1st Edition

Experimental Design From User Studies to Psychophysics

    407 Pages
    by A K Peters/CRC Press

    408 Pages
    by A K Peters/CRC Press

    As computers proliferate and as the field of computer graphics matures, it has become increasingly important for computer scientists to understand how users perceive and interpret computer graphics. Experimental Design: From User Studies to Psychophysics is an accessible introduction to psychological experiments and experimental design, covering the major components in the design, execution, and analysis of perceptual studies.

    The book begins with an introduction to the concepts central to designing and understanding experiments, including developing a research question, setting conditions and controls, and balancing specificity with generality. The book then explores in detail a number of types of experimental tasks: free description, rating scales, forced-choice, specialized multiple choice, and real-world tasks as well as physiological studies. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each type and provides examples of that type of experiment from the authors’ own work. The book also covers stimulus-related issues, including popular stimulus resources. It concludes with a thorough examination of statistical techniques for analyzing results, including methods specific to individual tasks.

    INTRODUCTION
    What Is an Experiment?
    The Research Question
    The Relationship between Hypothesis and Task
    The Experiment
    How to Use This Book

    Designing an Experiment
    Specificity versus Generality
    The Elements of an Experiment

    RESPONSE MEASURES
    The Task
    Task Taxonomy
    Which Method Should I Use to Answer My Question?
    Naive Participants
    Ethics Review
    General Guidelines
    Summary

    Free Description
    Overview of Free-Description Tasks
    Task Description
    Specific Variants
    Conclusions

    Rating Scales
    Overview of Rating Tasks
    Task Description
    Specific Variants
    Conclusions

    Forced Choice
    Overview of Forced-Choice Tasks
    Task Description
    Specific Variants
    Conclusions

    Specialized Multiple Choice
    Overview of Specialized Multiple-Choice Tasks
    Task Description
    Specific Variants
    Conclusions

    Real-World Tasks
    Overview of Real-World Tasks
    Task Description
    Specific Variants
    Conclusions

    Physiology
    Psychophysiological Measurements
    Eye Tracking
    Electroencephalography (EEG)
    Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

    STIMULI
    Choosing Stimuli
    Control
    Stimulus Databases

    Presenting Stimuli: The Psychtoolbox
    History
    Contents
    Getting Started
    Example 1: A Simple Experiment
    Example 2: A More Involved Experiment

    DATA ANALYSIS
    Statistical Issues
    Variables
    Distributions
    Descriptive versus Inferential Statistics
    Descriptive Statistics
    Inferential Statistics
    Hypothesis Testing
    Common Statistical Tests

    Free Description, Questionnaires, and Rating Scales
    Analysis of Free-Description Data
    Rater Agreement and Rater Reliability
    Analysis of Semantic Differentials, Similarity Ratings, and Multiple Scales

    Force and Multiple Choice
    Signal Detection Theory
    Receiver Operator Characteristic
    Measuring Sensitivity Using d’
    Psychometric Functions

    Bibliography

    Biography

    Cunningham, Douglas W.; Wallraven, Christian