Hendrik Müller
Hendrik Müller is a staff user experience researcher at Google in Sydney, Australia. He leads user research for Google Drive, contributes to other efforts within Google Apps, and previously worked on Google Docs, Google Health, and several other products. His research interests focus on file management, cloud storage, mobile devices, and survey methodology among other methods. Together with other researchers, he leads survey efforts within Google’s user experience team to measure user happiness. He has spoken at numerous conferences about surveys and research he conducted. Hendrik received his master’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, USA, in 2007.
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As use of smartphone-based tools & services broadens and deepens, such products should be continuously evaluated and optimized to meet users' needs. In-product surveys are one way to gather attitudinal and user experience data at scale, in context of actual experiences. However, given space constraints, OS variance, product design differences, and app vs mobile web options, launching contextual surveys on smartphones requires considerable attention to several user experience aspects that can also impact data quality. In this talk, we will discuss a variety of practical UX considerations for in-context surveys on smartphones, drawing on real-world implementation and experimentation for several of Google's most-used mobile products. In particular, we'll discuss issues such as when to trigger a survey, sampling across platforms (mobile vs desktop), invitations vs inline questions, survey length, question types, device size, screen orientation, survey interaction with the host product/app. We will also explore the effect of design and text variants on smartphone survey response rates and response distributions.
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Understanding and Comparing Smartphone and Tablet Use: Insights from a Large-Scale Diary Study
John S. Webb
Aaron Cheang
Proceedings of the 27th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference (OzCHI 2015), ACM, New York, NY, USA, pp. 427-436
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In recent years, smartphone and tablet ownership has shown continued growth; however, there is a lack of research thoroughly investigating the use of these devices within the general public. This paper describes a large-scale diary study with U.S. mobile device owners, examining details of smartphone and tablet use. Results provide a comprehensive breakdown of frequent activities and contexts of use, highlighting key differences in smartphone and tablet use. Activities on smartphones were found to be dominated by communication needs, while tablets were frequently used for consumption and entertainment. Both devices were most often used at home, with tablets rarely leaving the home. Within the home, smartphones were used mostly in the bedroom, and tablets in the living room. Both devices were used frequently while doing something else, such as using tablets primarily while watching TV. Conclusions discuss implications for enriching the experience of mobile devices and opportunities for future research.
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Designing Surveys for HCI Research
Aaron Sedley
CHI '15 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM, New York, NY, USA (2015), pp. 2485-2486
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Online surveys are widely used in human-computer interaction (HCI) to gather feedback and measure satisfaction; at a glance many tools are available and the cost of conducting surveys appears low. However, there is a wide gap between quick-and-dirty surveys, and surveys that are properly planned, constructed, and analyzed. This course examines survey research approaches that meet HCI goals, selecting the appropriate sampling method, questionnaire design best practices, identifying and avoiding common survey biases, and questionnaire evaluation. Attendees will gain an appreciation for the breadth and depth of surveys in HCI, combined with keys to conducting valid, reliable, and impactful survey research themselves.
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HaTS: Large-scale In-product Measurement of User Attitudes & Experiences with Happiness Tracking Surveys
Aaron Sedley
Proceedings of the 26th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference (OzCHI 2014), ACM, New York, NY, USA, pp. 308-315
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With the rise of Web-based applications, it is both important and feasible for human-computer interaction practitioners to measure a product’s user experience. While quantifying user attitudes at a small scale has been heavily studied, in this industry case study, we detail best Happiness Tracking Surveys (HaTS) for collecting attitudinal data at a large scale directly in the product and over time. This method was developed at Google to track attitudes and open-ended feedback over time, and to characterize products’ user bases. This case study of HaTS goes beyond the design of the questionnaire to also suggest best practices for appropriate sampling, invitation techniques, and its data analysis. HaTS has been deployed successfully across dozens of Google’s products to measure progress towards product goals and to inform product decisions; its sensitivity to product changes has been demonstrated widely. We are confident that teams in other organizations will be able to embrace HaTS as well, and, if necessary, adapt it for their unique needs.
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Designing Unbiased Surveys for HCI Research
Aaron Sedley
Elizabeth Ferrall-Nunge
CHI '14 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM, New York, NY, USA (2014), pp. 1027-1028
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Surveys are a commonly used method within HCI research. While it initially appears easy and inexpensive to conduct surveys, overlooking key considerations in questionnaire design and the survey research process can yield skewed, biased, or entirely invalid survey results. Fortunately decades of academic research and analysis exist on optimizing the validity and reliability of survey data, from which this course will draw. To enable the creation of unbiased surveys, this course demonstrates questionnaire design biases and pitfalls, provides best practices for minimizing these, and reviews different uses of surveys within HCI.
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Survey Research in HCI
Aaron Sedley
Elizabeth Ferrall-Nunge
Ways of Knowing in HCI, Springer, New York, NY, USA (2014), Survey Research in HCI
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Surveys, now commonplace on the Internet, allow researchers to make inferences about an entire population by gathering information from a small subset of the larger group. Surveys can gather insights about people’s attitudes, perceptions, intents, habits, awarenesses, experiences, and characteristics, at significant moments both in time and over time. Even though they are easy to administer, there is a wide gap between quick-and-dirty surveys and surveys that are properly planned, constructed, and analyzed.
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Minimizing change aversion for the Google Drive launch
Aaron Sedley
CHI'13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM, New York, NY, USA (2013), pp. 2351-2354
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Change aversion is a natural response, which technology often exacerbates. Evolutionary changes can be subtle and occur over many generations. But Internet users must sometimes deal with sudden, significant product changes to applications they rely on and identify with. Despite the best intentions of designers and product managers, users often experience anxiety and confusion when faced with a new interface or changed functionality. While some change aversion is often inevitable, it can also be managed and minimized with the right steps. This case study describes how our understanding of change aversion helped minimize negative effects for the transition of the Google Docs List to Google Drive, a product for file storage in the cloud. We describe actions that allowed for a launch with no aversion.
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Older adult’s perceptions of usefulness of personal health records
Margaux M. Price
Richard Pak
Aideen Stronge
Universal Access in the Information Society (2012)
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Electronic personal health records (PHRs) have the potential to both make health information more accessible to patients and function as a decision-support system for patients managing chronic conditions. Age-related changes in cognition may make traditional strategies of integrating and understanding existing (i.e., paper-based) health information more difficult for older adults. The centralized and integrated nature of health information, as well as the long-term tracking capabilities present in many PHRs, may be especially beneficial for older patients’ management of health. However, older adults tend to be late adopters of technology and may be hesitant to adopt a PHR if the benefits are not made clear (perceived usefulness). Toward the design of a useful PHR, a needs analysis was conducted to determine how people currently manage their health information, what they perceive as useful, and to identify any unmet needs. This paper describes two qualitative studies examining the health information needs of both younger and older adults. The first study used a 2-week diary methodology to examine everyday health questions or concerns, while the second study examined maintenance of health information and perceptions of PHRs through the use of a three-part interview. User’s perceptions of the usefulness of PHRs are provided as recommendations for the design of e-health technology, especially those targeted for older adult healthcare consumers. The results suggest that both older and younger adults would deem a PHR useful if it provides memory support in the form of reminders, provides tools to aid in comprehension of one’s health concerns, is interactive and provides automatic functions, and is highly accessible to authorized users, yet one’s information is kept secure and private.
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Understanding Tablet Use: A Multi-Method Exploration
John S. Webb
Proceedings of the 14th Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (Mobile HCI 2012), ACM
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Tablet ownership has grown rapidly over the last year. While market research surveys have helped us understand the demographics of tablet ownership and provided early insights into usage, there is little comprehensive research available. This paper describes a multi-method research effort that employed written and video diaries, in-home interviews, and contextual inquiry observations to learn about tablet use across three locations in the US. Our research provides an in-depth picture of frequent tablet activities (e.g., checking emails, playing games, social networking), locations of use (e.g., couch, bed, table), and contextual factors (e.g., watching TV, eating, cooking). It also contributes an understanding of why and how people choose to use tablets. Popular activities for tablet use, such as media consumption, shopping, cooking, and productivity are also explored. The findings from our research provide design implications and opportunities for enriching the tablet experience, and agendas for future research.
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