LERSSE (Laboratory for Education and Research in Secure Systems Engineering) is conducting a research project to evaluate the use of heuristic evaluation for usability evaluation of IT security management tools. This research requires volunteers with familiarity with heuristic evaluation to perform heuristic evaluation on an IT security management tool. You will need to participate either in person or remotely in a 4 hour session consists of the following stages:

• Background questionnaire: You will be asked to fill out a questionnaire that helps us assess your background on human computer interaction (HCI) and computer security.
• Training: You will be given instructions about performing heuristic evaluation and the background on the target system for evaluation.
• Evaluation: You will be given two hours to evaluate an IT security management tool. You should explore the tool and identify usability problems using provided heuristics.
• Post-evaluation feedback: You will need to fill out a post-evaluation questionnaire about your experience in the study and then participate in a focus group or an interview to discuss the use of heuristics. The session will be audio-recorded.

While we prefer and encourage in person participation, remote participation is welcome as well. The in person study sessions will be conducted in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept. of University of British Columbia. The study will be performed in a group setting and involves multiple participants. Refreshments will be provided during the session. You will need to use your own laptop for evaluation. Unlike the in person sessions, the remote sessions will be conducted individually. You can schedule a time with a member of the research team to participate remotely from your place of work or your home. But you still need to commit 4 continuous hours of your time to the study. For remote participants, a phone or Skype interview will be performed.

You will receive $50 as appreciation for your time and contribution.

The principal investigator of this research is Dr. Konstantin Beznosov and the co-investigators are Pooya Jaferian and Kirstie Hawkey. All co-investigators and principal investigator are from Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept. of University of British Columbia and you can contact them at [masked].

If you like to participate in this study, please contact me at [address removed] (or call [masked]). 

Yours sincerely,

Pooya Jaferian, Co-Investigator

Laboratory for Education and Research in Secure Systems Engineering

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

University of British Columbia

E-mail: [address removed]

Telephone: [masked]

http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~pooya/