Fw: NIST Evaluation

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "hkwig" <hkwig@etinternet.net>
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2004 9:24 PM
Subject: NIST Evaluation


The National Institute on Standards and Technology (NIST) of the U.S.
Department of Commerce  invites you to participate as a subject in a test of
our Web
Category Analysis Tool (WebCAT) that is software tool developed to help web
designers find out how Internet users think about the organization of
websites.
Initially, WebCAT was designed with a graphical interface that allow
subjects to drag and drop items from a list to various category bins;
however, to
address the issues of access and usability, we have developed a new version
that has an all text interface.

Your participation in our experiment will help us evaluate whether the
text-based version of WebCAT is as useful as the graphical version. We
estimate that
the experiment will require 20 to 40 minutes of your time depending on
whether you are assigned the text or graphical interface. The implementation
of
our test does not allow for "stop and starts"; therefore, once you start you
have to run to completion.

The first page in the sequence of web pages of the experiment contains
questions that will help us to understand your computer background. This is
important
because sometimes there is a relationship between previous experience and
performance on computer-based tests.

The page following the page about your computer experience will introduce
you to one of two training exercises. At the end of each training exercise,
you
have the option of repeating the training exercise or proceeding to the
three real exercises; however, once you start the real exercises, you will
not
have the option of repeating an exercise. Instructions that you will need to
complete the tests are provided on the page along with an exercise. At the
end of each exercise, you will be asked to fill in a 3-question form related
to your experience in completing the exercise.

After you complete all the exercises, we would like you to tell us about
your overall experience in using WebCAT by rating the systems on a series of
scales.

If you can help us, please fill out the form below and email it to
csheppard@nist.gov. You will be contacted to set up a date and time when you
can visit
our lab in Building 225 Room A244 and perform our experiment.

Please note that we are not permitted to pay you or provide you with a cost
center to charge. So, you must do this in your free time or at your own
group's
expense with permission from your supervisor.

Your help is much appreciated.

Regards,

Charles L. Sheppard
NIST
Bldg. 225 Rm A216 Stop 8940
Gaithersburg, MD 20899

301-975-3269     csheppard@nist.gov

Received on Saturday, 14 February 2004 10:18:14 UTC