UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2018/2019
EXAMINATION FOR THE DIPLOMA IN INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
DIT406 HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION
DATE: APRIL, 2019 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer QUESTION ONE and any other TWO Questions.
QUESTION ONE (30 MARKS)
a) Using examples compare and contrast “direct manipulation” and “verbal metaphor” [4 Marks]
b) Differentiate between knowledge in the world and knowledge in the head according to
Donald Norman. [3 Marks]
d) Knowledge is represented in memory as analogical and propositional. Differentiate between
the two [4 Marks]
e) Perception is the way humans perceive visual information it is especially important in the
design of visual displays in computer systems, discuss the two theories that supports perception
[2 Marks]
f) List four Shneiderman’s Golden Rules of design [4 Marks]
g) Differentiate the terms “affordance” and “visibility” as used in usability principle
[3 Marks]
QUESTION TWO (20 MARKS)
a) List any four HCI goals [2 Marks]
b) Touch displays allow the user to input information into the computer simply by touching an
appropriate part of the screen, give 4 advantages and disadvantages of using touchscreen
[8 Marks]
c) Output has two primary purposes, list the two [2 Marks]
d) Systems should be designed to help users form the correct productive mental models. Give
and explain four common design factors [8 Marks]
QUESTION THREE (20 MARKS)
a) Discuss four techniques which can be used to guide the user’s attention [4 Marks]
b) Describe the steps in the Usability Engineering Life cycle [5 Marks]
c) Explain the way in which menus favors knowledge in the world over knowledge in the head.
(3 Marks)
d) Explain any four facilities included in an interactive system that allows users to recover from
their mistakes [4 Marks]
e) Describe any three essential differences between the HCI design model and the Software
Engineering design model. (3 Marks)
QUESTION FOUR (20 MARKS)
a) Discuss features of direct manipulation interaction style (4 Marks)
b) User support comes in a number of styles, list six [6 Marks]
c) Using an example define and describe the concept of GOMS (4 Marks)
d) List and explain where design guidelines come from. (4 Marks)
e) List the main goals of Evaluation in HCI (4 Marks)
QUESTION FIVE (20 MARKS)
a) Explain the concept of “user experience” in design (4 Marks)
b) Describe any three approaches to user support (6 Marks)
c) There has been a large body of research done to try to understand how users interact with
online help. One aspect which has been studied is the kind of questions which prompt use of
online help (O’Malley 1986, Sellen & Nicol 1990). Discuss the four group of questions
(8 Marks)
d) Explain the four main issues involved in the process of Interaction Design. (2 Marks)
