Design Changes (filter: attitude toward risk)
List of design changes:
Ambiguous option?Help users understand; Add details
Detailed survey choices help risk-averse user move forward
Ambiguous option?Help users understand; Add examples
Providing clear expectations and examples helps increase user confidence while answering questions
Difficult first task?Help users get started; Give them a smaller, well-explained task
Step-by-step instructions for documentation contributions help newcomers
Contributing to an OSS project can be intimidating for newcomes, especially if they believe their only option requires altering the project's code.
This project only provided instructions for how to complete a code contribution and gave no instructions or even indications that a documentation contribution was possible.
Learning Style: A process-oriented learner wants to follow step-by-step instructions rather than tinker around the project or go through the coding setup (which requires much more work) to make a documentation contribution.
Also affects users with: risk aversion, low computer self-efficacy
Now there is an entire section dedicated to documentation contributions with step-by-step instructions.
Learning Style: A process-oriented learner now has the instructions they're looking for in order to easily complete a documentation contribution. This also doesn't stop a tinker from exploring around the project as much as they want.
Providing step-by-step instructions also helps users with:
risk aversion, low computer self-efficacy Evidence: This redesign was validated in a user study (to appear).
Incomplete instructions?Help users keep going; Add instructions for all common situations
Cohesively organized instructions help task-motivated users move forward
Instructions for each OS were in different locations in the project
Motivations: A task-oriented user doesn't explore around to gather up all the necessary instructions. If the instructions they need aren't organized cohesively they may abandon the task.
Also affects users with: low computer self efficacy, risk aversion, process-oriented learning style
Added and organized instructions all in one place for all OS setups.
Motivations: This allows task-motivated users to find exactly what they need but allows technology-motivated users to explore as much as they want.
Better organization can also help users with:
low computer self efficacy, risk aversion, process-oriented learning style Evidence: This redesign was validated in a user study (to appear).
Login wall?Help users keep going; Remove unnecessary steps
Removing unfamiliar barriers helps task-oriented users move forward
Long list?Help users process it; Add structure
Categorizing long lists helps users find items faster
Many options to choose from?Help users decide; Add labels
Categorizing issues with color-coded labels helps users avoid spending time on issues that don't fit their skill level
The issue list for this open source project doesn't allow users to easily parse through the issues and confidently select one that fits their skill level.
Attitude Toward Risk: A risk averse user doesn't want to waste time working on an issue that doesn't match their skill level.
Also affects users with: comprehensive information processing style, task-oriented motivations, low computer self-efficacy
Categorizing issues by color-coded labels allows users to map the skills needed for each issue.
Attitude Toward Risk: With this solution, a risk averse user can clearly identify the issue that best matches their skillset, and move forward without wasting time. This doesn't hinder a risk-tolerant user since they wouldn't have experienced this pain point.
Categorizing issues by color-coded labels also helps users with:
comprehensive information processing style, task-oriented motivations, low computer self-efficacy Evidence: This redesign was validated in a user study (to appear).
Multi-step task?Help users keep going; Give them a progress bar
Task progress indicators help users manage their time
Reason to follow link unclear?Help users keep going; Add detailed description
Providing more contextual information helps comprehensive info. processors maked educated decisions
Reason to follow link unclear?Help users keep going; Add hover-over menu
Hover-over drop-down menus help users avoid wasting time
Reason to follow link unclear?Help users keep going; Add justification
Hints can create clear paths for task-oriented users
This single sentence provides little information of what a user can expect if they click "Contribute.md".
Motivations: A task-oriented user prefers a workflow that doesn't require exploration to complete their task. If they don't see a clear path, they may abandon the task.
Also affects users with: comprehensive information processing style, risk aversion
The sentence with the contributing guidelines link now has hints that provides users with more information about what they can find in the 'contribute.md' file.
Motivations: A task-oriented user now knows what to expect if they click on the contributing guidelines link and doesn't need to explore in order to complete their task. Also, this solution allows a technology-motivated user to purposefully explore a piece of software by knowing where potential paths lead.
Adding hints to create a clear path can also help users with:
comprehensive information processing style, risk aversion Evidence: This redesign was validated in a user study (to appear).
Unexplained information?Avoid confusing users; Remove unnecessary information
Removing contradicting information helps increase user confidence
The original table seems contradictory since the "Rank" filter is bolded but the numbers on the right side don't seem to be in order. However, the numbers on the right are actually the number of publications for each university and doesn't affect the rank.
Computer Self-Efficacy: A user with low computer self-efficacy blames themselves for not understanding why the "Rank" filter doesn't match the ordering of the numbers on the right.
This would either cause them to spend more time attempting to understand it or abandon the task worried that they did something incorrectly.
Also affects users with: task-oriented motivation, risk aversion, comprehensive information processing style, process-oriented learning style
The numbers on the right side of the table were removed.
Computer Self-Efficacy: Now a user with low computer self-efficacy isn't confused by the inconsistency between filters and numbers and can confidently proceed. This solution also doesn't hurt users with high computer self-efficacy.
Removing contradicting information can also help users with:
task-oriented motivation, risk aversion, comprehensive information processing style, process-oriented learning style Evidence: This redesign was created by Vorvoreanu et al. and validated through a user study.