Developing Accessible Collection and Presentation Methods for Observational Data Drew Marie Williams Marquette University
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Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Dissertations (2009 -) Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Projects Developing Accessible Collection and Presentation Methods for Observational Data Drew Marie Williams Marquette University Recommended Citation Williams, Drew Marie, "Developing Accessible Collection and Presentation Methods for Observational Data" (2018). Dissertations (2009 -). 836. https://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/836 DEVELOPING ACCESSIBLE COLLECTION AND PRESENTATION METHODS FOR OBSERVATIONAL DATA by Drew Williams, B.S., M.S. A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Milwaukee, WI, USA December 2018 ABSTRACT DEVELOPING ACCESSIBLE COLLECTION AND PRESENTATION METHODS FOR OBSERVATIONAL DATA Drew Williams, B.S., M.S. Marquette University, 2018 The processes of collecting, cleaning, and presenting data are critical in ensuring the proper analysis of data at a later date. An opportunity exists to enhance the data collection and presentation process for those who are not data scientists – such as healthcare professionals and businesspeople interested in using data to help them make decisions. In this work, creating an observational data collection and presentation tool is investigated, with a focus on developing a tool prioritizing user-friendliness and context preservation of the data collected. This aim is achieved via the integration of three approaches to data collection and presentation. In the first approach, the collection of observational data is structured and carried out via a trichotomous, tailored, sub-branching scoring (TTSS) system. The system allows for deep levels of data collection while enabling data to be summarized quickly by a user via collapsing details. The system is evaluated against the stated requirements of usability and extensibility, proving the latter by providing examples of various evaluations created using the TTSS framework. Next, this approach is integrated with automated data collection via mobile device sensors, to facilitate the efficient completion of the assessment. Results are presented from a system used to combine the capture of complex data from the built environment and compare the results of the data collection, including how the system uses quantitative measures specifically. This approach is evaluated against other solutions for obtaining data about the accessibility of a built environment, and several assessments taken in the field are compared to illustrate the system’s flexibility. The extension of the system for automated data capture is also discussed. Finally, the use of accessibility information for data context preservation is integrated. This approach is evaluated via investigation of how accessible media entries improve the quality of search for an archival website. Human-generated accessibility information is compared to computer-generated accessibility information, as well as simple reliance on titles/metadata. This is followed by a discussion of how improved accessibility can benefit the understanding of gathered observational data’s context. i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Drew Williams, B.S., M.S. I want to thank Dr. Praveen Madiraju, Dr. Roger O. Smith, Dr. Stephen Guastello, Dr. Thomas Kaczmarek, and my dissertation advisor, Dr. Sheikh Iqbal Ahamed for mentoring me and assisting me throughout the process of writing this dissertation. Without your help, I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today. I would also like to thank Dr. Gary Krenz and all the teachers, faculty, and staff that I have gotten to know during my time at Marquette University. Thank you to my brilliant friends, who kept me motivated and were happy to hang out at odd hours in the night and chat to help me de-stress. Furthermore, thank you to my wonderful mother, father, and brother for all their love and support throughout my time pursuing a Ph.D. at Marquette University – without their help, I would certainly have not gotten as far as I have today. Finally, I would like to give a special thanks to Jordan Kozmary, for his love, support, and all those times he brought me coffee in the dead of night while I worked away on drafts of papers. I am fortunate to have someone in my life as perfect as he is. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................... i LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 1 A. Data Collection for Decision-Making ................................................... 2 B. The Interconnection of Presentation and Analysis ............................... 4 C. Creating More Usable Data Science Tools ........................................... 6 1) Simplification of Data Acquisition and Presentation Process .... 8 2) Integration of Quantitative Data Acquisition ............................. 9 3) Integration of Media Presentation and Context ........................ 11 D. Research Questions and Aims ............................................................ 12 1) Structuring Data Collection and Presentation with Hierarchies 13 2) Integrating Quantitative Measures into Data Collection .......... 14 3) Ensuring Media Context via Integration of Accessibility Data 15 E. Dissertation Outline ............................................................................ 15 II. RELATED WORK ...................................................................................... 18 A. Data Visualization ............................................................................... 18 B. Big Data and Data Analytics ............................................................... 21 C. Information Visualization ................................................................... 22 D. Decision Theory .................................................................................. 24 E. Computer-Assisted Data Collection ................................................... 26 iii F. Universal Design as Usability Guidelines .......................................... 29 1) Creating a Universal Design ..................................................... 31 G. Differences Between Existing Work and This Solution ..................... 35 III. STRUCTURING DATA COLLECTION AND PRESENTATION WITH HIERARCHIES .................................................................................................... 37 A. Challenges in Observational Data Collection ..................................... 38 1) Weather Severity ...................................................................... 39 2) Software Accessibility for Section 508 .................................... 39 B. The Design and Development of OTFACT ........................................ 40 1) User Interface Design ............................................................... 41 2) Scoring ...................................................................................... 43 3) Filtering .................................................................................... 45 C. TTSS Assessments: Past and Present ................................................. 46 1) RATE-IT .................................................................................. 47 2) MED-AUDIT ........................................................................... 48 D. xFACT for TTSS Assessment Development ...................................... 48 1) Main Application ...................................................................... 49 2) Editor ........................................................................................ 50 3) Accessory Applications ............................................................ 52 E. Case Studies for Using xFACT........................................................... 52 1) Severity of Weather .................................................................. 53 2) Accessibility of Software ......................................................... 57 F. Discussion ........................................................................................... 59 G. Summary ............................................................................................. 62 iv IV. AUGMENTING HIERARCHY-BASED DATA COLLECTION AND PRESENTATION WITH QUANTITATIVE INFORMATION .......................... 63 A. Data Collection using Mobile Device Sensors ................................... 64 B. Integration of an Assessment with Quantitative Data Collection ....... 66 C. The Access Ratings Project: Building Apps for Built Environment Accessibility ........................................................................................ 67 1) Creating the Mini-Tools ........................................................... 68 2) AccessTools .............................................................................. 72 D. An AccessTools Workflow ................................................................. 75 E. Comparison of Data Taken with AccessTools .................................... 77 F. Discussion ........................................................................................... 80 1) Accessibility ............................................................................