Click here to see the detailed notes from the interview

From CS 160 Fall 2008

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Tell me a time when you learned something implicitly; you learned something without actively trying.
What is your favor way to learn things?
What other means do you have of learning about different types of investments?
Note what the person has around them!!!
Tell me a time when you collaborated with someone who shared a common learning goal?
How many times in the past month did you have to learn something?
Tell me a time when you spent so much time on learning something that you decided to give up on it?
Paying more attention: Tell us a situation where there was some form of visual signal that caused you to exercise caution and safe.
Growth rate: Tell us about a time when some form of visual cue was able to help you determine which of two things was faster or more productive.

Tasks:

Creating a new account: Perform a task: Show us how you insert a chart in the middle of a page in Microsoft Word
Getting help: Perform a task: Show us how you find help on how to add favorite in Internet Explorer 7.
Moving money around: Perform a task: Show us how you move files from one directory to another.
Money in account: Perform a task: Show us how you determine how much money is in your bank account? How do you go about finding it?
How to start a game: Perform a task: When you die in minesweeper, restart the game.
How to rearrange accounts: Perform a task: Make it so that you can see 5 windows on a desktop.

Test Subject #1 (by Ben and Geoffrey)

Questions regarding their background

What is your highest education level?
- Some college
Can you define the terms 401k, Roth IRA, and Money Market?
- 401k - retirement plan of some sort
- Roth IRA - don't know
- Money Market - It's a general term
What type of financial accounts do you currently have?
- Checking, savings and mutual fund accounts
How often do you play online Flash games?

Everyday.

Have you planned for your retirement, if no, when would you start?
- No. possibly 10 years after starting to work.
What does the person do for a living?
- MEB major at UC Berkeley

Questions related to task analysis questions

Tell me a time when you learned something implicitly; you learned something without actively trying.
- Learned the song by repeatedly listening to it. Repeated exposure.
What is your favorite way to learn things?
- Learned about muscles. Learned by opening a book and looked at the pictures.
What other means do you have of learning about different types of investments?
- Wikipedia. Talk to someone knowledgeable about the topics. Parental influences. Dad taught him what a mutual fund account is.
Note what the person has around them!!!
- Cell phone, a book, laptop, a hat, keys.
Tell me a time when you collaborated with someone who shared a common learning goal?
- Was doing a lab, and did not understand a slide. Pull out the textbook from the backpack. Both split up the book to look at the different section of the book and the other person found the information and he looked over the other person's textbook.
How many times in the past month did you have to learn something?
- 2 times per month
Tell me a time when you spent so much time on learning something that you decided to give up on it?
- For a pledge test, started studying two days before. Gave up on memorizing word for word. 20 min. Setting priority. Star Wars expanded universe. Gave up after finding out there were much more. Gave up gradually throughout the year. Spent a year reading forums, movies and books. For a month or two, was really into it but people started talking about books and eventually just gave up. Possibly hr/day. Persistence: Played kart-rider, cannot get better because he needs to get better by paying real money for a better kart and there's no point of doing that.
Paying more attention: Tell us a situation where there was some form of visual signal that caused you to exercise caution and safe.
- Anything red and with the word "WARNING". Same thing for situations in labs. "WARNING", "BE CAREFUL" or skeletons. What sign and signals. In chemistry lab, will see poison sign and more cautious when handling it.
- Green signal will signify safe. A sign would be "Green Check mark". Green and red like a traffic light. Green means safe to go and red means stop.
Growth rate: Tell us about a time when some form of visual cue was able to help you determine which of two things was faster or more productive.
- When downloading something, read the data and numbers. Looking at the speed and number. Possibly look at a graph, in this case enzyme graphs. Look at what graph means, time vs speed graph. Compare two graphs by possibly comparing two slopes, how high the line is.

Tasks:

Creating a new account: Perform a task: Show us how you insert a chart in the middle of a page in Microsoft Word
- He first looked at the tool bar to and he identified "insert", and he clicked on it. Then he looked for some resemblance of something that he wanted to add in which in this case is a chart. He clicked on the icon. When he tries to center the chart, he could not find any options, so the first thing he thought was to drag the chart to the middle of the page. When that failed, he tried to look for option that centers the text.
Getting help: Perform a task: Show us how you find help on how to add favorite in Internet Explorer 7.
- Firstly, he looked for the help button, and he went to the contents. There were a lot of stuff in the content section. He found the search tab and typed "favorite" in search.
Moving money around: Perform a task: Show us how you move files from one directory to another.
- The subject dragged one file from the source directory to the destination directory. He said it's the first thing that came to his mind when moving things on a computer. It is also the most natural way of moving files. He commented that he does not know another way of getting it done.
Money in account: Perform a task: Show us how you determine how much money is in your bank account? How do you go about finding it?
- Go online and just check the account by looking at the number. Check the money and see how much credit card debt you have and how much money he owes other people. Money in the bank account vs. expense.
How to start a game: Perform a task: When you die in minesweeper, restart the game.
- He first goes to the game menu and he found "New". He clicked on "New" and said it's the logical way to restart the game.
How to rearrange accounts: Perform a task: Make it so that you can see 5 windows on a desktop.
- He would resize windows, and then reposition them. If there were not enough space, he would resize the windows again. He noted that his rearrangement was bad because he cannot see all the things in a particular window and he had screens that were overlapping.

Test Subject #2 (by Perry)

Questions regarding their background

What is your highest education level?
- high school, and soon to be, college (after this semester)

Can you define the terms 401k, Roth IRA, and Money Market?
- 401k - some sort of retirement fund that employers usually offer; contributions to this fund are both made by the employer (matched) and employee
- Roth IRA - similar to a 401k, except contributions are not matched normally; your contributions are taxed immediately rather than later
- Money Market - used to indicate the health of a currency and compare it others

What type of financial accounts do you currently have?
- bank account (checking, savings), credit card (although not sure if this qualifies as a financial account)

How often do you play online Flash games?
- very rarely

Have you planned for your retirement, if no, when would you start?
- not really, although have tried to keep somewhat knowledgeable of what options are out there

What does the person do for a living?
- double in EECS and MatSci (student); work as a system administrator (work)

Questions related to task analysis questions

Tell me a time when you learned something implicitly; you learned something without actively trying.
- is sure that this has occurred before (and possibly quite often) but cannot recall a specific example

What is your favorite way to learn things?
- attending lectures/discussions; asking questions to confirm understanding

What other means do you have of learning about different types of investments?
- the news (e.g., following financially-related (and more generally) news via RSS feeds)

Note what the person has around them!!!
- (Perry: This seems like a rather odd question...) computers (desktop and laptop), TV, textbooks, keys, etc. -- what you might expect in a typical college student's room

Tell me a time when you collaborated with someone who shared a common learning goal?
- writing lab reports with a partner -- coordinated and hashed out things (e.g., the analysis) in person and via email

How many times in the past month did you have to learn something?
- silly question; the number of times is innumerable

Tell me a time when you spent so much time on learning something that you decided to give up on it?
- more generally, the class, CS 150 -- gave up at the start of finals because came to conclusion that it wasn't worth it; there was too much to learn/prepare in other classes and did not care about CS 150 anymore

Paying more attention: Tell us a situation where there was some form of visual signal that caused you to exercise caution and safe.
- while driving people home one late night, was very wary of drivers who appeared to be drunk (as suggested by their hand motions and their demeanor)

Growth rate: Tell us about a time when some form of visual cue was able to help you determine which of two things was faster or more productive.
- thumbs up, thumbs down; written signs

Tasks:

Creating a new account: Perform a task: Show us how you insert a chart in the middle of a page in Microsoft Word
- showed three methods
  - copy and paste (via keyboard)
  - copy and paste (via mouse) -- first tried drag and drop; after noting its failure, used this method
  - insert via toolbar option

Getting help: Perform a task: Show us how you find help on how to add favorite in Internet Explorer 7.
- showed two methods
  - selecting help from the toolbar
  - using Google search
  - using the Microsoft help site

Moving money around: Perform a task: Show us how you move files from one directory to another.
- showed three methods
  - copy and paste (via keyboard)
  - drag and drop
  - command-line (e.g. copy foo bar)

Money in account: Perform a task: Show us how you determine how much money is in your bank account? How do you go about finding it?
- access bank account via web interface

How to start a game: Perform a task: When you die in minesweeper, restart the game.
- showed three methods
  - click the restart button
  - press F2
  - open Microsoft Mouse to bind a button to restart the game

How to rearrange accounts: Perform a task: Make it so that you can see 5 windows on a desktop.
- double-click minimized window to maximize it; re-size window; drag (as necessary) if blocking another window's visibility; repeat until five windows can be seen

Test Subject #3 (by Shaharyar)

Questions regarding their background

What is your highest education level?
- Graduated Highschool. Attending college.

Can you define the terms 401k, Roth IRA, and Money Market?
- 401k is a retirement plan, from employers.
- Roth IRA I don't know
- Money Market, I don't know.

What type of financial accounts do you currently have?
- Bank account, Checking, Savings, and a Shared Checking account.

How often do you play online Flash games?
- Rarely

Have you planned for your retirement, if no, when would you start?
- No. Most likely after I graduate and when I have a job.

What does the person do for a living?
- UCD student. Parents provide.

Questions related to task analysis questions

Tell me a time when you learned something implicitly; you learned something without actively trying.
- Playing tennis. Swing over and over trains body to learn new moves. Also, learn by action and consequence

What is your favorite way to learn things?
- Learn through challenge. Figuring things out is a better way to learn than being spoon fed information. Learning through fun activities.

What other means do you have of learning about different types of investments?
- Family, Parents. Internet.

Note what the person has around them!!!
- Keys, Clutch, Cellphone

Tell me a time when you collaborated with someone who shared a common learning goal?
- For a final. First Studied individually. Then in group by discussing and answer each other's questions.

How many times in the past month did you have to learn something?
- Past month was Summer, once a week. Since school started, everyday.

Tell me a time when you spent so much time on learning something that you decided to give up on it?
- Studied for a final almost an entire night. Decided to quit and sleep, but did think it would be useful.

Paying more attention: Tell us a situation where there was some form of visual signal that caused you to exercise caution and safe.
- While driving, seeing flares/cones on the road, accident or construction ahead.

Growth rate: Tell us about a time when some form of visual cue was able to help you determine which of two things was faster or more productive.
- Numbers, stats.

Tasks:

Creating a new account: Perform a task: Show us how you insert a chart in the middle of a page in Microsoft Word
- showed two methods
  - Table > Insert Table
  - Copy and Page

Getting help: Perform a task: Show us how you find help on how to add favorite in Internet Explorer 7.
- showed one method
  - Help > Contents and Index > Search > search for "add favorite"

Moving money around: Perform a task: Show us how you move files from one directory to another.
- showed two methods
  - Click and Drag
  - Right-click > Send to

Money in account: Perform a task: Show us how you determine how much money is in your bank account? How do you go about finding it?
- showed two methods
  - Logging into online banking and viewing statement
  - Go to ATM and view balance

How to start a game: Perform a task: When you die in minesweeper, restart the game.
- showed two buttons
  - Click dead fce
  - Game > new

How to rearrange accounts: Perform a task: Make it so that you can see 5 windows on a desktop.
- showed one way
  - Opened five different AIM windows, laid them side by side or ontop of each other to form a grid-like shape. Resized window through dragging to get small enough sizes.

Test Subject #4 (by Mu)

Questions regarding their background

What is your highest education level?
- BA in Environmental Economics and Policy

Can you define the terms 401k, Roth IRA, and Money Market?
- 401k - Retirement fund that some employers offer.
- Roth IRA - Something about tax exempt.
- Money Market - Higher interest rates than normal savings or checking, FDIC insured up to a limit.

What type of financial accounts do you currently have?
- Savings, checking, MMA.

How often do you play online Flash games?
- Once or twice a month

Have you planned for your retirement, if no, when would you start?
- Nope, have to find a job first.

What does the person do for a living?
- Interning at a law firm.

Questions related to task analysis questions

Tell me a time when you learned something implicitly; you learned something without actively trying.
- Learned about cars while playing Gran Turismo.

What is your favorite way to learn things?
- Learn by doing; hands-on.

What other means do you have of learning about different types of investments?
- Online: Google, wiki, etc.

Note what the person has around them!!!
- Computer, TV, bed, sofa, DVD's, change, clothes, posters, speakers, calculator, book, garbage can, power strip, etc.

Tell me a time when you collaborated with someone who shared a common learning goal?
- Doing econ problem sets; help each other on problems.

How many times in the past month did you have to learn something?
- Probably over a hundred.

Tell me a time when you spent so much time on learning something that you decided to give up on it?
- Econometrics problem set; took so much time that it was extremely frustrating and not worth wasting any more time on.

Paying more attention: Tell us a situation where there was some form of visual signal that caused you to exercise caution and safe.
- Yellow flashing lights usually indicate to be more attentive and watch out for something.

Growth rate: Tell us about a time when some form of visual cue was able to help you determine which of two things was faster or more productive.
- A graph of position where the double derivative is more than 0 (y=x^2 for example).

Tasks:

Creating a new account: Perform a task: Show us how you insert a chart in the middle of a page in Microsoft Word
- Clicked on the chart icon on the toolbar, then dragged the chart to size and released the mouse button.

Getting help: Perform a task: Show us how you find help on how to add favorite in Internet Explorer 7.
- Click on the help menu in IE.
- Used google.

Moving money around: Perform a task: Show us how you move files from one directory to another.
- drag and drop
- ctrl-c ctrl-v
- right-click copy, right-click paste

Money in account: Perform a task: Show us how you determine how much money is in your bank account? How do you go about finding it?
- log into BoA account, show balance on first page.

How to start a game: Perform a task: When you die in minesweeper, restart the game.
- press F2
- start new game from the menu
- click on the smiley face.

How to rearrange accounts: Perform a task: Make it so that you can see 5 windows on a desktop.
- resize windows using the border arrows
- right-click, cascade

Click here to see the detailed notes from the interview

From CS 160 Fall 2008

Contents

Script

Test Subject #1 (by Ben and Geoffrey)

Test Subject #2 (by Perry)

Test Subject #3 (by Shaharyar)

Test Subject #4 (by Mu)

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