Conduct the Experiment

This week, I conduct my user experiment in the lab. Up to now, I have finished 7 out of 12, and all experiments are expected to be finished before next Tuesday. Since I've got some experience from the summer project, this time everything goes smoothly.

Next week, I will start the analysis of my dataset, and compare some of the result from the external dataset. I think it would be good to get some inspiration from my dataset and in turn do further analysis to the external dataset.

Experiment Implementation 5

This week I improved my implementation according to the result in the pilot study and finalised the experiment on Wednesday. I also finished booking subjects, and the experiment will start on next Monday. It will take about 1 hour and 10 minutes per subject, including 10 minutes instruction explanation and training time.

As the logging format is similar to the external dataset, so I think after the experiment, I could modify previous data analysis scripts to get some basic feature results. However, I still need explore more "letter specific" features before the end of the analysis.

Experiment Implementation 4

Today, I do a formal pilot study to tune the parameter of the experiment, such as time arrangement, task difficulty and settings of the tablet.

First of all, I increased the task difficulty a bit, which I think could make the task harder to complete than before. Then, I also adjust some time arrangement, like resting time between two sections and between two figures as well. Finally, the angle of the tablet is tested by three separate pilot runs. Taking two factors into consideration -- the average pen pressure and the proportion of points which reached the pressure limit, I adjust the angle to be 30 degrees from the vertical plane.

Additionally, I also finish the consent form and the subjective ratings.

Experiment Implementation 3

I think the experiment implementation has been finished, except for the pictures will be used in the experiment. I've drawn draft ones, but the size and layout of them needed to be fixed. Additionally, I edited subjective questions and summary table to be filled in during the experiment.

Tomorrow, I will do further pilot on task difficulty and time arrangement, and hopefully I can start booking subjects. According to the timeline, the experiment will take place on next Wednesday. 

Experiment Implementation 2

During the implementation, the most challenging part for me is the user interface. In my project, I use Java Swing to realise the interaction between the user and the machine, and special logging package to collect the experiment data.

Currently, the main problem for me is how to display the gesture feedback on the screen in real time. I have to get familiar with GlassPane as soon as possible, and then apply it in front of other panels to show the trace to the subject.

Next week, the time arrangement for each part will be tested in the pilot study and the experiment implementation is hopefully to be finalised before the end of next week.

Experiment Implementation 1

There are several parts in the implementation, including program for main tasks, pictures used in the task and the subjective rating. As I have finished the experiment description, it will be relatively easy to follow those steps to finish the implementation.

Currently, I have some issues in choosing the platform, so I need to test the compatibility of two different WACOM tablets first.