iScale: Studying Long-Term Experiences through Memory - Modeling Users' Experiences with Interactive Systems - page 97

We further found a third type of reporting that combines the two types men-
tioned above: “[my opinion] decreased as I expected that it would be easier than
that, for example, I would like to have the automatic tilting to landscape view as
it has an accelerometer” . Those reports were grounded in the recall of an overall
evaluation, but participants proceeded to reason about this value-judgment through
reporting specific experiences (13 of 74, 18%). Most of them (10 of 13) reflected
linear changes.

5.3.2.2 How Does iScale Compare to Free-Hand Graphing?

The two iScale tools were also compared to free-hand graphing. Participants' ver-
bal reports were transcribed and analyzed using Conventional Qualitative Content
Analysis (Hsieh and Shannon, 2005). We started with open coding where we aimed
at identifying an overpopulated list of design properties that appear to influence the
design space of the three graphing techniques. Subsequently, we grouped the initial
codes into overall categories through an iterative process. Each statement was coded
for the property the participant mentions as well as to whether or not this property
affects the graphing or the recalling process. Statements were always differentiat-
ing two of the approaches from a third (e.g., the two iScale versions as opposed to
FHG) as this was imposed by the structure of the employed Repertory Grid inter-
view technique (e.g., “think of a property or quality that makes two of the graphing
techniques alike and discriminates them from the third”).
Table 5.3 illustrates the dominant properties that were elicited in the interview
sessions. For each property, it displays the number of participants mentioning it as
present for a given technique, and the number of participants mentioning it as af-
fecting the graphing or recalling process. The design properties can be distinguished
into three broad groups: expressiveness , control ,and Interplay graphing-recalling .

5.3.2.3 Expressiveness

As expected, the majority of users perceived the free-hand graphing approach as
more expressive. This was mostly due to the freedom in graphing that the free-hand
approach provides as opposed to the iScale tools that restrict the user in plotting
points connected through line segments.
The majority of participants emphasized the effect this has on the graphing ac-
tivity. While all participants expressed the perceived benefit of FHG for graphically
expressing their opinions, only one participant mentioned that this also affects the
recalling process as the graph provides richer feedback and therefore more cues
for recalling. One participant stated freedom in graphing as a positive property for
expressing impressions for which she fails to recall any supportive facts.
Next, some participants mentioned the ability to annotate the graph as positive ,
because it enhances the recalling process. Annotations helped in recollecting contex-
tual and temporal cues from the past, such as positioning a specific experience along
the timeline, splitting the timeline into periods, but also in externalizing thoughts
that participants thought they might fail to recall afterwards.