ExpECT: An Expanded Error Categorisation Method for Text Input

Akiyo Kano, Janet C Read

Child Computer Interaction Group
Department of Computing
University of Central Lancashire
Preston, PR1 2HE, UK
<ak on the web> <janet on the web>

Alan Dix

Computing Department
InfoLab21
Lancaster University
Lancaster, LA1 4YR, UK
<alan on the web>

I. Scott MacKenzie

Department of Computer
Science and Engineering.
York University, Toronto
Ontario, Canada, M3J 1P3
<scott on the web>

Abstract

This paper describes an empirical study on typing errors made by children during a text copy exercise. The literature on text input errors is first examined, focussing on studies of errors that occur during keyboard typing. A study of errors made by children during typing is described and the results from this study are analysed using visual inspection and already published error categorisation methods. These methods are compared with respect to the types and number of errors categorised and uncategorised. We identify and define new kinds of typing errors and use these, together with previously defined error types, to outline an expanded and more detailed method (ExpECT) for the classification of typing errors. ExpECT is compared with the previously examined categorisation methods and is shown to be a more thorough and broader method for the analysis of typing errors.

keywords: Text input, keyboards, error analysis, typing error, error categorization, children

References

1. Cooper, W. E. (ed.). Cognitive Aspects of Skilled
   Typewriting. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1983.
2. Dvorak, A., Merrick, N. L., Dealey, W. L., and Ford, G. C.
   Typewriting Behaviour. American Book Company, New
   York, 1936.
3. Gentner, D. R., Grudin, J. T., Larochelle, S., Norman, D.
   A., and Rumelhart, D. E. A glossary of terms including a
   classification of typing errors. In W. E. Cooper (ed.),
   Cognitive aspects of skilled typewriting. Springer-Verlag,
   New York, 1983, 39-43.
4. Grudin, J. T. Error patterns in novice and skilled
   transciption typing. In W. E. Cooper (ed.), Cognitive
   aspects of skilled typewriting. Springer-Verlag, New York,
   1984, 121-139.
5. Kano, A., Read, J. C., and Dix, A. Children's phrase set for
   text input method evaluation. In Proceedings of the fourth
   Nordic conference on Human-computer interaction
   (NordiCHI 2006). ACM Press, New York, NY, 2006, 449-
   452.
6. Lessenberry, D. D. Analysis of Errors. Syracuse, NY,
   1928. [Reprinted in Dvorak et al. Typewriting Behaviour,
   American Book Company, New York, 1936].
7. MacKenzie, I. S. KSPC (keystrokes per character) as a
   characteristic of text entry techniques. In Proceedings of
   the fourth international symposium on Human computer
   interaction with mobile devices. Springer-Verlag,
   Heidelberg, 2001, 405-416.
8. MacKenzie, I. S. Introduction to this special issue on text
   entry for mobile computing. Human-Computer Interaction,
   17, 2/3 (2002), 141-145.
9. MacKenzie, I. S. Teps, A Shortened Name for the Phrase
   Set. Personal Communication, 2006.
10. MacKenzie, I. S., and Soukoreff, R. W. Text entry for
    mobile computing: Models and methods, theory and
    practice. Human-Computer Interaction, 17, 2/3 (2002),
    147-198.
11. MacKenzie, I. S., and Soukoreff, R. W. Phrase sets for
    evaluating text entry techniques. In CHI 2003: Extended
    abstracts of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in
    computing systems. ACM Press, New York, NY, 2003,
    754-755.
12. MacKenzie, I. S., and Tanaka-Ishii, K. (eds.). Text Entry
    Systems: Mobility, Accessibility, Universality. Morgan
    Kaufmann Publishers, San Francisco, 2007.
13. Norman, D. A. Categorization of action slips.
    Psychological Review, 88, 1 (1981), 1-15.
14. Read, J. C., and Horton, M. When teenagers ttype. In
    Proceedings of British HCI 2006. London, UK, 2006.
15. Read, J. C., MacFarlane, S. J., and Casey, C. Measuring
    the usability of text input methods for children. In People
    and Computers XV (Proceedings of HCI 2001).Springer,
    London, 2001, 559-572.
16. Smith, H. H. Problems in diagnostic testing and remedial
    teaching as applied to typewriting. In Second yearbook.
    Commercial Education Association of New York City and
    Vicinity, New York, 1932, 53-68.
17. Soukoreff, R. W., and MacKenzie, I. S. Measuring errors
    in text entry tasks: An application of the Levenshtein string
    distance statistic. In CHI 2001: Extended abstracts of the
    SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing
    systems. ACM Press, New York, NY, 2001, 319-320.
18. Soukoreff, R. W., and MacKenzie, I. S. Metrics for text
    entry research: An evaluation of MSD and KSPD, and a
    new unified error metric. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI
    conference on Human factors in computing systems (CHI
    2003). ACM Press, New York, NY, 2003, 113-120.
19. White, W. T. Typing for Accuracy. H. M. Rowe Company,
    Balitimore and Chicago. [Reprinted in Dvorak et al.
    Typewriting Behaviour, American Book Company, New
    York, 1936].
    
20. Wobbrock, J. O., and Myers, B. A. Analyzing the input
    stream for character-level errors in unconstrained text
    entry evaluations. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human
    Interaction, 13, 4 (2006), 458-489.
    
    

Figure 1. Set up of the experiment.

Figure 2. NT and CT keys for ‘G’ on a QWERTY keyboard

http://www.hcibook.com/alan/papers/HCI2007-ExpECT/

Alan Dix 24/12/2007