Specialized methods do not always increase efficiency
Catherine A. Ashworth · 1992
The current research is a complex, 5 day, training experiment investigating several questions about the learning and use of software methods. Central issues concern the situation in which a software user knows more than one obvious method for accomplishing a task at hand. We call this situation "multiple methods". Multiple methods seem to arise most often from the creation of commands or functions specialized for a subclass of tasks. For example, in a word processing application there are often several ways to move the cursor, with arrow keys, by word, by line, by page, to end of line, to start of line, to top of document, and to bottom, to name some common methods. Designers and users typically assume that the existence and use of multiple methods in an application increases user efficiency. We tested that assumption directly. In this experiment we investigated the effects of multiple methods during learning and performance measuring task time, planning time, and error rates and types. In addition, we also investigated strategies subjects employed when choosing between their methods.