Skip to main content

Costs and Benefits of User Involvement in Design: Practitioners’ Views

  • Conference paper

Abstract

Many design approaches recommend some form of user involvement in the design of interactive systems, although there has been little empirical research directed towards assessing the benefits to be gained, and costs to be incurred, from having users involved during the design process. Moreover, the work that does exist has tended to take a narrow view, considering the gains and losses primarily from an organizational perspective. This paper offers richer definitions of the costs and benefits by which user involvement might be assessed, emphasizing the contrasting views of different ‘stakeholders’ in the design process. It presents and discusses two empirical studies conducted in the light of these definitions to examine the costs and benefits of user involvement as perceived by design practitioners.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Barnard, P. (1987), Cognitive Resources and Learning of Human Computer Dialogues, in J. M. Carroll (ed.), “Interfacing Thought: Cognitive Aspects of Human—Computer Interaction”, MIT Press, pp. 112–159.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bekker, M. M. & Vermeeren, A. P. O. S. (1993), Developing User Interface Design Tools: An Analysis of Interface Design Practice, in E. J. Lovesey (ed.), “Contemporary Ergonomics: Proceedings of the Ergonomics Society’s 1993 Conference”, Taylor & Francis, pp. 79–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellotti, V. (1988), Implications of Current Design Practice for the Use of HCI Techniques, in D. M. Jones & R. Winder (eds.), “People and Computers IV (Proceedings of HCI’88)”, Cambridge University Press, pp. 13–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bias, R. G. & Mayhew, D. J. (eds.) (1994), Cost-Justifying Usability, Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • CACM (1993), “Communications of the ACM”. Special Issue on Participatory Design, 36 (4).

    Google Scholar 

  • Card, S. K., Moran, T. P. & Newell, A. (1983), The Psychology of Human—Computer Interaction, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, J. M. (ed.) (1995), Scenario-Based Design: Envisioning Work and Technology in System Development, John Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diaper, D. (1989), Task Analysis for Knowledge Description (TAKD), in D. Diaper (ed.), “Task Analysis for Human—Computer Interaction”, Ellis Horwood, pp. 108–159.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grudin, J. (1991), “Systematic Sources of Sub-optimal Interface Design in Large Product Development Organisations”, Human—Computer Interaction 6 (2), 147–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, P., Johnson, H., Waddington, R. & Shouls, A. (1988), Task-Related Knowledge Structures: Analysis, Modelling and Application, in D. M. Jones & R. Winder (eds.), “People and Computers IV (Proceedings of HCI’88)”, Cambridge University Press, pp. 35–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karat, C.-M. (1990), Cost-Benefit Analysis of Iterative Usability Testing, in D. Diaper, D. Gilmore, G. Cockton & B. Shackel (eds.), “Proceedings of INTERACT’90 — Third IFIP Conference on Human–Computer Interaction”, Elsevier Science, pp. 351–356.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lim, K. Y. & Long, J. (1994), The MUSE Method for Usability Engineering, Cambridge Series on Human–Computer Interaction, Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mantei, M. M. & Teorey, T. J. (1988), “Cost/Benefit Analysis for Incorporating Human Factors in the Software Lifecycle”, Communications of the ACM 31 (4), 428–439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, M. (1996), “Qualitative Research: A Package Deal”, The Psychologist 9 (1), 31–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norman, D. A. & Draper, S. W. (eds.) (1986), User Centered Systems Design: New Perspectives on Human–Computer Interaction, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Payne, S. & Green, T. (1986), “Task Action Grammars: A Model of the Mental Representation of Task Languages”, Human–Computer Interaction 2 (2), 93–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schuler, D. & Namioka, A. (eds.) (1993), Participatory Design: Principles and Practices, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1996 Springer-Verlag London

About this paper

Cite this paper

Wilson, S., Bekker, M., Johnson, H., Johnson, P. (1996). Costs and Benefits of User Involvement in Design: Practitioners’ Views. In: Sasse, M.A., Cunningham, R.J., Winder, R.L. (eds) People and Computers XI. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3588-3_15

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3588-3_15

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-76069-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-3588-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics