The Effects of Number-related Factors on Entry Performance

Abstract

Number entry is ubiquitous in user interface (UI) design, and in many applications — such as finance, aviation, healthcare — here, mitigating errors is critical. This paper examines the effects of factors such as the type of number (e.g., integer or decimal), number length (i.e., short or long) and display position (i.e., near or far) on entry errors. Until now, these factors have not been explored together. Using a touch-based numeric keypad, we found that number length influenced the probability of committing errors, while the position of presentation did not. Number type impacted user-corrected errors but not uncorrected errors. Number length, number type and display position affected input timings.

The findings provide implications for the design of both number representations (e.g., decimal point appearance) and the sociotechnical systems that surround them (e.g., training practice).

Affiliations

FIT Lab, University of Swansea

Singleton Park, Swansea, U.K.

UCL Interaction Centre

Gower St, London. U.K.

Contributors

Huawei Tu

Patrick Oladimeji

Yunqiu Li

Harold Thimbleby

Chris Vincent

Conference

Publication date: September 2014

Publication date (Print): September 2014

Pages: 246-251

ID: 10.14236/ewic/HCI2014.39

Copyright statement: © Huawei Tu et al. Published by BCS Learning and Development Ltd. Proceedings of the 28th International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference (HCI 2014), Southport, UK

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of the 28th International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference (HCI 2014)

Conference acronym: HCI

Conference number: 28

Conference location: Southport, UK

Conference date: 9 - 12 September 2014

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference (HCI 2014)

Product

Product Information: 1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/HCI2014.39

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

Categories

Series title: Electronic Workshops in Computing