Vector and Triangular Representations of Project Estimation Uncertainty: Effect of Gender on Usability

Abstract

The paper proposes a new visualisation in the form of vectors of notfully-known quantitative features. The proposal is put in the context of project defining and planning and the importance of visualisation for decision making. The new approach is empirically compared with the already known visualisation utilizing membership functions of triangular fuzzy numbers. The designed and conducted experiment was aimed at evaluating the usability of the new approach according to ISO 9241-11. Overall 76 subjects performed 72 experimental conditions designed to assess the effectiveness of uncertainty conveyance. Efficiency and satisfaction were examined by participants subjective assessment of appropriate statements. The experiment results show that the proposed visualisation may constitute a significant alternative to the known, triangle-based visualisation. The paper emphasizes potential advantages for the proposed representation for project management and in other areas.

Perception of vector and triangle representations of fuzzy number most possible value changes

“…1. The alternative representation, put forward and examined in our previous study [11], [25], is based on vectors (Fig. 1).…”

“…To determine the statistical significance and extent of the differences in the mean relative weight values for the studied effects, we performed a three-way analysis of variance, specifically analyzing the Change Type and Graphical Representation factors. We have also included the Gender effect, since our previous study [11] suggests that this may differentiate the results regarding the investigated stimuli. The results show that two of the three factors investigated were statistically significant.…”

“…In our previous papers [11], [12], we proposed the use of vectors to graphically visualize uncertainty defined by triangular fuzzy numbers. We have initially compared the usability and potential applications of triangle-and vectors-based representations of triangular fuzzy numbers.…”

“…The obtained outcomes are analysed and discussed in this paper. Since previous results [11] suggest that there can be some differences between men and women while assessing triangleand vector-based representations, the gender effect was also included into our study.…”