User Experience Evaluation Methodology in the Onboarding Process: Snapchat Case Study

User experience (UX) has been a hot topic and should be an integral part of the design process – from the early concept to the final product. This article introduces a UX evaluation methodology that helps collect the pragmatic and hedonic attributes of an application in the onboarding process. Moreover, the presented method helps not just to understand the UX (including customers’ unconscious need, desire, and pain points) but also to make the development points clear and straightforward to everyone in the product management team. We focus on a social media platform – Snapchat.

Medication Management: The Macrocognitive Workflow of Older Adults With Heart Failure

Background

Older adults with chronic disease struggle to manage complex medication regimens. Health information technology has the potential to improve medication management, but only if it is based on a thorough understanding of the complexity of medication management workflow as it occurs in natural settings. Prior research reveals that patient work related to medication management is complex, cognitive, and collaborative. Macrocognitive processes are theorized as how people individually and collaboratively think in complex, adaptive, and messy nonlaboratory settings supported by artifacts.

Objective

The objective of this research was to describe and analyze the work of medication management by older adults with heart failure, using a macrocognitive workflow framework.

Methods

We interviewed and observed 61 older patients along with 30 informal caregivers about self-care practices including medication management. Descriptive qualitative content analysis methods were used to develop categories, subcategories, and themes about macrocognitive processes used in medication management workflow.

Results

We identified 5 high-level macrocognitive processes affecting medication management—sensemaking, planning, coordination, monitoring, and decision making—and 15 subprocesses. Data revealed workflow as occurring in a highly collaborative, fragile system of interacting people, artifacts, time, and space. Process breakdowns were common and patients had little support for macrocognitive workflow from current tools.

Conclusions

Macrocognitive processes affected medication management performance. Describing and analyzing this performance produced recommendations for technology supporting collaboration and sensemaking, decision making and problem detection, and planning and implementation.

On the application of motivation theory to human factors/ergonomics: motivational design principles for human-technology interaction

OBJECTIVE

Motivation is a driving force in human-technology interaction. This paper represents an effort to (a) describe a theoretical model of motivation in human technology interaction, (b) provide design principles and guidelines based on this theory, and (c) describe a sequence of steps for the. evaluation of motivational factors in human-technology interaction.

BACKGROUND

Motivation theory has been relatively neglected in human factors/ergonomics (HF/E). In both research and practice, the (implicit) assumption has been that the operator is already motivated or that motivation is an organizational concern and beyond the purview of HF/E. However, technology can induce task-related boredom (e.g., automation) that can be stressful and also increase system vulnerability to performance failures.

METHOD

A theoretical model of motivation in human-technology interaction is proposed, based on extension of the self-determination theory of motivation to HF/E. This model provides the basis for both future research and for development of practical recommendations for design.

RESULTS

General principles and guidelines for motivational design are described as well as a sequence of steps for the design process.

CONCLUSION

Human motivation is an important concern for HF/E research and practice. Procedures in the design of both simple and complex technologies can, and should, include the evaluation of motivational characteristics of the task, interface, or system. In addition, researchers should investigate these factors in specific human-technology domains.

APPLICATION

The theory, principles, and guidelines described here can be incorporated into existing techniques for task analysis and for interface and system design.