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An exploratory study into whether to or not to include users in the development of industrial hypermedia applications

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Abstract

While there is agreement among both information system (IS) practitioners and IS researchers as to the value of user participation in IS development, the correlation between user participation and actual use or user satisfaction (surrogate measures of IS success) has been equivocal. A possible reason for the contradictory findings could be that user participation is being utilised, regardless of the levels of complexity of either the system or the task. This paper describes two exploratory case studies to test this hypothesis. Industrial hypermedia applications (IHA) were developed and qualitative data collected, through usability trials, to see the effect of user participation on user perception (extrinsic motivations of use) of the system, rather than IS success. The findings show that users should participate in the development when both the IS and the task are complex. On the other hand, when both the system and the task are not complex, user participation can be kept to a minimum. Furthermore, it is recommended that user participation should not be evaluated against IS success, but against system features.

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Notes

  1. Multiple regression is a means of establishing the relative importance of the independent variable to the dependent variable. Standard multiple regression implies that the researcher completely specifies the set of independent variables to be included in the model [27].

  2. Cronbach’s alpha (0  ≤  alpha ≤ 1) is a measure of the extent to which item responses obtained at the same time correlate highly with each other.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SIMMO, Ecole Nationale Supérieur des Mines de St-Etienne, 158, Cours Fauriel, 42023, St-Etienne Cedex 2, France

    Devendra Fakun

  2. SIMS, Manufacturing Systems Department, Cranfield University, Beds, MK43 0AL, UK

    Richard M. Greenough

Authors
  1. Devendra Fakun
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  2. Richard M. Greenough
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Correspondence to Devendra Fakun.

Appendix: The post-usability questionnaire

Appendix: The post-usability questionnaire

Please circle the number that best reflects your feelings.

Table 6
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Fakun, D., Greenough, R.M. An exploratory study into whether to or not to include users in the development of industrial hypermedia applications. Requirements Eng 9, 57–66 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00766-003-0180-2

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