User Research/Observation
General links
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cs147 co-discovery sample - http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs147/2003/hw/hw2.html
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http://www.talkingquality.gov/docs/section5/5_3.htm#How%20a%20Focus%20Group%20Works
Focus Group links
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Nielsen's article on focus groups - http://www.useit.com/papers/focusgroups.html
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http://www.talkingquality.gov/docs/section5/5_3.htm#How%20a%20Focus%20Group%20Works
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do-it-yourself focus groups - http://www2.inc.com/search/18003.html
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http://www.amstat.org/sections/srms/brochures/focusgroups.pdf
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Qualitative research - http://www.mnav.com/qualitative_research.htm
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Getting beneath the surface - http://www.mnav.com/bensurf.htm
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Comparison of focus group types - http://www.mnav.com/onlinetablesort.htm
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Manual for use of Focus Groups - http://www.unu.edu/unupress/food2/UIN03E/uin03e00.htm
Tracking Users' Online Habits
I contacted Dave Danielson (davidd @ stanford dot edu) and discussed with him the issue of tracking user path tracking. He said he wasn't sure of any packages offhand because of the issue that if users click the back button in the browser, the site is simply retrieved from cache, and so full tracking can't be achieved. He did mention that one tool he's heard of is Click Track (http://www.optinpro.com/clicktrack.asp I think), however that doesn't seem like exactly what we want. I did a little research, and it seems like a few websites talk about how to prevent caching. They seem to agree on the method, so it looks promising. Take a look:
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http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/ts/documents/prevent_caching.htm
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http://www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=prevent+caching&spell=1
User Tracking continued: Review of Log Analysis & Traffic Management Tools
Summary: Serious web-based, real-time traffic management tools are generally either expensive or very limited. Luckily, good, free log analysis tools seem to be readily available for download, and AWStats or Analog/Report Magic seem to be the best bet in this category based on my initial investigation.
Google’s directory has a pretty comprehensive list of sites in each category, and mostly I spent my time checking out the products listed one at a time:
Google directory – log analysis: http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Internet/Site_Management/Log_Analysis/
Google directory - traffic measurement: http://directory.google.com/Top/Business/Marketing_and_Advertising/Internet_Marketing/Traffic_Measurement/
Some log analysis sites:
Analog: WWW logfile analysis -- If we already have logfiles, seems like this would give a nice output -- http://www.analog.cx/
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They recommend combining output with Report Magic (http://www.reportmagic.org/) for even nicer reports. See a sample report here: http://www.reportmagic.org/sample/index.html
AWStats – very cool-looking, comprehensive logfile analyzer -- http://awstats.sourceforge.net/
WebLog – not quite as fancy, but has some features that let you see very comprehensive info -- http://awsd.com/scripts/weblog/
Dailystats 2.0 – another product that seems to have some good log analysis features -- http://www.perlfect.com/freescripts/dailystats/
WWWStat – bare bones, text-based logfile analysis, doesn’t seem to have been updated since ‘96 -- http://ftp.ics.uci.edu/pub/websoft/wwwstat/
Some traffic measurement sites:
SmartTracking – free up to 5000 monthly page views -- http://www.s-tracking.com/
OneStat – basic & lite versions are free, colorful, but limited in information -- http://www.onestat.com/
DeepMetrix – example of very fancy, pay-only tool that caters to big companies -- http://www.deepmetrix.com/
Opt-in Pro: http://www.optinpro.com/ & their ClickTrack: http://www.optinpro.com/clicktrack.asp - perform certain actions based on who clicked a given link
MindViz tracker – free, has “visitor paths” features, though not really aggregated -- http://www.mvtracker.com/index.php
Mtracking – more commercially oriented -- http://www.mtracking.com/
