6. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
6.3 Research Phases
6.3.2 Phase-II: Developing and Evaluating a Prototype for Female Public Participation Participation
This phase is an attempt at developing and evaluating a prototype for an Internet/GIS participatory system that bridges the communication gap between the female community residents and the local municipality branch. Such a participatory system was aimed at encouraging information exchange between the two sides for the purpose of developing and re-developing the community’s outdoor recreational facilities. The developed prototype was named Saudi Community Online Participatory System(SCOPS).
6.3.2.1 User Analysis
What types of reasons might people have for visiting the website to be developed? What are they likely to be looking for? What are the characteristics of those different users? Is the website targeting more than one type of user? The goal of conducting the user analysis was to answer such questions through analyzing the
targeted users of the SCOPS website. The user analysis was guided by a framework for user analysis (Sawasdichai & Poggenphol, 2003) (Figure 4). Such a framework focuses on the user's cognitive factors that underlie and regulate personal behavior while searching though a website. These cognitive factors include user generic goals, user modes of searching, and user models. The framework helps systematically analyze and synthesize these factors in order to better anticipate user search behavior with the goal to eventually be able to determine the kinds of information and functions needed to include in different types of website design. Sawasdichai and Poggenphol explained their analytical framework as follows:
"In summary, one particular goal can be transformed into various intentions based on different user modes of searching, and further translated into various sequences of actions based on different user models. Therefore, it is important to recognize these connections among users' goals, intentions and action sequences, and understand the substantial factors that enable these transformations, so that users' behaviors, needs and expectations will be predicted more correctly or closely to how users really behave in actual cases." (p. 65, 66)
User analysis helps to understand different types of website users and their cognitive factors and so helps the website developer to anticipate user courses of action.
When all cognitive factors that regulate user behaviors are deliberately considered, such anticipation deliberately considered, such anticipation becomes more accurate. Based on such analysis, the next step, which is synthesis, helps the website developer to determine kinds of information and function needed by the intended users and hence help in both planning and evaluating website design. In this research, some of the information used in
the analysis was elicited directly from the female community residents who participated in the focus-group discussions.
Fig. 4. Sawasdichai and Poggenphol model for user goal, intention and action.
6.3.2.2 Prototype Developing and Testing
Based on the user analysis and the data collected in phase I, a website was developed using Microsoft FrontPage to act as an open-access virtual meeting room for the local female community residents, the local community association, and the local municipality branch of the study area. After building the website, it was linked to a Microsoft Access database. The database was then linked to the GIS software ArcView 9.0. By linking together the three main components of the prototype and having them up and running, the first version of the prototype (SCOPS-01) became ready for testing.
The usability of the prototype’s website was tested to make sure the website performs the function for which it is designed, with the minimum amount of user frustration, time, and effort (Pedersen, 2003). Shackel (1991) defined usability as "the capability to be used by humans easily and effectively" (p. 24). He explained that usability depends on the interplay of four components- user, task, tool, and environment.
While the first component (i.e. user) was analyzed in the user analysis section, the three other components (i.e. task, tool, and environment) are considered here. The usability testing of the website was given to five female Internet users selected from the study sample. The steps followed in the usability tests were as follows:
1) A participant was seated to a computer with the attendance of the female researcher assistant.
2) The researcher’s female assistant gave to the participant an information sheet about the research.
3) The researcher’s female assistant asked the participant to think aloud during the test.
4) The researcher’s female assistant starts reading the test tasks that examines different parts of the website (Appendix C) and asked the participant to perform them. While the participant was performing the tasks and thinking aloud, the researcher’s female assistant recorded observations such as how long the participant takes to perform each task? What are the false starts the participant makes on those tasks? Any frustrations that arise? etc.
5) After completing the tasks, the participant was asked a set of questions (Appendix C) through which the participant's opinions on various aspects of the website were recorded.
The website was then modified according to the results and incorporated in the prototype which formed its second version (SCOPS-02) and then the system was published to the Internet for evaluation.
6.3.2.3 Prototype Evaluation
This was done after modifying the SCOPS-02 prototype based on the results of the usability testing. The evaluation was adapted from Adelman's multifaceted evaluation approach that includes technical, empirical, and subjective evaluations (Adelman, 1992).
1) Technical Evaluation: Because SCOPS-02 prototype has focused mainly on integrating applications from different off-the-shelf software, technical evaluation was limited to software selection and prototype testing. Criteria for software selection were flexibility, integrity, compatibility.
2) Empirical Evaluation: This evaluation assessed whether the system is practical and can actually improve performance. The goal was to assess, for example, whether the public women can express their opinions significantly easier when using the SCOPS-02 prototype rather than not using it.
3) Subjective evaluation: included online and off-line surveys in order to assess the opinions of users regarding system strengths and weaknesses, and to collect their comments with regards to suggested changes.
The empirical evaluation data and the subjective evaluation data were collected from a selected sample of public officials and public women as follows:
1) Public officials: The initial plan of the researcher was to meet and invite a number of public officials from Jeddah’s main municipality, the municipality branch of the study area and the community association of the study area to participate in evaluating the SCOPS-02 prototype. However, such a plan was changed after the president of the community association of the study area advised the researcher to carry out such evaluation with the members of the local community council. Note that most of such a council’s members are public officials, which means time and effort saving to the researcher. After the researcher agreed, the president of Fawaz Community Association arranged for a special meeting for the community council on January 6th, 2006 where the researcher had a chance to present his work and get verbal and written feedback on the SCOPS-02 prototype from the public officials. The written feedback was obtained by asking the participants to fill-out a number of follow-up evaluation questions (Appendix D).
2) Public Women: Inviting lay public women to participate in the prototype evaluation was done by the researcher’s female assistant through direct personal