Research Topics in Human-Computer Interaction
home syllabus assignments links

Human subjects certification (due February 12)
  1. Go to the University's Certification in Human Subject Protections page.
  2. Follow the instructions to complete human subjects certification using the CITI program (you are under IRB-02)
  3. Create a PDF of the completion form and upload it to the ICON dropbox
This assignment will count for 5% of your grade (as part of the project grade).

If you completed certification earlier, make note of this on the ICON dropbox (no need to upload anything). I can check on the University's records if you are certified. If this is the case, you don't need to retake the course and be recertified.

Forming groups (due February 21)

  1. Decide whether you will work on your class project individually, or whether you will form a group with one other person (groups may not have more than two members). More work will be expected from group than from individual projects.
  2. Decide on what you plan to do for the project. You must conduct research in human-computer interaction. Your research must involve a pilot study evaluating a technology or interaction with human subjects. For example, you may develop a simple interaction or application and then compare it to existing alternatives, or develop software to compare two interactions styles that have not previously been compared. You are welcome to discuss your ideas with me.
  3. By the beginning of class on February 21 I need to receive from all groups and individuals working on their own, an email stating either group membership or that you are working on your own, and a one paragraph description of the work you plan to do. Later in the semester, I will ask you to submit a more detailed proposal of the work you will do.

Formal project proposal (due March 12)

This assignment counts for 15% of your grade.
You will formally propose the experiment that you will conduct as part of your project. I expect it will be 5-7 pages long following ACM SIGCHI format. It should include the following sections:

Introduction
Provide a quick overview of what you will be doing.

Motivation
Explain the problem you will be studying and why it is significant.

Literature review
Provide an overview of related research.

Research questions or Hypothesis
List either your research questions or the hypotheses you are going to test.

Participants
Explain how you would recruit and select participants for an experiment to be conducted after your pilot study. You should include any recruiting materials (e.g. flyers) you would use in the appendix.

Materials
Describe the materials (e.g. software, hardware) participants will interact with during the experiment.

Procedure
Describe where and how you will conduct the experiment. You should include a script of what you will tell participants in the appendix.

Design
List the independent (specify within vs. between subjects), dependent, control and random variables. Make sure you define them precisely. Explain how you will measure the dependent variable(s).

Appendix
The appendix must include any materials you would use to recruit participants (e.g. flyers), the script or protocol you will use during the experiment, the informed consent form, and any questionnaires you will use (e.g. demographic, satisfaction). See the QUIS for an example of a user satisfaction questionnaire. The informed consent form must mention that the study you are conducting is under my supervision.

Please upload to ICON dropbox.

Project write-up and presentation (due May 14, 8pm)

This assignment counts for 30% of your grade.

You will conduct the experiment you proposed, write a paper (10 page maximum length) about it following ACM SIGCHI format, and present on your work during the last week of classes. The paper should be in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format, and should be uploaded with your presentation to the ICON dropbox. Your presentation should be about 10 minutes long.

In order to facilitate scheduling experiment sessions with your classmates, you should be ready to begin conducting your experiment no later than April 14. When you are ready, you should post a discussion item in ICON stating your availability to conduct experiments and the location where they will be conducted (four participants per group member). Participants should respond to the discussion item to reserve slots as well as email the student conducting the experiment to confirm the appointment. I apologize ahead of time for ICON's terrible user interface.

In order to make it as easy on everyone as possible, try to keep your experimental sessions to 30 minutes. If you can make them even shorter, that would be great.

Please upload both your paper and presenation to the ICON dropbox.