Reading Response (Week 8)

Silver's Chapter 10:
This chapter talks about suggestions for writing the research paper. After reading it, I was encouraged somehow. The most valued tip for me is that "Do not put off writing; write as you go." This tip is also mentioned by Dr. Shulman in the class.

The case study illustrated in p.337 gives a good example demontrating the benefit of "writing as you go" which is to help to clarify the research ideas. Something wrong only can be realized when conducting the actual writing.

"If you delay your writing, you are asking for trouble (p.344)."

G & C's Chpater 9:
This chapter talks about two group discussion techniques, focus group and NGT.
Focus group is one of the most common-used techniques in usability testing. Because people might bring up different opinions when coversing with others, it is usually the complement to the individual interviews. Focus group is also seen as a good avenue to obtain suggestions and information for define the research focus or for the questionnaire/protocol design in the preliminary stage.

I decide to conduct the pilot study first and then decide whether to use focus in my project.