Assignment 5

Intro:
This week the projectgroup developed the product. There is also a new summary available of the article. In the prototype test plan, that will be held on friday, can be read how the setup will be. Also the tasks and the way of analyzing is explained. Here you can check the assignment for this week:

Summary:The summary of this week is about ICT and the spatio-temporal fragmentation of the everyday life:

"Hubers ICTs and the spatio-temporal fragmentation of everyday life chapter 5"

Abstract:

The increase of women in the labour force as allowed more and more family-households to juggle with work and care-giving in space and time, and do so in various ways. Much research and policy about how households establish work life balance singles out coping strategies like telecommuting or mobilizing help from family members and friends. Though insightful, it tends to oversimplify the complex reality of everyday life, which requires skilful weaving together multiple strategies. The advance in information and communication technology(ICTs) has further diversified the arsenal for a possible coping strategies, but the academic literature has yet to verify whether the usage of ICT complements or substitutes the adoption of other coping strategies. Using holistic quantitative approach this study assesses which combinations of coping strategies prevails and the role of ICT in this regards among one- or dual-earners households in Utrecht-Amersfoort-Hilversum area in the Netherland. After examination using various various strategies combinations such as social-demographic, ICT possession etc., it was found that ICT-related strategies are frequently adopted by highly educated employed parents to help balance the work-life and complements with other strategies. The adoption of trategies combination is determined by the presence of children, the employment factors and the characteristics of the environment.

Introduction:

Raising the number of female participating in paid labour from 52% in 2000 to65% in 2010 is one of the target of the Dutch government. This is in line with and even exceeds, the Lisbon Strategy formulated by the European Council in 2000, which dictate that by 2010 all member states should have female employment rate of 65%. Looking at the data by World bank, by the year 2005 most Nordic countries have already reached this threshold. In the Netherlands by 2009 the share has reached 59.7%(CBS 2010a). In line with this recent developments, this article seeks to increase our understanding of what employed parents do to create an acceptable work-life balance.

The juggling of responsibilities often implies the juggling of different kinds of coping strategies. We suspect that households employ multiple coping strategies( sequentially and/or simultaneously); those aimed at paid labour( for example, adjusting one’s working hour) may often be combine with strategies aimed at domestic responsibilities ( for example, bringing one’s children to day care centre). While many studies have focused on just single coping strategies when dealing with work-life balance (telecommuting), it is difficult to imagine how working one or two days a week from home by itself is sufficient to accomplish a satisfactory work-life balance. What is often neglected is how telecommuting is combined with other coping strategies in studies about telecommuting and work-life balance. The general aim of this study is to shift focus from individual coping strategies to combinations of strategies.

It was noted that research already exist on the combinations of coping strategies people adopt, this research used qualitative methods. As ‘all methods are partial in what they can reveal’, the quantitative approach of the current study allows several insights that qualitative methods do not really afford. This study is holistic not only because its examination of combinations of coping strategies but also with regards to factors evaluated as affecting the choice for combinations of work-life strategies like people’s preferences, the constraints they encounter, as well as the network capital they have regarding coping strategies will all be considered. Additionally, particular attention will be ICT-related coping strategies that have recently been added to the already arsenal of work-life balance strategies. However, academic literature is unclear about whether ICT usage stimulates, supplements or substitutes other types of coping strategies. In considering the possible combinations of ICT-related and other kinds of strategies, characteristic of the holistic approach of the current study, will provide initial understanding of the potential impact of ICTs.

To fulfil the aim of this study, three separate research questions were formulated.

-          Which combinations of coping strategies prevail among one- and dual-households

-          How these combinations are influenced by individuals’ and households’ background factors

-          To examine whether new ICT- enabled coping strategies are indeed adopted, by whom, and how this affects other adoption of other kinds of coping strategies.

To address these questions, survey data from 525 respondents from Utrecht-Amersfoort-Hilversum area will be analysed.

5.2 Studying coping strategies adoption: preferences, constraints, and network capital  

According to some social theorists, in recent decade standard biographies have been replaced by do-it yourself biographies. In standard biographies the choices people make while progressing along the life path are highly dictated by such institutions like state, family and church which leave them with little room for personal preferences. In the industrial era, when standard biographies were considered to be at its peak, security came from matrimony for women and paid labour for men. Often the only work-life strategies available to women after getting married was to stop work and become a full-time housewife. In contrast, individualization argues that changes in economic, employment and normative context have paved way for biographies dictated by individual choices in which people are not only enabled but also expected or even forced to create their own personal biographies. While social and economic context exerts some influence on women’s choices and how they differ from men’s, women choices are determined by first and foremost by their personal lifestyle preferences. Preference theories categorised women into three groups: adaptive women, work-centered women and home-centered women.

Background characteristics:

Household structure and phase in the life course

Employment characteristics (economic sector, occupational level, public/private)

ICTs (possession, costs, experience)

Social network (size, composition, geographical distance)

Built environment (density and land-use mixing around home and main employment location)

Lifestyle orientation (importance attached to paid labour, family life, leisure)

5.3 Research Design:

5.3.1 Operationalization of concept:

To achieve a comprehensive account of work-life coping strategies that may have been adopted, first the coping strategies appropriate for each cell were defined. Unless indicated otherwise, strategies were measured by simply asking whether or not the respondents had taken these measures to facilitate the combination of paid work and domestic responsibilities.

By measuring their agreement on five statements about the important of paid work, family/relationship and leisure, preferences were assessed of the respondents regarding their lifestyle orientation. These five statements repeated for each separate life domain read as follows:

1.       The major satisfaction in my life comes from ( life domain)

2.       To me, my (life domain) is only a small part of who I am

3.       Most things in life are more important than( life domain)

4.       ( Life domain) should be considered central in life

5.       In my way, an individual’s personal life goals should be ( life domain) oriented.

Additionally, to get an indication of the relative importance of each life domain, respondents were asked to divide 60 points across the three life domains, allocating the most points to the life domain they deemed most important.

Research design 1

•       What: questionnaire and two-day combined activity, travel and communication diary

•       Whom, where when: distributed among 1 and 2-earner HH residing in the Utrecht- Amersfoort-Hilversum area.

Research design 2

•       714 completed questionnaires, 662 completed diaries

•       Not representative of Dutch population: mainly highly educated respondents

•       Single person household excluded from analysis, resulting in total of 525 respondents

•       Method of analysis: Hierarchical cluster analysis

5.3.3          Method of analysis

To assess which combinations of the different kinds of coping strategies exist, work-life balance strategies was used as input for a hierarchical cluster analysis. Cluster analysis is an explorative method whose main aim is to group observations such that the differences within clusters are minimised and those between clusters maximised.

Discriminant analysis was employed to evaluate what individual factors are most strongly related to adoption of certain combinations of coping strategies.

5.4        Combinations of work-life strategies:

5.4.1 Coping strategies adopted most frequently:

Before turning to the results of the cluster analysis indicating what combinations of coping strategies prevail, which work-life coping strategies are the most popular among all respondents together were considered. For this purpose , the average adoption level of all different coping strategies combined was calculated to be 0.31. Strategies whose individual adoption average was equal or higher than this total average are included in a table.

-          Often similar strategies adopted for paid labour and domestic responsibilities.

-          Often compensation for limited participation of male partner

-          ICTs       ----------------        substitute or supplement?

The fact that purchasing time-saving domestic appliances and adopting flexible working hours rank among the highest scoring strategies reflect the high educational level of respondents. They possess both the financial resources and types of occupations that facilitate adoption of this particular strategies.

5.4.2 Interpretation of the seven clusters:

A total of seven clusters were used for further analysis. Several smaller clusters were excluded because they combined few observations. As a result, only 474 respondents are included in the presented analysis. The seven clusters were named as follows:

Cluster 1 – marginal user 30%

Cluster 2- Hybrid caregivers 9%

Cluster 3- The outsourcers 8%

Cluster 4- All but the partner 16%

Cluster 5- Keeping it in the nuclear family 16%

Cluster 6- All but material strategies 12%

Cluster 7- Intense combiners 9%

5.4.4          ICT-related strategies : substitutes or supplements?:

One issue is whether ICT-related strategies tend to substitute or rather supplement other work-life strategies. Respondents in the two clusters that make most use of ICT-related strategies, the “all but the partner “cluster and the “intense combiners”cluster, also use almost all other types of coping strategies most frequently. The combination of ICT-related with multiple other work-life strategies suggest that ICTs are more likely to supplement than to substitute other work-life strategies.

5.5      Discussion and Conclusion

-          Meaningful clusters can be discerned based on their combinations of coping strategies

-          Yes, ICT-related strategies are being adopted to help reconcile paid work and domestic tasks, but:

. their adoption depends in large part on the economic sector in which one is employed, and

. is more likely to supplement than substitute for other kinds of coping strategies

My learning:

Reading this article and doing a quick summary about it, I learnt how the concept of operationalization works it helps to construct measuring factors in both qualitative and quantitative as in this case. 

With regards to designing smart-life rhythm it is very important to define the different activities in combination with space and time. This article clearly focuses on this aspect.

Prototype test plan:

To-do-list Cherio Kalloe Peter Ehiorobo Tochi Odikanwa Randy Abraham Franklin van de Vlies   Pilot test plan Minor   Smart Life Rhythms Project Research       Coördinator project                Meggie Williams, Hanneke Hovels

Index:
- Introduction
- The product
- The prototype
- Aim
- Research questions
- Think aloud protocol
- Interview
- Test: Participants
- Location
- Tasks
- Registration
- Analysis
- Protocol

                                                                       

Introduction

Last week project group 1 worked on an idea to let working students manage their time and tasks better. In this pilot test plan you can read something about the research. The research will be held on Friday the 20th of December.

The product

The focus on this product will be one specific moment in the life of a working student. Last week the focus was on the overall situation of the student. After more research of the target group, there can be concluded that it is not the time that is blocking the students to do their tasks, but the tasks itself. The product is based on a triangle. How can students balance their school, work and social life? The answer lays in the time managing of the student.

The application is a to-do-list for students to manage their tasks. If the student could manage his tasks properly, he has more time to manage his time in general. The triangle is based on school, work and social life, the three main activities in the life of a working student. In the application the user can click on school. In this part of the application the user can add tasks and assignments related to school. In this way you can separate schoolwork with school. This also means for work and social life. If you have something you need to do at work, put it in your to-do-list so you won’t forget it. The application will send you a reminder to trigger the student to start working on the assignment.

The prototype

The prototype will be made out of paper and cardboard. The product is an application. To make this product realistic, there will be an imaginary phone made out of cardboard and paper. Paper prototyping is a used method in the user-centered design process, a process that helps developers to create software or products that meets the user’s expectations and needs. The prototype will be an application for working students. It is not possible to make an application in the amount of time there is available. So this is the reason why there will be a paper prototype. By replacing the screens of the paper prototype, the user will be given the idea that he is using a real phone and application.

The test aim, the research question (s) and the test plan were used to help build the type of prototype that will be used for the test. The prototype is made out of paper showing the screen of a mobile phone. The other components/contents will make up the application interface  will also be made out of paper. These components/contents are the different activities like school, work and social life, will be text and images and blanks too to enable participants provide us with possible contents that will be included in the application . These different contents on paper/post-it and the blank for possible contents will allow the participants to arrange the different content on the mobile phone screen. This test will provide insights on the contents and interface development.

Aim:

To gain insights into users interactions in order to improve the design and its usability that will result to effective, efficient and satisfaction for users.

Research questions
In order to receive information from the research, there are some questions that need to be answered.

The main research question is:
How does / will  the interface and content make the working students interact with the application?

Sub questions:
1 What elements or functions should be in the application?
2 Why should these elements and functions be in the application?
3 How will these elements and functions help you in organizing, managing and execute your tasks?

During the research will be shown presumptions about the interface for the application. With the feedback from the upcoming test, we will advance the product to a next level. This user test is to receive more information about the content of the application. At the “tasks” you can read what kind of tasks we let the students do with the application.

Think aloud protocol

Before the test starts, the user will be asked to think aloud. This means that every action the user takes, will be combined with a short explanation. This gives the designers an opportunity to ask about those actions during the interview after the test. When something is wrong about the interface, together with the interview, and the thoughts of the user, the designers can solve the problem.

Interview

After the test it’s important to understand why something went wrong or right. The camera recorded the actions and emotions of the user, but it didn’t record the reason why the user did something. That’s why you need an interview to perceive the information.- How did you think it was going?

- What did you like about the product?
- Where there any struggles?
- Do you have any experience using products like this?
- Would you like to add something to the product?
- What did you think about the functions of the product?
- Would you purchase this product?
- Would you recommend this product?
- Do you have any announcements or questions about the product?
- Are there any questions about the test itself?
- How would you want to be reminded of your task and deadlines?
- How do you want the to-do list interface to look like
- What will be the steps you would take to perform specific action like, place your task and deadlines on the to-do lists?
- What should the contents of the three activities be? What do you want in the contents?

Test

> Participants       

During our First research there will be four participants. The target Group for the application is working students. On Friday the 20th of December there will be four students from the minor “alle tijd”. These students will test the product and give feedback about how it can be improved.

> Location

The prototype will be tested in a classroom (SL 7.94) at the University of Applied Sciences The Hague. The

test will take approximately one hour. It’s important to make the classroom a realistic place, so the results of

the research will be useful for developing the product.

> TasksThe participants will be asked to do several tasks. The most important part of the tasks are the content and the interface. By placing pictograms and pictures in the application, we try to understand why the participant choose to have those pictograms and pictures at that specific location.

-          - Welcome and ease
When the participant joins the room, there will be a little chat about work and school. This information will be written down so it can be used later for the interview. This chat is supposed to ease the participants to make them feel comfortable.

-         -  Introduction about the topic, concept and the test
After the small chat, the assignment will be introduced. This helps the participant understand why this research is held. The target group will be explained.

-         -  Show participants pictograms of the various activities
The participants will have the opportunity to arrange their own application. But first we need to hand them the pictograms and pictures

-          - Tasks for participants( about the interface arrangement)
In this stage we ask the participant to place the pictograms and pictures to arrange their own application. The meaning of the shapes is open for the participant itself. They will create an interface and explain why they think this would work.

-          - Interviews  during participants performing the tasks
The participants will be asked to think aloud. While the participants think aloud and tell us what they think of the product, we will ask them several questions why they are doing these activities.

-         -  Questions about the contents, what extra, what they will include, how it will work
After the tasks, the participants will be asked some questions about the content of the application. What does the application need as an extra? What would they want to include in the application?

-          - Show the participants our group concept and ask for feedbacks
After the research and the questions the participants will be shown our group concept for the application so far. There will be asked for feedback, what do they think of the concept?

> registration

To improve our chances of gaining insights with this test, it is the goal of this test to provide us answers to our research question(s). To get these answers, we will be using camera to take pictures, mobile phone recorder to record interviews, and note-taking to record insights from participants. With these we intend to gain insights to what the contents and how the interface of the Application should look like.

> analysis

The photos, the audio from the interviews and the note-taking from the interviews will be analyzed by the group to answer our research question(s) and the result will thereafter be presented through a report/presentation.

Protocol

Before the research, the user has been asked to participate for a research. The only thing the user knows is that he/she will use a product to support their daily life. The target group is: working students.

“Welcome in SL 7.94. My name is () and we are (). In this classroom we are going to research the concept for our product to maintain information about it.

Would you like something to drink?

We follow the minor Smart Life Rhythms. Here is a short introduction of the minor: Nowadays, professionals who work flexible hours (Dutch: het Nieuwe Werken) have much more individual freedom to organize the what/where/when of their work. Although ICT and social media enable the development of these new rhythms professionals still indicate unsolved problems with synchronizing the new rhythms. In the minor we will use user research and service design methods to develop an app, product or service that supports Smart Life Rhythms and helps solve these problems.

During the research I will stay here, in the same room as you so you can contact me if you have any questions about the product. Do we have your permission to audio tape the research? The tapes will only be used for this research and will not be published on the internet. During the research I will write down some notes so I can ask questions after the research. We ask you to think aloud during the research. This means: what are you doing, and why. What are your thoughts about the product when you use it? It sounds a bit weird maybe, but you will help us a lot with it.

For our minor Smart Life Rhythms we have to research a product or service. We have made the product by ourselves and would like to receive feedback about it. In a minute we will ask you to use the product. After your first impression, I will give you a task to perform. Try to act natural. Just say everything that comes up in your mind. That’s why we ask you to think aloud. We would like to know your thoughts about the product. After the research, we would like to ask you some questions about how it went. Do you have any questions beforehand?

Let’s start. Here is a product that is called the “to-do-list”. Try to use the product and to detect how it works and where you can use it for.

“Think aloud interaction”

Tell me: what you think this product does? And what are your first impressions?

“…”

This application is a digital agenda for working students to manage their time. When you wake up, you will see a picture of your day, this makes it more like an adventure than just going to school or work. With the icons you can change your daily schedule, check times for the public transport, add a to-do-list and spot friends. Has my explanation changed your way of experiencing the product?

“…”

Now I am going to give you a task. Could you set up your own day with the icons and actually take part in that day? (24 hours in 20/30 minutes).

Now you have used the product, I would like to ask you some questions about how it went.

- What did you like about the product?
- Where there any struggles?
- Do you have any experience using products like this?
- Would you like to add something to the product?
- What did you think about the functions of the product?
- Would you purchase this product?
- Would you recommend this product?
- Do you have any announcements or questions about the product?
- Are there any questions about the test itself?
- How would you want to be reminded of your task and deadlines?
- How do you want the to-do list interface to look like
- What will be the steps you would take to perform specific action like, place your task and deadlines on the to-do lists?
- What should the contents of the three activities be? What do you want in the contents?

“…”

Thank you for your participation!”

Test leader: Peter
Interviewers:  Franklin, Randy
Observer: Cherio