Improving the human factors aspect of database interactions

ABSTRACT

The widespread dissemination of computer and information systems to nontechnically trained individuals requires a new approach to the design and development of database interfaces. This paper provides the motivational background for controlled psychological experimentation in exploring the person/machine interface. Frameworks for the reductionist approach are given, research methods discussed, research issues presented, and a small experiment is offered as an example of what can be accomplished. This experiment is a comparison of natural and artificial language query facilities. Although subjects posed approximately equal numbers of valid queries with either facility, natural language users made significantly more invalid queries which could not be answered from the database that was described.

REFERENCES

• 1: GANNON, J.D., AND HORmNG, J.J. The impact of language design on the production of reliable software. IEEE Trans. Software Eng. SE-I, 2 (1975).
• 2: J. D. Gannon, An experimental evaluation of data type conventions, Communications of the ACM, v.20 n.8, p.584-595, Aug. 1977 [doi>10.1145/359763.359800]
• 3: SHNEIDERMAN, B. Exploratory experiments in programmer behavior. Int. J. Computer and Inform. Sci. 5, 2 (June 1976), 123-143.
• 4: Ben Shneiderman , Richard Mayer , Don McKay , Peter Heller, Experimental investigations of the utility of detailed flowcharts in programming, Communications of the ACM, v.20 n.6, p.373-381, June 1977 [doi>10.1145/359605.359610]
• 5: SttNEIDERMAN, B. Measuring computer program quality and comprehension. Int. J. Man-Machine Studies 9 (1977).
• 6: Laurence Mark Weissman, A methodology for studying the psychological complexity of computer programs., 1974
• 7: REISNER, P. Use of psychological experimentation as an aid to development of a query language. IEEE Trans. Software Eng. SE-3, 3 (1977), 218-229.
• 8: Antonio L. Furtado , Larry Kerschberg, An algebra of quotient relations, Proceedings of the 1977 ACM SIGMOD international conference on Management of data, August 03-05, 1977, Toronto, Ontario, Canada [doi>10.1145/509404.509406]
• 9: THOMAS, J.C. Quantifiers and question-asking. IBM Res. Rep. RC 5866, IMB T.J. Watson Res. Ctr., Yorktown Heights, N.Y., 1976.
• 10: C. J. Date, An introduction to database systems: vol. I (4th ed.), Addison-Wesley Longman Publishing Co., Inc., Boston, MA, 1986
• 11: CODD, E.F. Relational completeness of data base sublanguages, in Data Base Systems, R. Rustin, Ed., Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1971.
• 12: CODD, E.F. Seven steps to rendezvous with the casual user. In Data Base Management, J. W. Klimbie and K. L. Koffeman, Eds., North-Holland Pub. Co., Amsterdam, 1974, pp. 179-199.
• 13: KNUTH, D.E. An empirical study of FORTRAN programs. Software--Practice and Experience 1 (1972), 105-133.
• 14: Charles R. Litecky , Gordon B. Davis, A study of errors, error-proneness, and error diagnosis in Cobol, Communications of the ACM, v.19 n.1, p.33-38, Jan. 1976 [doi>10.1145/359970.359991]
• 15: YOUNGS, E. A. Human factors in programming. Int. J. Man-Machine Studies 6, 3 (1974).
• 16: EDWARDS, A. L. Experimental Design in Psychological Research. Holt Reinhart and Winston, New York, 1968.
• 17: CRONBAC~, L.J. Essentials of Psychological Testing. Harper and Row, New York, 3rd ed., 1970.
• 18: Joseph Weizenbaum, ELIZA—a computer program for the study of natural language communication between man and machine, Communications of the ACM, v.9 n.1, p.36-45, Jan. 1966 [doi>10.1145/365153.365168]
• 19: Terry Winograd, Understanding Natural Language, Academic Press, Inc., Orlando, FL, 1972
• 20: WOODS, W.A., KAPLAN, R.M., AND NASH-WEBBER, B. The lunar sciences natural language information system. Bolt Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, Mass., June 1972.
• 21: Christine A. Montgomery, Is natural language an unnatural query language?, Proceedings of the ACM annual conference, p.1075-1078, August 01-01, 1972, Boston, Massachusetts, United States [doi>10.1145/800194.805902]
• 22: HILL, I.D. Wouldn't it be nice if we could write computer programs in ordinary English--or would it? Honeywell Comptr. J. 6, 2 (1972), 76-83.
• 23: B Shneiderman, Database management systems, AFIPS Press, Arlington, VA, 1976
• 24: WEIZENBAUM, J. Computer Power, Human Reason. W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, 1976.
• 25: Burt M. Leavenoworth , Jean E. Sammet, An overview of nonprocedural languages, ACM SIGPLAN Notices, v.9 n.4, p.1-12, April 1974
• 26: E. F. Codd, A relational model of data for large shared data banks, Communications of the ACM, v.13 n.6, p.377-387, June 1970 [doi>10.1145/362384.362685]
• 27: HELD, G.D., STONEBRAKER, M.R., AND WONG, E. INGRES: A relational database system. Proc. AFIPS 1975 NCC, Vol. 44, AFIPS Press, Montvale, N.J., pp. 409-416.
• 28: CHAMBERLIN, D.D., et al. SEQUEL 2: A unified approach to data definition, manipulation, and control. IBM J. Res. and Develop. 20, 6 (Nov. 1976), 560-574.
• 29: SENKO, M.E. The DDL in the context of a multilevel structured description: DIAM II with FORAL. Data Base Description, Proc. IFIP-TC-2 Working Conf., Wepion, Belgium, Jan. 1975, B.C.M. Douque and G. M. Nissen, Eds., North-Holland Pub. Co., Amsterdam, 1975, pp. 239-258.
• 30: SENKO, M.E. DIAM II with FORAL LP: Making pointed queries with light pen. Information Processing 77, North-Holland Pub. Co., Amsterdam, 1977, pp. 635-640. "
• 31: ZLOOF, M.M. Query by example. Proc. AFIPS I975 NCC, Vol. 44, AFIPS Press, Montvale, NJ., pp. 431-437.
• 32: System 2000 Reference Manual. MRI Systems Corp., Austin, Tex., 1977, pp. 635-640, 1973.
• 33: Model 204 User Language Reference Manual. Computer Corp. of America, Cambridge, Mass., 1977.
• 34: R. F. Boyce , D. D. Chamberlin , M. M. Hammer , W. F. King, Specifying queries as relational expressions, Proceedings of the 1973 meeting on Programming languages and information retrieval, p.31-47, November 04-06, 1973, Gaithersburg, Maryland
• 35: McDONALD, N., AND STONEBRAKER, M. CUPID: The friendly query language. Proc. ACM Pacific Conf., San Francisco, April 1975.
• 36: MILLER, R.B. Response time in man-computer conversational transactions. Proc. AFIPS 1968 SJCC, Vol. 33, AFIPS Press, Montvale, N.J., pp. 267-277.
• 37: MILLER, L. A study in man-machine interaction. Proc. AFIPS 1977 NCC, Vol. 46, AFIPS Press, Montvale, N.J., pp. 409-421.
• 38: HEATH, I.J. Unacceptable file operations in a relational data base. ACM-SIGMOD Proc., 1972.
• 39: SENKO, M,E., ALTMAN, E.B., ASTaAH^N, M.M., AND FEHDER, P.L. Data structures and accessing in database systems, IBM Syst. J. 12, 1 (1973), 30-93.
• 40: William C. McGee, On user criteria for data model evaluation, ACM Transactions on Database Systems (TODS), v.1 n.4, p.370-387, Dec. 1976 [doi>10.1145/320493.320504]
• 41: Peter Pin-Shan Chen, The entity-relationship model—toward a unified view of data, ACM Transactions on Database Systems (TODS), v.1 n.1, p.9-36, March 1976 [doi>10.1145/320434.320440]
• 42: L. Kerschberg , E. A. Ozkarahan , J. E.S. Pacheco, A Synthetic English query language for a relational associative processor, Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on Software engineering, p.505-519, October 13-15, 1976, San Francisco, California, United States
• 43: REISNER, P., BOYCE, R.F., AND CHAMBERLIN, D.D. Human factors evaluation of two data base query languages: SQUARE and SEQUEL. Proc. AFIPS 1975 NCC, Vol. 44, AFIPS Press, Montvale, N.J., pp. 447-452.
• 44: THOMAS, J.C., AND GOULD, J.D. A psychological study of query by example. Proc. 1975 National Computer Conference, AFIPS Press, Montvale, N.J.
• 45: GOULD, J.D., AND ASCHER, R.N. Use of an IQF-like query language by non-programmers. IBM Res. Rep. RC 5279, IBM T.J. Watson Res Ctr., Yorktown Heights, N.Y., Feb. 1975.
• 46: DURDING, B.M., BEEKER, C.A., AND GOULD, J.D. Data organization. Human Factors 19, 1 (1977) 1-14.
• 47: THOMAS, J.C. Psychological issues in database management. Proc. Third Int. Conf. Very Large Data Bases, Tokyo, 1977.
• 48: F. H. Lochovsky , D. C. Tsichritzis, User performance considerations in DBMS selection, Proceedings of the 1977 ACM SIGMOD international conference on Management of data, August 03-05, 1977, Toronto, Ontario, Canada [doi>10.1145/509404.509425]
• 49: Frederick Horst Lochovsky, Data base management system user performance., 1978
• 50: BROSEY, M., AND SHNEIDERMAN, B. Two experimental comparisons of relational and hierarchical database models. Int. J. Man-Machine Studies (to appear).
• 51: GREENBLATT, D., AND WAXMAN, J. A study of three database query languages. Databases: Improving Usability and Responsiveness, B. Shneiderman, Ed., Academic Press, New York, 1978.
• 52: SMALL, D.W., ArCD WELDON, L.J. The efficiency of retrieving information from computers using natural and structured query languages. Rep. SAI-78-655-WA, Science Applications, Arlington, Va., Sept. I977.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.1 MODELS AND PRINCIPLES
      H.1.2 User/Machine Systems
          Subjects: Human factors

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.2 DATABASE MANAGEMENT
      H.2.1 Logical Design
          Subjects: Data models
      H.2.3 Languages
          Subjects: Query languages

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation, Human Factors, Languages

Keywords:
data models, database systems, experimentation, human factors, natural language interfaces, psychology, query languages