ABSTRACT
As ergonomists we may be keen to see the widespread adoption of ‘user centred design’. While some success has been achieved in the provision of standard data sets for anthropometry, the application of the sets is by no means a simple matter (Pheasant, 1987). For products which require not only physical but also mental activity on the part of the user, the definition of users is even more problematic. It is difficult to determine
how potential users might react to a novel product, and how effective the user’s performance might be. There are several forms of human error identification which can be used to define the types of problem which might arise, and these techniques compare favourably with more traditional methods (Baber and Stanton, in press). There are also several approaches to modelling user behaviour which could be applied to consumer products, e.g., by describing the type of mental model a user might develop in order to use the product (Payne, 1991). However, the most common approaches for product evaluation in use by ergonomists still rely on some form of user trialling, either through observation or survey (McLelland, 1990). The data reported in this paper were collected through a combination of direct observation of user behaviour and semi-structured interviews of a sample of users.
