Hi Katie, You said it all. =)
"If you want someone to believe what you're saying, find a number that seems to support it." Although I don't like to give numbers for a lot of the IA/UX work I do, but in the business / Corporate environment, without numbers , you cannot sell or get funding or approval to go forward, so I provide the numbers they need. =) But, thats justs to satisfy the needs of the business /corporate situtation, the real work however comes into play when you don't actually look at the specific numbers, but understand the context of what you are trying to do and use these analytics tools to see if they can help you understand some of the qualitative things you are working on. the data helps if you know what you are looking for.... Its kinda similar to usability testing, between using numbers percentages which often is useful for the business / corporates who like and need numbers, but a lot of te values comes not from the specifics but the context, the qualitative feedback and observations and frequency of certain erros etc...etc..... "90% of users failed in completing tasks A" , when you digg further you realize they only tested with two people and those were the wrong test participants even. Tsk...Tsk...... Regards, Jay Kumar On 11/28/07, Katie Albers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > At 6:10 PM -0700 11/27/07, Robert Hoekman, Jr. wrote: > > > Do you think analyzing data using tools like Omniture and Coremetrics > >> should > >> fall under the user experience umbrella? > > > > > >Definitely falls under UX. So much can be learned about human behavior from > >stats, it's unreal. And stats don't lie, which is more than we can say about > >humans (even when these "lies" are unintentional). > > > >-r- > > Oh dear. Oh my. If you're consulting a statistician who can't make > any set of data say anything you want them to say then you should > find a better statistician. Of course statistics lie. Statistics > properly manipulated can tell you just about anything about anyone in > any situation. It's like the old joke about the difference between a > bookkeeper and an accountant: When you ask how much money you made > last year a bookkeeper will answer the question and the accountant > will ask you how much money you want to have made. > > Data don't have meaning without context and context is amazingly > flexible. To give just a few examples that leap to my mind whenever > someone says that statistics don't lie I cite the following: > > A study early in the co-education process of a previously all men's > college that said 1/3 of all women admitted had married faculty > members. Mind you there were only 6 women who'd been admitted and the > social life of the college was all frat based and they imported girls > for events, thank you very much. Both the male faculty in question > were also brand new PhDs. > > As we all know, 50% of all marriages end in divorce. Except that they > don't and they never have. One year in the early 60s a study was done > which noticed that in a particular year there would be 50% as many > divorces as marriages. You'll never find anyone (except me) who will > call your attention to the fact that those data are unrelated to the > conclusion. > > The point is not that the numbers are wrong, nor are they apparently > "false" but both of them are intended to elucidate the behavior of a > certain group of people under certain circumstances but tell us > absolutely nothing about human behavior except that in the US (at > least) we tend to believe things if there are numbers attached to it. > > There are a million examples...many much more pointed than > these...and books are constantly being written on the application and > misapplication of statistics, but the central fact remains: If you > want someone to believe what you're saying, find a number that seems > to support it. > > Katie > -- > > ---------------- > Katie Albers > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ________________________________________________________________ > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* > February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA > Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
