Saturday, March 18

Expression into facts: Practical statistics in design research

The Paramount Hotel
808 SW Taylor St
Portland, Oregon 97205
Phone (503) 223-9900

Admission includes lunch and snacks.
Member discount applies to members of CHIFOO and partner organizations.

Download flyer (351k PDF)

This course will be a a short primer on using the practice of using statistics and methods to answer research questions in applied usability research. We will start by asking some fundamental questions about research, how to ask questions, when to do research and when not to. Then, we will discover the use of the basic scientific method, discuss the concepts of validity and reliability, and then talk about the application of different statistical methods to experimental designs.

Sound complicated? It's not.

We will follow a standard method of discovery, ask a questions, formulate a plan, execute the plan and discover our findings. Fundamentals will be tied to practical, real-world examples that participants can use, manipulate and discuss to learn about the advantage of statistics in design research. You should take home a better understanding of how to ask questions using statistics, what's appropriate to use in a design or development environment and how to create tests that answer questions that we all face during usability testing.

Download flyer (351k PDF)

About the speaker

Tom Cocklin is a hardware human factors engineer with over 20 years of experience in product design and usability testing. Products he has collaborated on include UNIX workstations, networking systems, scanners, oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and printers. During product development he has created novel methods for turning expression into fact through his research in acoustic quality, control quality and image texture assessments. He holds a B.A in Psychology from the University of Colorado and a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Kansas and is a Certified Human Factors Professional.