Authors
Brian Bishop & Kevin McDaid
Abstract
To aid the development of spreadsheet debugging tools, a knowledge of end-users natural behaviour within the Excel environment would be advantageous.
This paper details the design and application of a novel data acquisition tool, which can be used for the unobtrusive recording of end-users mouse, keyboard and Excel specific actions during the debugging of Excel spreadsheets.
A debugging experiment was conducted using this data acquisition tool, and based on analysis of end-users performance and behaviour data, the authors developed a 'spreadsheet cell coverage feedback' debugging tool.
Results from the debugging experiment are presented in terms of end-user debugging performance and behaviour, and the outcomes of an evaluation experiment with the debugging tool are detailed.
Sample
This tabe shows the overall debugging performance categorised by error type for the two groups:
- Group-A. Not using the debugging tool.
- Group-B. Using the debugging tool.
The test group participants who used the cell coverage tool corrected slightly more errors overall, 62%, than the control group, Group-A, correcting 59% of the errors.
Publication
2008, EuSpRIG
