Text by: Marie Stebner – Student Assistant at RWTH Aachen University; Vera Rick -Research Assistant at RWTH Aachen University
As the blogpost from May 2020 already stated, we were unable to conduct our in-lab studies as we previously thought we’d be able to. Due to the Corona crisis, the in-lab testing was not performed as a face-to-face study but rather as an online survey. This change in testing, however, wasn’t all negative. In fact, due to the online survey, we were able to reach a far greater audience than previously anticipated.
The online survey allowed a total of 65 users from 5 different nations to voice their thoughts on the interface of the WAOW tool as well as state their concerns about the sensors. These user survey answers were detailed and gave insight into what users wanted to get out of the tool, as well as what needs to be taken a closer look at and possibly reworked.
The results of all 65 users were evaluated and used to further develop the WAOW tool. We are well on our way to developing a user-friendly tool, which couldn’t have been done without such an abundance in user answers.
In that sense, we want to wholeheartedly thank everyone who took time out of their day to answer the online survey, without you we wouldn’t have been able to achieve such great results.
However, the in-lab tests are not yet finished, as they are aimed at being able to assess and evaluate the WA system through a proof-of-concept pilot test, which is supposed to be centred on user expectations and usability features. The in-lab test was designed to test the hardware and software, in order to assess the acceptability, feasibility, usability along with the validity.
The hardware tests have already been successfully carried out at the RWTH Aachen University, where users had the chance of testing the hardware as well as evaluating it in regards to the wearing comfort, usefulness and ease of use. These results helped us to further develop a user-friendly system. We have not been able to carry out the validity tests, however we are confident that even in such difficult times we will be able to test them very soon.
