise

Are they New or Beginner in the following:• Their work, the job they do• Doing a particular task• Using computers• Using the kind of product you’re writing

about• Using the specific product you’re writing

about.


Determine Their Levels and Types of Expertise (Continued)

Are they Intermediate in the following:• Their work, the job they do• Doing a particular task• Using computers• Using the kind of product you’re writing


about.


Determine Their Levels and Types of Expertise (Continued)

Are they Expert Users in the following:• Their work, the job they do• Doing a particular task• Using computers• Using the kind of product you’re writing


about.


Describe the Characteristics of Your Audience (Continued)

Are different cultures groups represented in your audience?

• What percentage reads English easily? • Should there be a simplified vocabulary?• How do people in these cultures normally expect to

learn?

Determine their levels and types of expertise New, Intermediate, or Expert


What Users Need in a Documentation Manual

Novice (Beginning) Users Need a mental picture that helps construct a

workable mental model that connects the task domain with the product.

They need to understand the sequence of major tasks.

They need to recognize where their job fits in. They need a way to learn key concepts and

basic tasks.


What Users Need in a Documentation Manual (Continued)

Occasional Users Need to know a product to do some real work. Since they don’t use it much, they tend to

forget commands. They do not want to know much about the

software. They just want to be able to look up a particular

task and do it.



Intermediate Users Want to look up step-by-step procedures with which

they’re not familiar. They flip through a tutorial as an introduction and then

use documentation for quick look-ups. They like conceptual overviews of how the product

performs similar work. They want a section comparing your product with the

competition in terms of tasks.



Advanced Users They want to look up step-by-step procedures

on tasks they haven’t done recently or have never done.

They want a quick reference card as a reminder of specific steps or parameters.

They need advanced advice.


Characteristics of User Types

Characteristic Novice Experienced Expert

Number of Programs Used Few Low Many Kinds

Degree of Technical Knowledge Low Some High

Attitude Vague, illogical, negative Computer as a tool; open Programs asprograms, not tools;for their own sake.

Learning Behavior Undifferentiated,resistant

Patterned, open, flexible Highlydifferentiatged

Documentation Preferences Tutorials, index andtabnle of contents,visuals, guided tours

User guide, job aids,online help, “GettingStarted”

Command and taskreference; onlinehelp; user guide.


What Goes in Your User Analysis?

What to put into your user analysis Obtain the General Characteristics of Your

Audience:• Who is your audience

• Their title to identify them

• Their role in the work context

• Levels of experience


Creating a User’s Analysis (Continued)

Key Concepts and Subjects to Discuss• Subjects that some people in your audience need to know

more about in order to make a meaningful choice as they use the product.

• You may need to expand on those topics in your general introduction, emphasize them in your tutorial, and define them in your glossary.

• These concepts and ideas usually revolve around the ideas embedded in the software or hardware.

– Accomplisher?– Good for?– Good for Ease and User?– Features?



Tasks• The jobs people do, both easy and difficult, frequent

or infrequently.

• This list will translate more or less directly into the procedures or the step-by-step instructions for accomplishing those tasks.

• You create a task or validation list.– Item covered Frequency of Use

Difficulty Factor



The problems people face in using the product in their work

• Problems with the Product

• Questions they ask about the product. The troubles you uncover will go directly into the troubleshooting section.

• It will also help you take a diagnostic approach, steering people out of trouble at key moments.


Describe the Characteristics of Your AudienceTheir backgrounds and contexts

How educated are the users? What role does the product play in their work and are they learning this product of their own free will or are they being forced to do so? Are they the individual who makes a decision to purchase? Are they purchasing the product willingly, or is it being forced on them? Are they afraid of computers? Are they resistant to the product?

– Are different cultures groups represented in your audience?

» What percentage reads English easily?

» Should there be a simplified vocabulary?

» How do people in these cultures normally expect to learn?

• 2. Their levels and types of expertise:

» New

» Intermediate

» Expert Users

– Determine the levels of expertise:

» Are they New or Beginner in the following:

» Their work, the job they do

» Doing a particular task

» Using computers

» Using the kind of product you’re writing about

» Using the particular product you’re writing about.

» Are they Intermediate in the following:



» Using computers



» Are they Expert Users in the following:



» Using computers



• 3. You may want to create an audience/experience matrix, such as that shown on pages 35-36.

• 4. What users need in a documentation manual:

– Novice (Beginning) users:

» Need a mental picture that helps construct a workable mental model that connects the task domain with the product.

» They need to understand the sequence of major tasks.

» They need to recognize where their job fits in.

» They need a way to learn key concepts and basic tasks.

– Occasional Users :

» Need to know a product to do some real work.

» Since they don’t use it much, they tend to forget commands.

» They do not want to know much about the software.

» They just want to be able to look up a particular task and do it.

– Intermediate users:

» Want to look up step-by-step procedures with which they’re not familiar.

» They flip through a tutorial as an introduction and then use documentation for quick look-ups.

» They like conceptual overviews of how the product performs similar work.

» They want a section comparing your product with the competition in terms of tasks.

– Advanced Users:

» They want to look up step-by-step procedures on tasks they haven’t done recently or have never done.

» They want a quick reference card as a reminder of specific steps or parameters.

» They need advanced advice.

• F. Decide what key concepts your audience needs to understand:

• 1 Determine what the individual needs to make the best use of the product.

• 2. What is the product good for each user?

• 3. What can the user accomplish with the product?

• 4. Are there ways to use the product that make a user’s job easier, more productive?

• 5. Which features deserve special note?

• 6. There may be certain topics that you won’t address because they aren’t important to your audience.

• G. List Tasks Your Audience Must Do:

• 1. You need to understand theses tasks from the point of view of the customers, as part of their job rather than as examples of “use of the product.”

• 2. The more you understand these tasks--as the customer sees them--the more easily you can explain how to use your product to accomplish work, rather than how to exercise various neat features.

• 3. Record every task you discover:

– Compile a list including everything that occurs to you or your informants.

– You may have to include some housekeeping

– Recognize that the software may offer a chance to reach new goals and accomplish new tasks.


Key Concepts

Decide what key concepts your audience needs to understand Determine what the individual needs to make the best

use of the product. What is the product good for each user? What can the user accomplish with the product? Are there ways to use the product that make a user’s job

easier, more productive? Which features deserve special note? There may be certain topics that you won’t address

because they aren’t important to your audience.


User’s Learning Preferences

Learning Preferences means the way your users like to accumulate expertise in working with software.

Software learning falls roughly into three categories: Learning with an instructor Learning with a manual Learning through a computer


User’s Learning Preferences (Continued)

Learning from an instructor is the preferred method of learning from novice users.

Learning from a manual is preferred by experienced and expert users This method involves the user having some

form, usually called a tutorial containing lessons oriented toward learning and applying program features.


User’s Learning Preferences (Continued)

Manual-based learning takes three basic forms: Tutorials created to teach a specific set of

lessons. User’s guide which are sets of procedures

organized in various ways:• Alphabetical to task sequenced• Reference documentation, lists and explanations of

commands.


Usage Patterns: Regular, Casual, and Intermittent

Usage pattern refers to the interaction of users with programs over time.

Your user analysis should include some investigation of the usage pattern you expect with your software.

There are usually three main types of usage patterns: regular usage intermittent usage casual usage


Usage Patterns: Regular, Casual, and Intermittent (Continued)

Regular Usage: This is the pattern a user would follow in using the

program daily. This pattern assumes incremental learning, meaning

that a user learns some features before others. Intermittent Usage:

This refers to usage by persons who know the software well enough to perform basic tasks but do not use the program as the primary software in their work.


Usage Patterns: Regular, Casual, and Intermittent (Continued)

Intermittent Users: They make more mistakes than regular users. Intermittent usage requires online help.

Casual Usage: This refers to usage by persons with little or no formal

training with software system. They need to use the software immediately. They have no learning curve because they never

worked on the system.


Tasks the User Will Perform

The most important part of writing good documentation is identifying user tasks.

The tasks form the significant unit of information in your manual or help system.

Begin your identification of users at the level of job titles.

User-tasks form the basis of your task-oriented information product.


List Tasks Your Audience Must Do

You need to understand theses tasks from the point of view of the customers, as part of their job rather than as examples of “use of the product.”

The more you understand these tasks--as the customer sees them--the more easily you can explain how to use your product to accomplish work, rather than how to exercise various neat features.


List Tasks Your Audience Must Do (Continued)

Record every task you discover Compile a list including everything that occurs

to you or your informants. You may have to include some housekeeping Recognize that the software may offer a chance

to reach new goals and accomplish new tasks.


Analyze the Tough Tasks

There may be a task that is hard to understand and difficult for a user to explain.

When this occurs, it’s time to do a tasks analysis.

When you’re not sure of the nature of a task, analyze these aspects.


Analyze the Tough Tasks (Continued)

This list will translate more or less directly into the procedures or the step-by-step instructions for accomplishing those tasks.

When you’re not sure about the nature of a task, analyze these aspects: The situation: What are the circumstances that

a person has to perform a certain tasks? Name of Task: What does the customer call the

task?


Analyze the Tough Tasks (Continued)

Analyze these aspects (Continued): Decision: You want to know the scale of the task,

the frequency with which it is performed, its part in a sequence or stage.

Objects: What is being handled? Characteristics: What characterizes this task?

(Use example of capitalizing a sentence and a period at the end--makes a sentence.)

Steps: List the order of the steps or tasks. Results: Has the task been successfully carried out?


Group the Tasks According to Their Scale

Some tasks may be grouped together if they are done on a: Small Scale Task Mid-Scale Task Large-Scale Task


Arrange Tasks In a Meaningful Sequence

The best way to present tasks is in the order customers feel most familiar with or can recognize quickly.

It is generally, people do one task and then another, so start by organizing chronologically.


Arrange Tasks In a Meaningful Sequence (Continued)

Chronological Order: Arrange the tasks in the order they are done.

Familiar Order: Go from the known to the unknown. Start with tasks that are most common and familiar and move to the most unusual and foreign. You may want to use this type of ordering when the tasks can be done in any sequence.


Arrange Tasks In a Meaningful Sequence (Continued)

Simple to Complex: Start with the easiest and move to the most complex.

One to Many: When you think people will find all the tasks unfamiliar, and time sequence isn’t relevant, you might order takes in a sequence that’s likely to represent an increase in complexity.

Similar Objects: Group tasks with the same type of object--i.e. adding bold, adding underline, adding italic.


Consider Potential Problems and Solutions

Ask what problems have occurred in the past.

Listen to the users, because if enough of them have the same problem, you may need to set up a clear step for solving the problem.


Consider Potential Problems and Solutions (Continued)

Here are some questions to use in anatomizing customer queries: What is the customer’s stated objective? Do customers know where to begin? Have they made a move that the software considers

an error? Is the structure of the software unclear to them? Can they tell what to do next? Can they tell how to stop?


Draw Some Conclusions

Don’t make broad generalizations about the audience.

Show the analysis and the conclusions that you can draw from your information.


Revise Your User Analysis

Your user analysis contains: General characteristics of the audience. A summary of the ideas they need to learn, or key

concepts when using the product for the first time. A list of the tasks they’ll use the product for. A list of potential problems they’ll encounter. A summary of the way in which you’ll shape your

documentation for these groups.


Revise Your User Analysis (Continued)

Your first draft of the user analysis will not contain full details in any of these areas, but hand it in quickly to your team for their input. You can revise the profile with team input.


Production PhaseConduct user analysis or user analysis.Create the program task list.Design the documents.Write the project plan.Write the alpha draft.Conduct reviews and tests.Revise and edit.Write a final draft.Conduct a field evaluation.


Checklist

Your completed user analysis should include these sections: Characteristics:

• Background and education

• Job Title

• Role of the product

• Levels and types of expertise (a novice in one area may be an expert in another.)


Checklist (Continued)

Key Concepts:• What users can accomplish with the product.

• How the product makes work easier and better

• Features needing emphasis, advertising. Task List:

• Grouped by scale

• Arranged in a meaningful sequence


Checklist (Continued)

Problems and Solutions:• Problems with earlier versions of the product

• Suggestions for improvements Conclusions:

• How this analysis will affect the documentation.

Documents

Analyzing Your Users ITSW 1410 Presentation Media Software Instructor: Glenda H. Easter