Compstat 1984 pp 341-346 | Cite as

Interpretation of Statistical Software Output: some Behavioral Studies

  • I. W. Molenaar
  • H. Broersma
Conference paper

Summary

Systematic observation of statistical software users is seldom reported in the research literature. This paper describes a pilot study in which 33 subjects scanned graphical or numerical output for deviations from the normal distribution. A task analysis is sketched for stem and leaf display, box plot and numerical characteristics (such as moments and quantiles). The promises and pitfalls of this kind of experiment are briefly evaluated. The companion paper Molenaar (1984) discusses more fully how observation of users may contribute to better human computer interaction.

Keywords

behavioral experiments observation of package users human computer interaction exploratory data analysis. 
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1984

Authors and Affiliations

  • I. W. Molenaar
    • 1
  • H. Broersma
    • 1
  1. 1.GroningenThe Netherlands

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