NEEDS INVESTIGATION METHODS COMPATIBLE WITH KEY END USER LIMITATION (NICKEL): A TOOL FOR SELECTING USER CENTERED NEEDS ELICITATION METHODS FOR OLDER ADULTS By Joash Sujan Samuel Roy, B. Eng., Anna University, India, 2013 A thesis presented to Ryerson University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2018 ©Joash Sujan Samuel Roy 2018 AUTHOR'S DECLARATION FOR ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF A THESIS I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I authorize Ryerson University to lend this thesis to other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I further authorize Ryerson University to reproduce this thesis by photocopying or by other means, in total or in part, at the request of other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii ABSTRACT NICKEL (NEEDS INVESTIGATION METHODS COMPATIBLE WITH KEY END USER LIMITATION): A TOOL FOR SELECTING USER CENTERED NEEDS ELICITATION METHODS FOR OLDER ADULTS Joash Sujan Samuel Roy Master of Applied Science 2018 Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Ryerson University During the design process older and/or disabled adults are often left out of the needs elicitation process because many of the User Centered Needs Elicitation Methods (UCNEM) are not accessible to these individuals. This thesis explains the development of NICKEL, a decision- support tool which allows users to determine UCNEMs that fit the human capability of the older and/or disabled adult participants in their study. Three levels of the cognitive, visual, hearing and physical human capabilities required for 19 UCNEMs are determined using a survey and focus group with expert designers/researchers. A user study is carried out to determine the usability and usefulness of NICKEL with novice and expert designers/researchers. Major findings indicated that NICKEL is an easy to use and useful tool for users when determining appropriate UCNEMs for older and disabled adults. Future work could include adding other capabilities such as interpersonal skills and adding new methods to NICKEL. iii Acknowledgements I would first like to express my thanks and sincere gratitude to my advisors Prof. Deborah Fels and Prof. W. Patrick Neumann for the continuous support of my study and related research, for their patience, motivation, and immense knowledge. Their guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis. Besides my supervisors, I would like to thank the rest of my thesis committee: Prof. Mohammad Abdoli-Eramaki, Prof. Filippo Salustri, and Prof. Ahmed Ghasempoor, for their insightful comments and encouragement. I would also like to thank the experts who were involved in reviewing and validating the contributions that were published as part of this research. I would also like to thank the members of Inclusive media and design center and Human factors engineering lab for their support throughout the research. In addition, I would like to thank my family for their love, support, and encouragement during this process. I want to also express my sincere thanks to all the people who participated in my research study: 38 participants from Age-Well for the survey study and 18 participants in the final user study. I could not have completed this research without their help and support. I would also like to thank them for their quality feedback. I could not have done it without them. Funding was graciously provided by the Age-Well, NCE. iv Table of Contents AUTHOR'S DECLARATION FOR ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF A THESIS ................... ii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ v List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ ix Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Research contributions ......................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 2. Literature review ........................................................................................................... 6 2.1. What is User Centered Design (UCD)? ............................................................................... 6 2.2. UCD process map................................................................................................................. 7 2.2.1. Needs gathering phase: .................................................................................................. 8 2.2.1.1. User(s) ........................................................................................................................ 9 2.3. Older adults as end users .................................................................................................... 10 2.4. UCNEM usage in older adult community .......................................................................... 16 2.4.1. Questionnaire ............................................................................................................... 17 2.4.2. Focus Groups ............................................................................................................... 18 2.4.3. Cultural Probe .............................................................................................................. 21 2.4.4. Diary Study .................................................................................................................. 22 2.4.5. Think Aloud Protocol .................................................................................................. 24 2.4.6. Interviews .................................................................................................................... 25 2.4.7. Prototyping .................................................................................................................. 27 2.5. Application of human factors in product design ................................................................ 28 2.6. Human factors in needs elicitation? ................................................................................... 31 v 2.6.1. Cognition ..................................................................................................................... 35 2.6.2. Vision ...................................................................................................................... 37 2.6.3. Hearing .................................................................................................................... 39 2.6.4. Physical abilities/motor abilities: ............................................................................ 40 Chapter 3. Research Questions ..................................................................................................... 42 Chapter 4. Matching Human Capabilities with User Centered Needs Elicitation Methods ......... 43 4.1. Purpose: .............................................................................................................................. 43 4.1.1. Participants .................................................................................................................. 43 4.1.2. Online survey structure ................................................................................................ 44 4.1.3. Cognitive scale used in survey study ........................................................................... 44 4.1.4. Vision scale used in survey study ................................................................................ 45 4.1.5. Auditory range used in survey study ........................................................................... 45 4.1.6. Physical abilities/ motor dexterity used in survey study ............................................. 46 4.1.7. Results: ........................................................................................................................ 47 4.1.8. Discussion of survey study results............................................................................... 51 4.2. Populating the non-significant and blank cells in Table 1 ................................................. 52 4.2.1. Participants .................................................................................................................. 53 4.2.2. Focus group study findings.......................................................................................... 53 Chapter 5. NICKEL Development:............................................................................................... 58 5.1. Vision of NICKEL (Needs Elicitation Methods Compatible with Key End User Limitations) ..............................................................................................................................