Abstract: Five different human-computer interaction techniques were studied to determine the relative advantages of entry-based and selection-based methods. Gould, Boies, Meluson, Rasamny, and Vosburgh (1988), found that entry techniques aided by either automatic or requested string completion, were superior to various selection-based techniques. This study examines unaided as well as aided entry techniques, and compares them to selection-based methods. Variations in spelling difficulty and database size were studied for their effect on user performance and preferences. The main results were that automatic string completion was the fastest method and selection techniques were better than unaided entry techniques, especially for hard-to-spell words. This was particularly true for computer-inexperienced participants. The database size had its main influence on performance with the selection techniques. In the selection and aided-entry methods there was a strong correlation between the observed keystroke times and the minimum number of keystrokes required by a task.

Keywords: Data entry; Empirical studies; Keyboard input; Menu, selection

Originally published: Proceedings of the Human Factors Society 32nd Annual Meeting, 1988, pp. 284-287

Republished: G. Perlman, G. K. Green, & M. S. Wogalter (Eds.) Human Factors Perspectives on Human-Computer Interaction: Selections from Proceedings of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meetings, 1983-1994, Santa Monica, CA: HFES, 1995, pp. 143-146.