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A Sales Database Assignment

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A Sales Database Assignment

  1. Open the start file AC2019-Capstone-Level2.

NOTE: If necessary, enable active content by clicking the Enable Content button in the Message Bar.

  1. The file will be renamed automatically to include your name. Change the project file name if directed to do so by your instructor, and save
  2. Create a new table from scratch to track sales.
    1. The first field should be an AutoNumber field named: SaleID
    2. The second field should be a Date & Time field named: SaleDate
    3. The third field should be a lookup field. (Hint: Use the Lookup Wizard to create the new field.) It should display the LocationDescription field from the Locations table. Values in the lookup should be sorted by values in the LocationDescription field. Include the LocationID field in the lookup, but do not display it. (Hint: Hide the key column.) Enable data integrity by restricting deletions. Name this field: SaleLocation
  3. Save the table with the name: Sales
  4. Switch to Design view and modify field properties.
    1. Apply the Long Date format to the SaleDate
  5. Add a new lookup field as the last field in the Sales table to track payment type. (Hint:

Use the Lookup Wizard to create the new field.)

  1. Name the field: PaymentType
  2. The lookup field should display these values in this order:

Cash

Credit Card

Gift Card

Store Credit

  1. Limit data entry to values in the list. Do not allow multiple values.
  2. Save the table.
  3. Switch back to Datasheet view to add sample records to the Sales
    1. Add three records to the table with the following data. (Hint: Remember, the first

field in the table, SaleID, is an AutoNumber field, so there is nothing to enter for each record.)

SaleDateSaleLocationPaymentType10/01/2019GeorgetownCash10/1/2019Farragut SquareGift Card10/1/2019George Washington UniversityCredit Card

  1. Adjust the width of the SaleDate field so the entire long date is visible.
  2. Save and close the table.
  3. Create a new table to capture the details for each sale.
    1. The first field should be an AutoNumber field named: SaleDetailID
    2. The second field should be a lookup field named: SaleID The lookup field should be limited to values in the SaleID field of the Sales Include only the SaleID in the lookup field. Enable data integrity by restricting deletions.
    3. Save the table as: SaleDetails
    4. Add a third field to the far right of the table. Name this field: Item This is another lookup field. Include all the fields from the Items Sort the lookup items by values in the ItemName field. Hide the primary key field. Enable data integrity by restricting deletions.
    5. Add a Number field to the right of the Item Name the field: Quantity
    6. Set the default value for the Quantity field to: 1
    7. Add three records to the table with the following data. (Hint: Remember, the first field in the table, SaleDetailID, is an AutoNumber field, so there is nothing to enter for each record.)SaleIDItemQuantity1Chocolate41Sea Salt and Caramel22Truffle3
    8. Close the table.
  4. Use the Form Wizard to create a new form for inputting sales data.
    1. Include all the fields from the Sales
    2. Include the Item and Quantity fields from the SaleDetails
    3. View the form data by records in the Sales table with related records in the SaleDetails table displayed in a subform.
    4. The subform should be displayed as a Datasheet.
  5. Name the main form: SalesForm and name the subform: SaleDetailsSubform (Hint: Be sure to remove the space between SaleDetails and Subform in the subform name suggested by Access.)
  6. Open the form in Form view to review your work.
  7. Navigate to the record in the main form for SaleID 3 and enter sale details in the subform as follows:

Item: Chocolate, Quantity: 2

Item: Old Bay, Quantity: 4

  1. Close the form.
  2. Open the Items table and modify the table fields as follows:
    1. Set the Default Value property for the Price field to: 7
    2. Change the data type for the Price field to: Currency
    3. Autofit the width of the ItemName
    4. Save the changes and close the Items
  3. Create a Single Record form using the Items table as the record source. Save the form with the name: SingleRecordForm
  4. Begin a new blank form in Layout view.
    1. From the Locations table, add the LocationID,

LocationDescription, and Comments fields in that order, at the left side of the form.

  1. Widen the labels so that they are just wide enough for LocationDescription to be completely visible.
  2. From the Locations table, add the OpenTime field to the right of

the LocationID controls.

  1. Reduce the width of the OpenTime bound control so that the control is just wide enough to display the time data.
  2. From the Locations table, add the CloseTime field to the right of

the OpenTime controls.

  1. Reduce the width of the CloseTime bound control so the control is just wide

enough to display the time data.

  1. Move the OpenTime and CloseTime controls so they are next to

the LocationDescription controls instead.

  1. From the Locations table, add the Days field to the form layout in the empty space to the right of the LocationID controls, above the OpenTime
  2. Add a logo to the form header. Use this file, located with the resources for this

project: toptCornLogo-small.png

  1. Save the form with the name: LocationsDetailsForm
  2. Close the forms.
  3. Open the SalesArchive
    1. Delete the Total
    2. Find the record with the ID 500 and delete it. (Hint: It is the last record in the table.) c. Find and replace each ItemID value OLDB with OLDB005.
    3. Rename the TotalSal field to: TotalSale
    4. Save and close the table.
  4. Use the Relationships window to create a relationship between the Items and SalesArchive
    1. Show the SalesArchive table in the Relationships window.
    2. Create a one-to-many relationship between the ItemID field in the Items table and the ItemID field in the SalesArchive You may rearrange the tables in the Relationships window if you want.
    3. Enforce referential integrity so a record cannot be deleted or altered in the Items table if it would cause a conflict with the data in the SalesArchive
    4. Close the Relationships window and save the changes.
  5. Create a query to display sales of Truffle flavored popcorn from the SalesArchive
    1. Include the following fields in this order: the SaleDate, Quantity, and TotalSale fields from the SalesArchive table and the ItemName field from the Items
    2. Add the criteria Original Blend to the ItemName Run the query to check your work. (Hint: There should be 34 records in the query results.)
    3. Save the query as OriginalBlendQry and then close the query.
  6. Create a query to display sales of Old Bay or Truffle flavored popcorn from the SalesArchive table
    1. Include the following fields in this order: the SaleDate, Quantity, and TotalSale fields from the SalesArchive table and the ItemName field from the Items
    2. Add the criteria Old Bay or Truffle to the ItemName Run the query to check your work. (Hint: There should be 55 records in the query results.)
    3. Save the query as NewFlavorsQry and then close the query.
  7. Create a query to display sales for more than $50.00 from the SalesArchive
    1. Include the following fields in this order: the SaleDate from the SalesArchive table, ItemName field from the Items table, and TotalSale from the SalesArchive
    2. Add criteria to the TotalSale field to return only sales greater than 50.
    3. Specify the sort order in the query, so the results always display the records with

the highest values in the TotalSale field first. Run the query to check your work.

(Hint: There should be 14 records in the query results.)

  1. Save the query as HighDollarSalesQry and close it.
  2. Create a query to display sales for more than $50 of Truffle flavored popcorn from the SalesArchive table
    1. Include the following fields in this order: the ItemName field from the Items table and the SaleDate, Quantity, and TotalSale fields from the SalesArchive
      • Add the criteria to the query to return only records where the ItemName is

Truffle and the TotalSale is greater than 50. Run the query to check your work.

(Hint: There should be 6 records in the query results.)

  • Save the query as HighDollarTruffleQry and then close the query.
  1. Use the Report Wizard to create a report based on the NewFlavorsQry
    1. Include the fields from the NewFlavorsQry query in this order: ItemName, SaleDate, Quantity, and TotalSale.
    2. View the data by the Items
    3. Do not add any additional grouping.
    4. Sort the detail records by sale date.
    5. Use the Stepped layout in Portrait orientation.
    6. Name the report NewFlavorRpt and then view the report to check your work.
  2. Create a new report from scratch in Layout view.
    1. From the SalesArchive table, add the SaleDate field to the report. Add these fields in order to the right of the SaleDate controls: ItemName from the Items table, and Quantity and TotalSale from the SalesArchive
    2. Resize the ItemName controls so all the item names are visible. (Hint: Widen the ItemName column so the entire Sea Salt and Caramel name is visible.)
    3. Add the ItemID field from the Items Move the ItemID controls so they appear to the left of the ItemName controls.
    4. Save the report as: SalesArchiveRpt
  3. Save and close any open database objects and then close the database.
  4. Upload and save your project file.

 

 

A Sales Database Assignment

 

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DQ Questions Assignment

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DQ Questions Assignment

Creativity, once the complete and exclusive realm of human  imagination and innovation, is being breached by computers.  Last week,  there was a discussion about whether a computer can “be creative” and  generate some piece of valid creative work (art, music, dance, poetry,  etc.) that is deemed “worthy” by humans.

So, for example, can a  computer create a successful and complete London West End musical  theater show?  Yes….?  No….?  Impossible….?  Why even try…?

It  has just been done!  After analyzing millions of data points, computers  have designed the world’s first musical theater show entitled “Beyond the Fence.”   Computers decided the key points, characters, plot, music, lyrics,  genre, and decided the main plot-line of the story.  It is a true story  based on the Greenham Common women’s peace camp, a lengthy women-only  protest at the siloing of nuclear missiles at the RAF Greenham Common  airbase in the UK around the early 1980s – the height of the cold war.   The heroine is Mary Moreton, a single mother who has fled an abusive  relationship with her daughter George. George strikes up an unlikely  friendship with US officer Jim Meadow across the chain-link fence, while  the group of women face pressures from without and turmoil from within.

Watch  this trailer found on YouTube ( If you have subscribed to AcornTV you  can view the entire two-part documentary on this entitled: “Computer Says Show.” ):

 See if and what you can find out about the process and documentary entitled “Computer Says Show” and the resulting West End show “Beyond the Fence.”  Answer the following questions:

 

1. What are your thoughts about this process and the resulting product of a musical theater show?

2. How safe is your own current employment job from being taken over by computers?

3. Has this changed your view of the capabilities of current and future generations of computers?

 

 

DQ Questions Assignment

 

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Nursing Assignment

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Nursing Assignment

Mark Ilescu is a 44-year-old client who has been diagnosed with primary hypertension. His medical history includes type 1 diabetes mellitus, with early signs of nephropathy. He had a myocardial infarction 2 years ago and has been treated with a beta-blocker, metoprolol, since that time. He has been taking hydrochlorothiazide in addition to the beta-blocker to treat his hypertension. His blood pressure today is 138/92 mm Hg, which is consistent with the readings on his last three visits. His physician has added captopril to his treatment regimen. (Learning Objectives 2, 4, 8, and 9)

1. Mark states that he does not understand why he needs an additional medication considering his blood pressure is below 140 mm Hg systolic. How should the nurse respond?

2. Discuss the rationale for choosing captopril in Mark’s case.

3. What should the nurse include in teaching Mark in order to minimize adverse effects of the captopril and metoprolol?

Instructions:

  1. Your discussion post should be at least 140 words and include at least one 100-word response to a classmate. Follow APA guidelines for references. At least one reference is required to support your response. To see the grading rubric, click on the 3-dot menu 3-dot menu on the top-right side of screen.

 

Nursing Assignment

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Ldership Assignment

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Ldership Assignment

Two new associate-degree graduates were hired for the pediatric unit. Both worked three 12-hour shifts a week; Jan worked the day-to-evening shift and Rosemary worked the night shift. Whenever their shifts connected, they would compare notes on their experience. Jan felt she was learning rapidly, gaining clinical skills and beginning to feel at ease with her colleagues.

Rosemary, however, still felt unsure of herself and often isolated. There have been times that she was the only registered nurse on the unit all night. The aides and LPNs were very experienced, but Rosemary feels she is not ready for that kind of responsibility. Rosemary knows she must speak to the nurse manager about this, but she’s called several times, and she’s never available. The shift assignments are left in the staff lounge by an assistant.

Questions

Your discussion post should answer the following questions in a well-constructed commentary. Use references, in APA format, where appropriate.

  1. To what extent is this problem due to a failure to lead? Who has failed to act?
  2. What style of leadership was displayed by Rosemary? The nurse manager?
  3. How effective was their leadership? What are your suggestions for Rosemary?

 

 

Ldership Assignment

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Mental Health Nursing Assignment

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Mental Health Nursing Assignment

Submit an evidence-based practice paper about cultural competency in mental health nursing. An evidence-based practice paper allows you to explore best practice and help improve client outcomes on a psychiatric unit. Your paper should describe how you, as a nurse, will include – or have included – cultural awareness in a client diagnosed with a mental illness. The person you describe could be someone in your clinical setting, someone you have worked with in the past, or a theoretical client.

Remember that culture can also include gender equality, sexual orientation, and other cultures besides race and religion – including cultures unique to one particular family. Your paper should be at least 3 pages (double-spaced, not including the title or reference pages) in APA Format and include:

  • Assessment: Discuss what you would assess in regard to a client’s culture. For example, are there specific dietary requirements? Are schedule changes necessary to avoid conflicts with religious practices? Who is the spokesperson for the family? What would you assess?
  • Diagnosis: List any mental health nursing diagnoses this person has or may be at risk for. Include at least one cultural diagnosis.
  • Planning: What planning needs to be done to ensure the cultural and emotional safety of the client?
  • Implementation: What are interventions that would ensure the safety of your client in regard to culture? Include at least two interventions. For example, if your client has religious beliefs that affect the ability to take medications, what interventions would you create to ensure the client’s safety? What can you do to make sure the client’s cultural needs are met?
  • Evaluation: How will you evaluate whether your implementation was effective? Make sure the parameters are objective and measurable.
  • In your summary, discuss whether any completed interventions were successful. What could be done differently in the future? If the interventions have not yet been carried out, you might discuss some institutional changes that could be made to ensure cultural safety for all clients in that setting.

 

 

Mental Health Nursing Assignment

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Training & Development Assignment

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Training & Development Assignment

1. Compare and contrast human resources and human resources development. How would these two functions differ between a large international corporation and a small global company? How would they be the same? 75 words

2. Why should organizations consider succession planning and what are some risks and benefits of doing so? 75 words

3. Learning consists of both mental and physical processes. Identify and discuss three (3) features of instruction or the work environment that aid in learning and increase the likelihood of training transfer.75 words

4. The evaluation process is a critical step to confirm that trainees have learned the content of the training. Identify and discuss three evaluation outcomes that can be used as evidence that training was effective and the criteria needed to ensure such evidence is useful.75 word

5. Provide three examples how developmental plans may differ based on the 9-box matrix. 75 word

6. Evaluating training is an important process to ensure an organization is getting a good return on investment. Compare and contrast three types of evaluation designs used to evaluate training programs and three considerations when choosing a design.75 Words

7. You have been asked to conduct a training needs analysis. Describe the process you would use and how you would ensure the results are valid and reliable.75 words

8. Compare and contrast three motivational theories. Explain specifically how one of these three can be applied to a training situation. 75 words

Noe, Raymond. Employee Training Development (9th Edition).

 

 

Training & Development Assignment

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Business Assignment

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Business Assignment

1.From Chapter Two

Consider the world of business and customer wants. On July 26, a customer, that you have met once before, comes into your establishment. He had ordered a product on July 18, and it was to be delivered on July 21. The customer is not upset, but just wants to know when it will be delivered. Based on chapter two and the wants of a customer, how do you respond to them?

2.From Chapter Two

Consider this scenario. You have been a manager/supervisor for about six months. You are currently in charge of two departments. The previous manager did a good job with Department A but provided no attention nor guidance to Department B. in fact, Department A has been named the best department in customer service for the last three years. Department B has good employees but need leadership. As the manager, (a) what do you do to keep Department A from becoming complacent, and (b) how can you provide leadership to Department B as a mentor?

3. From Chapter Three

In Chapter three, the author discusses Communicating Positively. Identify and discuss the acronym of PLAN. Be sure to briefly identify and discuss each aspect that falls under each of the topics representing PLAN.

4. From Chapter Three

Voice qualities can have impact on how we communicate and the message we send. Discuss some of the qualities and its meanings. Provide an example to validate your statements.

 

 

Business Assignment

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WEEK 9 QUESTIONS ASSIGNMENT

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WEEK 9 QUESTIONS ASSIGNMENT

Managers spend one third of their time communicating up and down the organizational hierarchy. Communication is the transfer and understanding of information from one person to another. The communication model comprises of several parts.

We want to examine the communication pathway or medium in which communication is delivered. The communication pathway is the way messages are sent, including:

  • Face-to-face meetings.
  • Electronic mail and online discussions.
  • Written letters or memorandums.
  • Telephone or voice-mail, among others.

While some people may be better at using certain mediums over others, some mediums can be better suited for the specific message being conveyed. For this week’s discussion, suppose you are a manager who needs to communicate several messages to employees of the company.

Messages

  1. The CEO abruptly resigns after the news media reports that the CEO embezzled millions of dollars.
  2. A plan to relocate the company.
  3. The death of an employee.
  4. The reassignment of one division to a new location.

Respond to the following for each of the messages above:

  • List the medium (telephone, email, text, face-to-face meeting, et cetera) you would use to communicate the message.
  • Explain why you chose that medium over the other possible mediums.
  • Then, consider the importance of the information conveyed in these messages. How might the choice of medium for communication impact trust and credibility among the employees?

 

 

WEEK 9 QUESTIONS ASSIGNMENT

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Planning Fedex A Assignment

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Planning Fedex A Assignment

Planning Process for Innovation

Each weekly written assignment provides content for required sections of your Final Assignment. As noted in the Final Paper Guidelines, your business should remain consistent throughout the course.

For this assignment, write a three to four-page paper that addresses the following points:

  • Evaluation of the Firm – McGrath’s and MacMillion’s Twelve Factors of Evaluating Firm
    • Evaluate your organization, being sure to address six of the twelve McGrath’s and MacMillion’s Twelve Factors:
      • Demand for the Product
      • Factors that could speed adoption
      • Factors that could block success of an Innovation
      • Likelihood of Strong Competitive Response
      • Likelihood that the Potential Competitive Advantage is Sustainable
      • Ability to Create Standards
      • Cost Factors in Commercialization
      • Resources Available for Commercialization
      • Level of novelty of the innovation
      • Cost considerations in development
      • Other opportunities that could be leveraged
      • Potential area where damage might occur

Remember, in addition to technical factors, other factors that could block success of an innovation include legal, ethical, security, diversity, and social responsibility issues of the organization.

  • Apply the McFarlan & McKenney Strategic Grid Planning Process
    • The McFarlan & McKenney Strategic Grid Planning Process analyzes the organization’s readiness to implement innovation strategy. McFarlan and McKenney, in 1983, devised a very useful grid for assessing a company’s strategic use of IT (Carboy, 2007).
    • The grid has four quadrants built around two straight forward questions:
      • How important does management feel the current IT systems are to the company?
      • How important does the company think future developments in IT will be required to sustain and enhance its way of doing business (Carboy, 2007)?

The Strategic Grid by McFarlan, McKenney and Pyburn is divided into four quadrants: Strategic, Turnaround, Support and Factory, to classify applications into these four quadrants to document the strategic relevance of the application to the business. The grid has the x axis labeled strategic importance of current information systems and the y axis labeled strategic importance of planned information systems.

Source Image: https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/techniques-blog/-/blogs/410027

Definitions of each quadrant are:

  • Quadrant 1 – Support: Low Current: Low Future Impact. IT has little relevance and simply supports existing processes.
  • Quadrant 2 – Turnaround: Low Current: High Future Impact. IT will feature more on the business agenda in the future. The company believes that IT will have a major impact on their business model in the future and IT is in a turnaround role i.e. IT will be a key feature of future strategic planning.
  • Quadrant 3 – Factory: High Current: Low Future Impact. IT is important in terms of day-to-day operations but it is not felt that there are any major IT developments on the horizon that will fundamentally alter the nature of the business. Here, the key issue is the maintenance of existing systems (Factory Role).
  • Quadrant 4 – Strategic: High Current: High Future Impact. In this quadrant, IT plays a crucial role both in terms of its current role and in terms of how future IT developments are viewed as impacting on the organization. IT is mission critical.

Use your chosen organization for this exercise. Based on your research of the organization’s use of technology and moving forward technology plans, identify which quadrant most appropriately applies to your organization’s readiness to implement innovation strategy (Carboy, 2007).

  • Identify the McFarlan & McKenney Strategic Grid quadrant that applies best to your organization: Low Current: Low, Future Impact; Low Current: High Future Impact; High Current: Low Future Impact; and High Current: High Future Impact.
  • Gen-ED > Provide supporting research to justify your analysis conclusion.
  • Identify 3 examples of your organization’s innovation directions to substantiate your points.

The Planning Process for Innovation assignment

 

Planning Fedex A Assignment

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Answer Questions Assignment

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Answer Questions Assignment

 

In-Depth Activity

In this activity, think about the case studies and reflect on the evaluation methods used.

For the two case studies discussed in this chapter, think about the role of evaluation in the design of the system and note the artifacts that were evaluated: when during the design were they evaluated, which methods were used, and what was learned from the evaluations? Note any issues of particular interest. You may find that constructing a table like the one shown here is a helpful approach.

Name of the study or artifact evaluated When during the design the evaluation occurred? How controlled was the study and what role did users have? Which methods were used? What kind of data was collected, and how was it analyzed? What was learned from the study? Notable issues

What were the main constraints that influenced the evaluations?

How did the use of different methods build on and complement each other to give a broader picture of the evaluations?

Which parts of the evaluations were directed at usability goals and which at user experience goals?

Case studies

Case Study 1: An Experiment Investigating a Computer Game

For games to be successful, they must engage and challenge users. Criteria for evaluating these aspects of the user experience are therefore needed. In this case study, physiological responses were used to evaluate users’ experiences when playing against a friend and when playing alone against the computer (Mandryk and Inkpen, 2004). Regan Mandryk and Kori Inkpen conjectured that physiological indicators could be an effective way of measuring a player’s experience. Specifically, they designed an experiment to evaluate the participants’ engagement while playing an online ice-hockey game.

Ten participants, who were experienced game players, took part in the experiment. During the experiment, sensors were placed on the participants to collect physiological data. The data collected included measurements of the moisture produced by sweat glands of their hands and feet and changes in heart and breathing rates. In addition, they videoed the participants and asked them to complete user satisfaction questionnaires at the end of the experiment. To reduce the effects of learning, half of the participants played first against a friend and then against the computer, and the other half played against the computer first. Figure 14.2 shows the setup for recording data while the participants were playing the game.

Photos depict the physiological data (top right), two participants, and a screen of the game they played.

Figure 14.2 The display shows the physiological data (top right), two participants, and a screen of the game they played.

Source: Mandryk and Inkpen (2004). Physiological Indicators for the Evaluation of Co-located Collaborative Play, CSCW’2004, pp. 102–111. Reproduced with permission of ACM Publications

Results from the user satisfaction questionnaire revealed that the mean ratings on a 1–5 scale for each item indicated that playing against a friend was the favored experience (Table 14.1). Data recorded from the physiological responses was compared for the two conditions and in general revealed higher levels of excitement when participants played against a friend than when they played against the computer. The physiological recordings were also compared across participants and, in general, indicated the same trend. Figure 14.3 shows a comparison for two participants.

Table 14.1 Mean subjective ratings given on a user satisfaction questionnaire using a five-point scale, in which 1 is lowest and 5 is highest for the 10 players

Playing Against Computer Playing Against Friend

Mean St. Dev. Mean St. Dev.

Boring 2.3 0.949 1.7 0.949

Challenging 3.6 1.08 3.9 0.994

Easy 2.7 0.823 2.5 0.850

Engaging 3.8 0.422 4.3 0.675

Exciting 3.5 0.527 4.1 0.568

Frustrating 2.8 1.14 2.5 0.850

Fun 3.9 0.738 4.6 0.699

Graphs depict (a) A participant’s skin response when scoring a goal against a friend versus against the computer, and (b) another participant’s response when engaging in a hockey fight against a friend versus against the computer

Figure 14.3 (a) A participant’s skin response when scoring a goal against a friend versus against the computer, and (b) another participant’s response when engaging in a hockey fight against a friend versus against the computer

Source: Mandryk and Inkpen (2004). Physiological Indicators for the Evaluation of Co-located Collaborative Play, CSCW’2004, pp. 102–111. Reproduced with permission of ACM Publications

Identifying strongly with an experience state is indicated by a higher mean. The standard deviation indicates the spread of the results around the mean. Low values indicate little variation in participants’ responses; high values indicate more variation.

Because of individual differences in physiological data, it was not possible to compare directly the means of the two sets of data collected: subjective questionnaires and physiological measures. However, by normalizing the results, it was possible to correlate the results across individuals. This indicated that the physiological data gathering and analysis methods were effective for evaluating levels of challenge and engagement. Although not perfect, these two kinds of measures offer a way of going beyond traditional usability testing in an experimental setting to get a deeper understanding of user experience goals.

14.4.2 Case Study 2: Gathering Ethnographic Data at the Royal Highland Show

Field observations, including in-the-wild and ethnographic studies, provide data about how users interact with technology in their natural environments. Such studies often provide insights not available in lab settings. However, it can be difficult to collect participants’ thoughts, feelings, and opinions as they move about in their everyday lives. Usually, it involves observations and asking them to reflect after an event, for example through interviews and diaries. In this case study, a novel evaluation approach—a live chatbot—was used to address this gap by collecting data about people’s experiences, impressions, and feelings as they visited and moved around the Royal Highland Show (RHS) (Tallyn et al., 2018). The RHS is a large agricultural show that runs every June in Scotland. The chatbot, known as Ethnobot, was designed as an app that runs on a smartphone. In particular, Ethnobot was programmed to ask participants pre-established questions as they wandered around the show and to prompt them to expand on their answers and take photos. It also directed them to particular parts of the show that the researchers thought would interest the participants. This strategy also allowed the researchers to collect data from all of the participants in the same place. Interviews were also conducted by human researchers to supplement the data collected online by the Ethnobot.

The overall purpose of the study was to find out about participants’ experiences of, and feelings about, the show and of using Ethnobot. The researchers also wanted to compare the data collected by the Ethnobot with the interview data collected by the human researchers.

The study consisted of four data collection sessions using the Ethnobot over two days and involved 13 participants, who ranged in age and came from diverse backgrounds. One session occurred in the early afternoon and the other in the late afternoon on each day of the study. Each session lasted several hours. To participate in the study, each participant was given a smartphone and shown how to use the Ethnobot app (Figure 14.4), which they could experience on their own or in groups as they wished.

Photo depicts the Ethnobot used at the Royal Highland Show in Scotland.

Figure 14.4 The Ethnobot used at the Royal Highland Show in Scotland. Notice that the Ethnobot directed participant Billy to a particular place (that is, Aberdeenshire Village). Next, Ethnobot asks “… What’s going on?” and the screen shows five of the experience buttons from which Billy needs to select a response

Source: Tallyn et al. (2018). Reproduced with permission of ACM Publications

Two main types of data were collected.

The participants’ online responses to a short list of pre-established questions that they answered by selecting from a list of prewritten comments (for example, “I enjoyed something” or “I learned something”) presented by the Ethnobot in the form of buttons called experience buttons, and the participants’ additional open-ended, online comments and photos that they offered in response to prompts for more information from Ethnobot. The participants could contribute this data at any time during the session.

The participants’ responses to researchers’ in-person interview questions. These questions focused on the participants’ experiences that were not recorded by the Ethnobot, and their reactions to using the Ethnobot.

A lot of data was collected that had to be analyzed. The pre-established comments collected in the Ethnobot chatlogs were analyzed quantitatively by counting the responses. The in-person interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed for analysis, and that involved coding them, which was done by two researchers who cross-checked each other’s analysis for consistency. The open-ended online comments were analyzed in a similar way to the in-person interview data.

Overall, the analyses revealed that participants spent an average of 120 minutes with the Ethnobot on each session and recorded an average of 71 responses, while submitting an average of 12 photos. In general, participants responded well to prompting by the Ethnobot and were eager to add more information. For example, P9 said, “ I really enjoyed going around and taking pictures and [ to the question] ‘have you got something to add’ [said] yeah! I have, I always say ‘yes’… .” A total of 435 pre-established responses were collected, including 70 that were about what the participants did or experienced (see Figure 14.5). The most frequent response was “I learned something” followed by “I tried something” and “I enjoyed something.” Some participants also supplied photos to illustrate their experiences.

Bar chart depicts the number of prewritten experience responses submitted by participants to the pre-established questions that Ethnobot asked them about their experience.

Figure 14.5 The number of prewritten experience responses submitted by participants to the pre-established questions that Ethnobot asked them about their experiences

Source: Tallyn et al. (2018). Reproduced with permission of ACM Publications

When the researchers asked the participants about their reactions to selecting prewritten comments, eight participants remarked that they were rather restrictive and that they would like more flexibility to answer the questions. For example, P12 said, “maybe there should have been more options, in terms of your reactions to the different parts of the show.” However, in general participants enjoyed their experience of the RHS and of using Ethnobot.

When the researchers compared the data collected by Ethnobot with that from the interviews collected by the human researchers, they found that the participants provided more detail about their experiences and feelings in response to the in-person interview questions than to those presented by Ethnobot. Based on the findings of this study, the researchers concluded that while there are some challenges to using a bot to collect in-the-wild evaluation data, there are also advantages, particularly when researchers cannot be present or when the study involves collecting data from participants on the move or in places that are hard for researchers to access. Collecting data with a bot and supplementing it with data collected by human researchers appears to offer a good solution in circumstances such as these.

 

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