Carleton University

COMP 3008

1. When are Semi-Structured Interviews beter than Structured Interviews?
A: Semi-structured interviews are beter than structured interviews because they involve some
sequence, but is flexible to deviate and explore an answer that a respondent lef that is
interestng.
2. What is the reason for the fnal queston asked at each step in a Cognitve Walkthrough?
A: To make sure that the person learns whether or not they made the correct acton through
feedback
3. What is meant by the term Ecological Validity?
A: The realism of the test scenario
4. Imagine conductng a study to compare two password systems. State two reasonable Dependent
Variables
A: The amount of tme it takes to log in using each password system. The memorability of the
password systems
5. In conductng experiments to examine differences in usability between two systems, we
normally emphasize performance measures. Why is it also benefcial to use questonnaires?
A: We can use questonnaires to get demographic, opinion, and feedback data
6. Imagine that the university has commissioned two candidates for a new website for course
registraton. Describe a quanttatve approach to compare the usability of the two websites
A: An experiment would be conducted. The independent variables are the two websites. The
dependent variables would be measures that indicate website performance. This might be:
number of registratons, tme taken for registraton, number of clicks on links for help, number
of errors people make.