Papers by Dimitris Stavrinoudis
Stavrinoudis, Xenos, "Comparing internal and external software quality measurements", Abstract. M... more Stavrinoudis, Xenos, "Comparing internal and external software quality measurements", Abstract. Modern software development companies that have a quality assurance program use measurements and standards to improve product quality as perceived by the users of these products. However, during the entire software life cycle, except for the final customers, different types of 'users' also appear. This paper firstly shows the different views of software quality of these types of users. It also presents the internal and external measurement methods that we used in order to measure the users' opinion of software quality, the benefits and drawbacks of each method, as well as information concerning the techniques used to conduct internal and external measurements. Surveys and examples showing whether software metrics and external views of quality are correlated are also presented. The aim of this paper is to determine up to what point and in which cases can we rely on software metrics in order to define the users' perception of software quality.
Summary: This paper presents the relation between software metrics and maintainability and the me... more Summary: This paper presents the relation between software metrics and maintainability and the metrics which characterise the ease of the maintenance process when applied to a specific product. The criteria of maintainability and the methods through which these criteria are understood and interpreted by software programmers are analysed. Surveys and examples that show whether software metrics and maintainability are correlated
This paper investigates the technological issues that affect the behavior of the users of an e-Le... more This paper investigates the technological issues that affect the behavior of the users of an e-Learning system. In particular, it examines how user-based quality evaluation is influenced by the way the content of an e-Learning system is structured, as well as by aesthetic issues such as colors used. The paper presents a case study, in which a representative sample of
This paper presents a case study, in which a representative sample of users evaluated two differe... more This paper presents a case study, in which a representative sample of users evaluated two different implementations of an e-learning system, developed particularly for the purposes of this survey. The users' evaluation focuses on three specific factors which were the content structure, the navigation and the aesthetics of the system. The main aim of this paper is to determine the
Summary: Surveys measuring users' opinion of software quality serve not only as indications o... more Summary: Surveys measuring users' opinion of software quality serve not only as indications of users' satisfaction with a software product, but they also permit a more sophisticated degree of analysis required by organisations with higher levels of quality maturity. However, in surveys, some difficulties arise related to the quality of data, the high cost of conducting the survey and the
This paper presents CESM, a tool that could easily be integrated within any quality department... more This paper presents CESM, a tool that could easily be integrated within any quality department's toolkit. It also briefly discusses the external measurement philosophy, the techniques used for the perceived software quality assessment and the overall software measurement methodology. Although the paper presents in relative detail the CESM tool, emphasis has been placed on presenting how this tool has been
European Conference on Software Quality, 1999
Summary: This paper presents a method for modeling users' perception of software quality. The... more Summary: This paper presents a method for modeling users' perception of software quality. The method aims to improve the quality of data derived from user opinion surveys and facilitate the analysis of such data. Additionally, using aspects of Belief Revision theory, the proposed model offers a way to measure users' opinion in early stages of product release and a way
European Conference on Software Quality, 1996
Summary This paper presents a case study on the correlation of user-oriented and developer-orient... more Summary This paper presents a case study on the correlation of user-oriented and developer-oriented measurements. Developer-oriented measurements were performed on 46 different software projects. These projects were given to a number of users, in order to act as quality evaluators, according to our user- oriented measurements method. The results of this case study (measurements of 46 projects and evaluation responds
The goal of this chapter is to introduce the reader to online learning communities, to define and... more The goal of this chapter is to introduce the reader to online learning communities, to define and categorize online communities, as well as to present the process, functionality and rules of online learning communities. It also discusses the particular characteristics of the tools and methods that are currently used for supporting online learning communities. It presents a twofold classification of these methods and tools, and discusses the usage of these tools by online learning communities. Furthermore, it proposes tools and methods that could be used in the near future. Finally, this chapter aims at presenting methods and tools used for the evaluation of online learning communities, including classification of these methods and practical examples from their use.
IEEE International Symposium on Virtual Environments, Human-Computer Interfaces and Measurement Systems, 2003. VECIMS '03. 2003, 2003
e-Business and Telecommunication Networks, 2006
This paper presents a method used to evaluate the quality of e-commerce systems. The presented me... more This paper presents a method used to evaluate the quality of e-commerce systems. The presented method uses a Belief Network in order to model the factors and criteria affecting the quality of e-commerce systems. This model can be applied not only for assessing the quality of e-commerce systems, but also for ensuring quality design before development. It also offers numerical results for the overall quality of an e-commerce system, as well as for its intermediate factors and lower-lever criteria. This paper presents the experimental results and the data analysis that aided towards the calibration of the model, i.e. assessing an e-commerce system and its individual characteristics based on the numerical results derived from the model.
SUMMARY This paper presents the results derived from our survey on metrics used in object- orient... more SUMMARY This paper presents the results derived from our survey on metrics used in object- oriented environments. Our survey includes a small set of the most well known and commonly applied traditional software metrics which could be applied to object- oriented programming and a set of object-oriented metrics (i.e. those designed specifically for object-oriented programming). These metrics were evaluated using
Software Quality Journal, 2005
This paper presents a methodology for estimating users' opinion of the quality of a software prod... more This paper presents a methodology for estimating users' opinion of the quality of a software product. Users' opinion changes with time as they progressively become more acquainted with the software product. In this paper, we study the dynamics of users' opinion and offer a method for assessing users' final perception, based on measurements in the early stages of product release. The paper also presents methods for collecting users' opinion and from the derived data, shows how their initial belief state for the quality of the product is formed. It adapts aspects of Belief Revision theory in order to present a way of estimating users' opinion, subsequently formed after their opinion revisions, using the initial measurements and without having to conduct surveys frequently. It reports the correlation that users tend to infer among quality characteristics and represents this correlation through a determination of a set of constraints between the scores of each quality characteristic. Finally, this paper presents a fast and automated way of forming users' new belief state for the quality of a product after examining their opinion revisions.
Journal of Systems …, Jan 1, 2010
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology combining experimental and
inquir... more Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology combining experimental and
inquiry methods used for software usability evaluation. The software product of LeViS
project funded by the European Commission (Socrates/Lingua II) is used as an evaluation
paradigm. The aim of the paper is twofold: a) to present the results of the usability evaluation
using this software as an example and to suggest a number of improvements for the next
version of the software tool; and b) to portray the advantages of combining methods from
different evaluation approaches and the experiences from their application.
Design/methodology/approach - The evaluation for this experiment combined different
usability methods, both experimental and inquiry ones. More specifically the methods
employed were the Thinking Aloud Protocol and the User Logging, which were performed in
a usability evaluation laboratory, as well as the inquiry methods of Interview and Focus
Group.
Findings - In this study, usability problems regarding the LvS educational software were
revealed as well as issues regarding the use of Thinking Aloud Protocol method and involving
users with a specific profile. The research findings presented in this paper constitute an
innovative and effective methodology for software usability evaluation and are useful for
laboratories aiming to conduct similar evaluations.
Research limitations/implications - Although this methodology has been successfully
applied for over 20 software products, due to practical purposes related to this paper’s extent,
only one software is used as an example.
Originality/value - Through the evaluation process, apart from discovering certain usability
problems related to the software, there are a number of important conclusions drawn,
regarding the methods used and the methodology followed in software usability evaluation.
Keywords Software Quality, Usability Evaluation, Usability Evaluation Methods, Quality
Assessment Laboratory, Subtitling, Learning Activities
Paper type Research paper
IEEE Transactions on Education, 2000
This paper presents the main findings and lessons learned from introducing a synchronous peer col... more This paper presents the main findings and lessons learned from introducing a synchronous peer collaboration activity in a distance learning computer science course.
This paper presents a case study, in which a representative sample of users evaluated two differe... more This paper presents a case study, in which a representative sample of users evaluated two different implementations of an e-learning system, developed particularly for the purposes of this survey. The users' evaluation focuses on three specific factors which were the content structure, the navigation and the aesthetics of the system. The main aim of this paper is to determine the influence of these factors to e-learning systems' users behavior by gathering and analyzing the opinions of the users who participated in this case study.
This paper investigates the technological issues that affect the behavior of the users of an e-Le... more This paper investigates the technological issues that affect the behavior of the users of an e-Learning system. In particular, it examines how user-based quality evaluation is influenced by the way the content of an e-Learning system is structured, as well as by aesthetic issues such as colors used. The paper presents a case study, in which a representative sample of users evaluated two different implementations of an e-learning system, developed particularly for the purposes of this survey. The users' evaluation focuses on three specific factors: the content structure, the navigation and the aesthetics of the system. The main aim of this paper is to determine these factors' effect on e-learning systems users' behavior by gathering and analyzing the opinions of the users who participated in this case study.
Int. Conf. on E-Business and Telecommunication Networks, 2005
This paper provides an in-depth analysis of selected important topics related to the quality asse... more This paper provides an in-depth analysis of selected important topics related to the quality assessment of e- commerce systems. It briefly introduces to the reader a quality assessment model based on Bayesian Networks and presents in detail the practical application of this model, highlighting practical issues related to the involvement of human subjects, conflict resolution, and calibration of the measurement
IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 2004. Proceedings., 2004
This paper describes our experience with introduction of synchronous collaborative problem solvin... more This paper describes our experience with introduction of synchronous collaborative problem solving activities in the frame of a distance learning computer science undergraduate course of the Hellenic Open University (HOU). Groups of students worked collaboratively at a distance in order to build a flowchart of an algorithm to a given problem. The technological and organization issues involved, the first findings of analysis of peer students interaction during this study, as well as some general implications for distance education are discussed.
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Papers by Dimitris Stavrinoudis
inquiry methods used for software usability evaluation. The software product of LeViS
project funded by the European Commission (Socrates/Lingua II) is used as an evaluation
paradigm. The aim of the paper is twofold: a) to present the results of the usability evaluation
using this software as an example and to suggest a number of improvements for the next
version of the software tool; and b) to portray the advantages of combining methods from
different evaluation approaches and the experiences from their application.
Design/methodology/approach - The evaluation for this experiment combined different
usability methods, both experimental and inquiry ones. More specifically the methods
employed were the Thinking Aloud Protocol and the User Logging, which were performed in
a usability evaluation laboratory, as well as the inquiry methods of Interview and Focus
Group.
Findings - In this study, usability problems regarding the LvS educational software were
revealed as well as issues regarding the use of Thinking Aloud Protocol method and involving
users with a specific profile. The research findings presented in this paper constitute an
innovative and effective methodology for software usability evaluation and are useful for
laboratories aiming to conduct similar evaluations.
Research limitations/implications - Although this methodology has been successfully
applied for over 20 software products, due to practical purposes related to this paper’s extent,
only one software is used as an example.
Originality/value - Through the evaluation process, apart from discovering certain usability
problems related to the software, there are a number of important conclusions drawn,
regarding the methods used and the methodology followed in software usability evaluation.
Keywords Software Quality, Usability Evaluation, Usability Evaluation Methods, Quality
Assessment Laboratory, Subtitling, Learning Activities
Paper type Research paper
inquiry methods used for software usability evaluation. The software product of LeViS
project funded by the European Commission (Socrates/Lingua II) is used as an evaluation
paradigm. The aim of the paper is twofold: a) to present the results of the usability evaluation
using this software as an example and to suggest a number of improvements for the next
version of the software tool; and b) to portray the advantages of combining methods from
different evaluation approaches and the experiences from their application.
Design/methodology/approach - The evaluation for this experiment combined different
usability methods, both experimental and inquiry ones. More specifically the methods
employed were the Thinking Aloud Protocol and the User Logging, which were performed in
a usability evaluation laboratory, as well as the inquiry methods of Interview and Focus
Group.
Findings - In this study, usability problems regarding the LvS educational software were
revealed as well as issues regarding the use of Thinking Aloud Protocol method and involving
users with a specific profile. The research findings presented in this paper constitute an
innovative and effective methodology for software usability evaluation and are useful for
laboratories aiming to conduct similar evaluations.
Research limitations/implications - Although this methodology has been successfully
applied for over 20 software products, due to practical purposes related to this paper’s extent,
only one software is used as an example.
Originality/value - Through the evaluation process, apart from discovering certain usability
problems related to the software, there are a number of important conclusions drawn,
regarding the methods used and the methodology followed in software usability evaluation.
Keywords Software Quality, Usability Evaluation, Usability Evaluation Methods, Quality
Assessment Laboratory, Subtitling, Learning Activities
Paper type Research paper