Evaluation (Chapter 7)

Evaluation plays an important key role in software development, Software engineers need to know the methods, processes and techniques. The evaluation includes sections that show what improvement the project has resulted in and how it has been implemented.

In this chapter, the literature review, Artefact, Client, users, project objective and self evaluation are included.

7.1 Impact of the literature review on the artefact development

At the beginning of the project, he started with literary research. The purpose was to obtain the information needed to produce the product, to present and troubleshoot the problem environment. The rudimentary foundations of the research were the education of children, the effects of mobile devices on preschool children, UI design for children.

The first step in The Software Development Lifecycle is planning. Research is essential for planning. The design process is determined by the client’s needs and requirements, any design changes that take place, the approvals of planning.

The information gathered for the application seemed to be sufficient. During the development and testing, more research was needed to solve the problems that arose, and the needs of the customer and the creation of a user-friendly application had to be taken into account, which requires continuous research throughout the project. Research topics include the amount of textual appearance and how and how to change it, which are colours that are not considered distracting, the use of images for 3-5 year olds, what are the games that suit this user age group and the appropriate sounds use.

The topic of the initial literary research is appropriate for the project. Getting started towards the goal was a good starting point, but it is also necessary to approach the research from a deeper perspective and carry out further research during the development.

7.2 Evaluation of the artefact

7.2.1 Heuristic Evaluation

Heuristic was selected for application evaluation. Heuristic evaluation is used to test the usability of the application, a method of checking usability that helps identify usability issues in user interface (UI) design. (Preston, L., 2019). The heuristic method examines usability from ten different points, and is quick, inexpensive, and easy to implement.

7.2.1.1 Visibility of system status

It is important that the user receives feedback on whether the task was performed correctly or incorrectly. To do this, the user receives voice and image based feedback, depending on whether they gave a correct or incorrect answer.

7.2.1.2 Match between system and the real world

The tasks of the games have been developed in a way that has long been used in practice, such as the Memory Game. Ease of use was an important aspect of the games, so the games are well understood to perform tasks. The use of realistic icons and spoken information within the app also makes the app easier and simpler.

7.2.1.3 User control and freedom

The app gives you the ability to return to the home screen and exit games from any page, with easy-to-understand buttons.

7.2.1.4 Consistency and standards

The application uses a unified convention of icons, buttons and colours to achieve ease of use. The application distinguishes between the use of colours, as green symbolizes healthy and red symbolizes unhealthy elements. The use of the colour blue is used during the game for the user to decide which group the item belongs to. Each game has three levels starting with the easiest, which gradually gets heavier with each level according to the age of the preschooler.

7.2.1.5 Error prevention

For tasks where users can drag-and-drop images to other locations, the placement to the wrong or invalid locations is examined with the event.getResult () function. If this feature fails, a verbal message informs the user that the placed image has been placed in an unauthorized location.

7.2.1.6 Recognition rather than recall

In the application, the icons are always clearly visible. The back buttons are always there for users to easily navigate. The healthy elements on the main page, on the other hand, the unhealthy elements are at the top of the application and are always placed there so that users can easily distinguish them.

The pictures placed on the first page and the verbal name and health type obtained by clicking on them help to memorize the foods that appear in the toys, which make it easier to use the toys later.

7.2.1.7 Flexibility and efficiency of use

Since the game was made for preschool children, simple navigation was an expectation. Each game can be reached in a maximum of three steps. Such a simple menu system already provides easy operation and navigation by default and eliminates inefficiencies. You can also use the back buttons located on the same page to move back in the navigation, so you can return to the starting page with a maximum of three steps.

7.2.1.8 Aesthetic and minimalist design

Simplicity, including the avoidance of overcrowding and cleanliness, was a primary consideration in the design. The application was provided with only the necessary functions in order of importance. The most important functions of the application are placed in the middle, such as the start, or the games are located on the right side of the screen.

7.2.1.9 Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

At the customer’s request, Bad or Good has requested a scoring app that is capable of counting both good and bad hits and is differentiated in red and green so that the child is also aware if they are wrong and can get feedback on it, how many good and bad hits they had during the game.

Verbal information about faulty actions is given to the user as the program is designed as if, for example, in games, the user places the image in the wrong place, the application will sound alert the user to the error.

7.2.1.10 Help and documentation

To assist the use of the application, the user is shown the use of the application and games using the Video icon. The Information icon, on the other hand, provides information about the application data.

Evaluation against Requirements Table.3 can be found in Appendices, Section G.

7.2.2 Evaluation by the client/sponsor;

The first testing of the application prototype with the client took place on 24 / February / 2020 at the University of Sunderland at the David Goldman building. The testing was tested on an OnePlus3 mobile device. He was pleased with the app, although he drew my attention to a number of things and suggested correcting it. The following problems were found in the image on the start page, lack of start caption, the application does not contain back buttons, pop-up messages are in the wrong place and it interferes with the game, Bad or Good did not have three different levels and this game lacked that did not count bad points in the game. He pointed out a number of shortcomings during the first testing. After testing, these problems were fixed in the application to take them into account.

Subsequent testing resulted in the closure of all educational institutions in the UK due to the appearance of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and was therefore carried out using a screencast. The OnePlus3 API 28 virtual device used in Android Studio was used to create the screencast. I sent the screencast to the client on 26 / March / 2020. Based on the feedback received from the customer on 31 / March / 2020, he made the following comment, there is a significant improvement with the application compared to the previous testing, but he was concerned about the amount of words used. Following customer feedback, another fix was made.

The last screencast was used on Oneplus3 API 28 virtual devices and I sent it to the client on 1 / April / 2020, the feedback was on 3 / April / 2020. Based on this, with the end result of the application, the words were replaced by the addition of a sound, which won the customer’s liking and indicated that this would really help younger players.

Based on the evaluation, it can be concluded that although going through a number of changes, the application meets the customer’s expectations. And based on that, the set goal was achieved.

Client email can be found in Appendices, Section C.

7.2.3 Evaluation by end users;

Also in the UK, due to the appearance of Coronavirus (COVID-19), it was not possible for potential users to test the Healthy Eating application at the age of 3-5 years. For these reasons the people testing the app were; a total of 4 people from my family members living in the same household as me tested the application.

Participants in the testing tested the application on 27th and 28th March / 2020. Testing per person is not tested in groups. Prior to testing, participants received a Participant Information Sheet and a Consent Form. Volunteers took part in these documents after carefully reading and verbally informing them before signing their participation. The information included the subject, location and requirements of the project.

Volunteer participants were able to choose from OnePlus3, OnePlus5 and Xiaomi Mi Pad mobile devices. Participants received the Usability Test Tasks List and the Usability Questionnaire. The questionnaire deals with the tasks in the task list, what difficulties they had, how the games worked, and researching any problems that might arise.

Based on the feedback from the participants in the evaluation, the mobile devices worked flawlessly during testing. Using the Main page did not cause them any difficulty. The video helped to understand the operation of the games. They were able to play successfully with the Card Game, Puzzle Game, Bad or Good Game and Memory Game and reached the end of Level 3. No malfunctions were reported during testing.

Participants in the games complained that when moving images, it was not possible to move them to the given box immediately, but had to click and hold on them to move the image. Another suggestion is the lack of animation, which would make the game more enjoyable.

The application was limited by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) due to the lack of potential testers. With this in mind, testing was limited to four adult participants only. Although participants were not age-appropriate, they provided some guidance when testing the product. Based on the evaluation, the application successfully met the set goal.

The user statements of consent can be found in Appendix B.

Questionnaires and user feedback can be found in Appendix G.

7.2.4 Evaluation against the project objectives.

To evaluate the achievement of the project objectives, the following conclusions can be drawn. The curriculum of the module went through a number of new and different tasks during the project.

The tasks used during the curriculum that were used during software development were continuous follow-up. These tasks included Schedule’s ongoing management of the ePortfolio system, the importance of which later became apparent. Their ongoing management can be traced back to the stages of project tracking and it becomes visible in which cycle the project is in. During the project, in case of keeping and failing the documentation of Schedule and Eportfolio, its replacement requires significant work.

Adherence to the project schedule caused difficulties due to unforeseen and emerging problems, which made it difficult for the project to exit. Modules running in parallel with the project also caused delays as not only one module had to be worked in parallel, which proved to be time consuming. In addition, the appearance of Coronavirus (COVID-19) also generated a number of problems, such as the fact that the application was not tested by the actual user group during the prototyping process and the number of people was limited.

In particular, creating the application required more time during the project, as the changes proposed by the client required continuous improvement of the application. The demanding nature of time varied in different main chapters of the dissertation. The proportions of the first two chapters seem more time consuming compared to those that follow.

The lectures helped the project a lot in the structure and understanding of the dissertation, and it is also possible to follow at which stage it should be held. Ongoing meetings with the client and supervisor helped to resolve situations, obstacles, and problems in the project.

The application contains all the planned functions and has been completed. Its effectiveness is demonstrated through unlimited use and would therefore require continuous recording, restoration and improvement.

7.3 Evaluation of self

I used the Agile Project Management methodology during the project. The Agile method is for plan, design, develop, test, release and feedback. The Agile method allows you to divide projects into more manageable tasks this allows for quick adaptation and is ideal for a smaller project. I considered the Agile method to be appropriate for the project because it was possible to respond more effectively to changes in customer needs.

7.3.1 Plan

7.3.2 Design

The first design idea proved successful, although I didn’t consider a number of things at the start of the project. The interaction with the customer, in turn, led to the path the customer wanted in the product. There were a number of things to consider that resulted in me successfully completing. I did not use a design tool during the project as using the Android Studio application was suitable for this purpose. The design required constant changes and I also took into account the Android design guidelines. This includes the location of colours, images, shapes, text, icons, and functional devices.

7.3.3 Develop

It was written in Java Programming using Android Studio for development. Since I was introduced to Android Studio and the java programming language this year, a lot of research had to be done during the development. Choosing the right game for the app and developing it was very time consuming. I encountered a number of obstacles during the project that could not be implemented and had to rethink my ideas, which required a change. I also ran into coding issues that were helped by research, programming, or programming examples on the Android developer website

7.3.4 Test

In the testing phase of the application, ethics are an extremely important factor in the project. During the project, I followed and adhered to university ethical procedures. The Ethics supervisor certification document was signed, and the Participant Information Sheet, Consent Form, Usability Test Tasks List and Usability Questionnaire documents were prepared for testing. The elaboration of these documents required a great deal of attention. It is important to develop the questions of the questionnaire. The purpose of the questionnaire is to assess perceived usability, with rules for making scores in a specific order and based on respondents’ responses. The questionnaire was prepared taking these into account.

Due to the appearance of Coronavirus (COVID-19), testing of the application seemed hopeless. I contacted the supervisor and asked for advice on testing. My suggestion was whether my family members could participate in the testing and found no obstacle to this due to the situation. Testing was conducted smoothly between both the client and the volunteer participants, following ethical procedures.

Ethical Supervisor Certification and e-mail evidence can be found in Appendix B.

7.3.5 Release

The project took 400 man-hours to start at the end of September 2019 and the submission deadline is 8 / May / 2020. The goal of the project is to create a good working application that suits both the customer and the user.

During the project, I tried to stick to the schedule, which was not always easy to follow as I had to work on several modules in parallel. I attended lectures regularly and showed up at supervisory meetings to keep up to date with expectations.

Achieving the goal required organization, scheduling, resolving any errors, and great flexibility. Project management required a great deal of responsibility, attention, collaboration, and organization. The end result of the application was in line with the expectations of the customer and the user in all respects. In this way, I consider the progress of the project to be effective.

7.3.6 Feedback

Feedback is a very important part of the project. Feedback from my supervisor, client, and users supports the progress of the project. I was able to use the information I received from the feedback to eliminate any errors, correct them, and help me further develop the application. Feedback helped make the app better. Based on the evaluation of the feedback, the set goal was achieved and found to be successful.

7.3.7 Skills

During the project, I gained a number of skills and my expertise was greatly developed. My delays during the project include project management, written and verbal communication, organizational and time management skills, Agile methodology skills, project scheduling, Problem-solving skills, Android design, Software skills, Java Programming languages skills.