Title :
Is more beta better? [beta testing]
Author_Institution :
Rensselaer Polytech. Inst., Troy, NY, USA
Abstract :
Designers of performance support systems need to know their users and can get information about users by several sources, including beta testers. Large samples of beta testers are easier to get than large samples of subjects from laboratory testing and field studies. However, sampling bias may yield misleading data from beta testers. The paper discusses an example case of designers and beta testers for an international corporation. Tables present the views of computer software users by two sample groups: designers of performance support systems and beta testers of that company´s software
Keywords :
human factors; systems analysis; technical presentation; beta testers; performance support systems; sampling bias; software designers; technical communication; user information; Accidents; Buildings; Laboratories; Psychology; Sampling methods; Software design; Software testing; System testing; Teamwork; Usability;
Conference_Titel :
Professional Communication Conference, 2000. Proceedings of 2000 Joint IEEE International and 18th Annual Conference on Computer Documentation (IPCC/SIGDOC 2000)
Conference_Location :
Cambridge, MA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-6431-7
DOI :
10.1109/IPCC.2000.887287
