Team: Pavlov’s DogsProject: Pool Party

Mike AbeggChris Ballenger

Tom ScarboroughAlex Towell

Client: Dr. Michael G. Dudley Assistant Professor Psychology Department

Situation

• Psych 111 students are required to participate in six credit hours of experiments designed by faculty and students– Posted in the basement of Alumni Hall – Participants must sign up for an experiment

compatible with their schedule– Bring a participant card to the experiment– Experimenter stamps the card as proof of

participation– Coordinator generates participation report

Problem

• Cumbersome and insecure – Lost participation cards– Forged participation cards

• Inconvenient– Excess paperwork– Must travel to Alumni Hall– Participation report generated manually

Psychology Department Needs

A system for managing the experiment participation pool that is convenient, secure, less error prone, and automated. • No lost/forged participation cards• Paperless• No travel-time• Automated report generation

Requirements

• Web-based• Multi-user• Compatibility– Existing system– Existing workflow

Users

• Participants– Psych 111 students who participate in

experiments• Experimenters– Psych students/faculty who design and conduct

experiments • Coordinators– Administrator– Generate participation reports

Functionality: User Management

• Users have to register • Update user details• Coordinator approval of experimenters • Experimenters confirm if a participant

participated• Participant availability schedule

Functionality: Experiment Management

• Handle multiple experiments• Experimenters need to be able post, update, and

cancel experiments• Search experiments based on– Schedule– Restrictions– Credit Hour– Category

• Sign up for an experiment• Cancellation of participation

Other Functionality

• Generate a report of experiments and participants

• Send email notifications– Reminders– Updates– Cancellations– System status

Analysis Methods

• Interviewed client and will continue to do so• Observed Psych 111 student signing up for

experiments• Intend to perform usability studies with paper

prototypes• Intend to interview experimenters and

participants

WorkflowExperimentExperimenter Posts

Participant Selects Experiment

First thing that has to happen is that an experimenter must post an experiment

All available experiments and there availability schedules are presented to the participants, and the participants self select which experiments to participate in.

Experimenter Conducts

ExperimentParticipant Participates

The Experiment is performed by the Experimenter with one or more participants at a time until all participants have had a turn to participate. (we need to record if they did or did not)

Coordinator Evaluates Experiments

Experiment

Experiment

A Coordinator evaluates all Experiments conducted and produces a report detailing which participants participated in which experiments.

The Report is broken down into individual class sections and is delivered to the professor for the appropriate section

Produces Report

WorkflowExperimenter Posting Experiment

Experimenter has experiment ready to post

Experimenter fills out experiment description and

schedule

Experimenter makes experiment available for

participation

WorkflowParticipant selecting experiment

Based on schedule and experiment restrictions

Participant needs to find an experiment to participate in

Find the list of experiments

Eliminate incompatible experiments

Find an experiment they like

Sign up for an experiment time slot

Student name,class/section/instructor

WorkflowExperimenter conducting experiment

Participant participating in experiment

Experiment has been completed

Experimenter is prompted to indicate if the participant participated

Experimenter marks if they did or did not

WorkflowCoordinator making report

All experiments have been conducted

For each participant

For each experiment they participated in

If they participated add the experiment’s value to their participation score, if they did not subtract

Write out the participant’s score

Sort participants by class and section

Print out report

Users

Experimenter

Participant

Coordinator

Experiments

Experiment

Experiment

Experiment…

ReportCoordinator makes participation report

Experimenter posts experiment

Participant selects experiment

Participant participates in experiment

Experimenter performs

experiment

Consolidated Workflow Model

Questions??