Using GOMS for user interface design and evaluation

Abstract

Since the seminal book, The Psychology of Human-Computer Interaction , the GOMS model has been one of the few widely known theoretical concepts in human-computer interaction. This concept has spawned much research to verify and extend the original work and has been used in real-world design and evaluation situations. This article synthesizes the previous work on GOMS to provide an integrated view of GOMS models and how they can be used in design. We briefly describe the major variants of GOMS that have matured sufficiently to be used in actual design. We then provide guidance to practitioners about which GOMS variant to use for different design situations. Finally, we present examples of the application of GOMS to practical design problems and then summarize the lessons learned.

Combining situated Cognitive Engineering with a novel testing method in a case study comparing two infusion pump interfaces

“…Our proposed method is feasible for qualitative or quantitative research, as well as mixed-method approaches. We applied the Goals, Operators, Methods, and Selection rules (GOMS) model (John and Kieras, 1996) as a framework for data coding to achieve a formal representation of task execution processes. In addition, introduction of novel interaction design requires initial learning (MacKenzie and Zhang, 1999) and may even be hampered by inappropriate transfer (Besnard and Cacitti, 2005).…”

“…The GOMS (Goals, Operators, Methods, Selection rules) model (see John and Kieras, 1996) served as the initial theoretical framework for the first step of data reduction. The GOMS model is frequently used for task analysis and user interface design-and evaluation in humanmachine interactive systems (John and Kieras, 1996) and can be used to formally represent a task…”

“…The GOMS model is frequently used for task analysis and user interface design-and evaluation in humanmachine interactive systems (John and Kieras, 1996) and can be used to formally represent a task…”

“…In addition to the sequence of operators we also reported the minimum number of required keystrokes at every step. This approach is similar to the KLM (Keystroke-Level-Model) variant of the GOMS techniques (John and Kieras, 1996) and thereby offers a quantitative, more simplified presentation of the obtained data. The result is a two-level coding system, consisting of a (1) operator level and (2) keystroke level.…”

Multi-robot User Interface Modeling

“…Some exceptions exist [2]. Software engineering practices and Human Computer Interaction (HCI) researchers, on the other hand, routinely examine the user interface implications of specific changes to existing software packages (e.g., [6]) as well as conducting system level evaluations. Second, usability studies represent the majority of formal user interface evaluations within robotics [2].…”