Fitts' Law - Revision history

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[[AP Psychology]] Review of Scholarly Article
[[Category:AP Psychology]]
'''Fitts’ Law: Improving Human Movement'''
I chose Paul Fitts’ <u>Information Capacity of Human Motor Systems in Controlling the Amplitude of Movement</u> because I discovered Fitts’ law in Jensen Harris blog post about the new user interface for Microsoft Office 2007 (cite). Jensen was explaining how Microsoft was using Fitts’ law to make Microsoft Office 2007 easier to use. Fitts’ law basically states that the speed of movement is a function of the size of the destination and the distance from the current position. Later research has proved that Fitts’ law applies to computers, especially when using a mouse to click on a button. Jensen explained in the blog post that the (pop up toolbar) was created to sharply decrease the distance from the cursor to commonly used formatting commands, especially with large monitors.
However Paul Fitts did his work long before computer mice were created in 1954 on a contract with the Air Force. The article was originally printed in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, 47, 381-391. His research was conducted in 3 experiments. The first one instructed a collage-aged subject using a stylus to touch an area on one side of the table and then the other as fast as the subject could. The experiment varied the size of the “goal” area and the distance between the two. Another experiment asked the subject to move rings from one peg to another. The experiment varied the difference between the size of the peg and the hole in the disk as well as the distance between pegs. A final experiment asked subjects to move pegs from one rack to another. The experiment varied the tolerance between the size of the hole and the size of the peg as well as the distance between the racks of pegs.

Fitts found that “the rate of performance for all tasks studied increased uniformly as movement amplitude was decreased and as tolerance limits were extended” ([Reprint] 266). Fitts also found that movements become difficult when there was a low tolerance and was inefficient with a large tolerance and small amplitude. I would agree with his results and I believe that they make common sense.

As mentioned earlier, the results also match the user experience on a computer using a mouse of touch screen. (research mentioned in Jensen and game)
Fitts’ report was only the beginning of research. Many researchers have worked on and extended his ideas (cite). Thus the original report written by Fitts does not provide a comprehensive introduction to Fitts’ law which has had much work done to it.
However Fitts’ research must have been convincing, since many people have worked on and built upon it.

Fitts’ goal was to investigate human motor skills under an Air Force contract. He was looking for a unified theory of motor capacity related to information gathered. I felt that he did clearly explain how information was related to movement. He invented an index of difficulty and formula to create it. I however, do not see what the index of difficulty is trying to show; it also does not seem to relate to information. I think that the information component should have been better explained or left out completely and the report should have focused on the time component.
I do not think that Fitts was biased or even could have been. Who has anything to gain by slanting research about human motor skills?

After reading Fitts’ report I am wondering about how the information component affects results or even how that could be tested. I am also wondering what his index of difficulty explains.
Fitts states that his research was unique because it attempted to find a unifying theory reconciling the amplitude, duration, and variability of movements (262). He did this by proposing a formula which takes into account all of these factors.

This is a scholarly report because it is terse and does not clearly summarize the importance of this new research.

Fitts cited 25 sources in his paper. The majority of the sources were other scholarly papers printed in similar journals.

Fitts’ report broke new ground in 1954 by creating a unified thory reconciling the amplitude, duration, and variability of movements of the human motor system. His research was later built upon and confirmed by many substituent researchers. His law has been proven to be very important in the computer industry since it also applies to moving a mouse along the screen. Fitts’ law was used in creating Microsoft Office 2007 to make buttons easier to hit.

==Works Cited==
*Office blog post
*Fitts
*Amt of work built upon it

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 '''Fitts’ Law: Improving Human Movement'''
-I chose Paul Fitts’ <u>Information Capacity of Human Motor Systems in Controlling the Amplitude of Movement</u> because I discovered Fitts’ law in Jensen Harris blog post about the new user interface for Microsoft Office 2007 (cite).  Jensen was explaining how Microsoft was using Fitts’ law to make Microsoft Office 2007 easier to use.  Fitts’ law basically states that the speed of movement is a function of the size of the destination and the distance from the current position.  Later research has proved that Fitts’ law applies to computers, especially when using a mouse to click on a button.  Jensen explained in the blog post that the (pop up toolbar) was created to sharply decrease the distance from the cursor to commonly used formatting commands, especially with large monitors.
+Michael Plasmeier
-However Paul Fitts did his work long before computer mice were created in 1954 on a contract with the Air Force.  The article was originally printed in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, 47, 381-391.  His research was conducted in 3 experiments.  The first one instructed a collage-aged subject using a stylus to touch an area on one side of the table and then the other as fast as the subject could.  The experiment varied the size of the “goal” area and the distance between the two.  Another experiment asked the subject to move rings from one peg to another.  The experiment varied the difference between the size of the peg and the hole in the disk as well as the distance between pegs.  A final experiment asked subjects to move pegs from one rack to another.  The experiment varied the tolerance between the size of the hole and the size of the peg as well as the distance between the racks of pegs.
+Siegerman
-Fitts found that “the rate of performance for all tasks studied increased uniformly as movement amplitude was decreased and as tolerance limits were extended” ([Reprint] 266).  Fitts also found that movements become difficult when there was a low tolerance and was inefficient with a large tolerance and small amplitude.  I would agree with his results and I believe that they make common sense.
+AP Psychology
-As mentioned earlier, the results also match the user experience on a computer using a mouse of touch screen.  (research mentioned in Jensen and game)
+Mar 2008
-Fitts’ report was only the beginning of research.  Many researchers have worked on and extended his ideas (cite). Thus the original report written by Fitts does not provide a comprehensive introduction to Fitts’ law which has had much work done to it.
-However Fitts’ research must have been convincing, since many people have worked on and built upon it.
-Fitts’ goal was to investigate human motor skills under an Air Force contract.  He was looking for a unified theory of motor capacity related to information gathered.  I felt that he did clearly explain how information was related to movement.  He invented an index of difficulty and formula to create it.  I however, do not see what the index of difficulty is trying to show; it also does not seem to relate to information.  I think that the information component should have been better explained or left out completely and the report should have focused on the time component.
+Fitts<nowiki>’</nowiki> Law: Improving Human Movement
-I do not think that Fitts was biased or even could have been.  Who has anything to gain by slanting research about human motor skills?
-After reading Fitts’ report I am wondering about how the information component affects results or even how that could be tested.  I am also wondering what his index of difficulty explains.
+I chose Paul Fitts<nowiki>’</nowiki> <u>Information Capacity of Human Motor Systems in Controlling the Amplitude of Movement</u> because I discovered Fitts<nowiki>’</nowiki> Law in Jensen Harris blog post about the new user interface for Microsoft Office 2007.  Jensen was explaining how Microsoft was using Fitts<nowiki>’</nowiki> Law to make Microsoft Office 2007 easier to use.  Fitts<nowiki>’</nowiki> Law basically states that the speed of movement is a function of the size of the destination and the distance from the current position.  Later research has proved that Fitts<nowiki>’</nowiki> Law applies to computers, especially when using a mouse to click on a button.  Jensen explained in the blog post that the "Mini Toolbar" was created to sharply decrease the distance from the cursor to commonly used formatting commands, especially with large monitors.
-Fitts states that his research was unique because it attempted to find a unifying theory reconciling the amplitude, duration, and variability of movements (262).  He did this by proposing a formula which takes into account all of these factors.
-This is a scholarly report because it is terse and does not clearly summarize the importance of this new research.
+However Paul Fitts did his work long before computer mice were created in 1954, on a contract with the Air Force.  The article was originally printed in the ''Journal of Experimental Psychology, 47, 381-391''.  His research was conducted in 3 experiments.  The first one instructed a collage-aged subject using a stylus to touch an area on one side of the table and then the other as fast as the subject could.  The experiment varied the size of the "goal" area and the distance between the two.  Another experiment asked the subject to move rings from one peg to another.  The experiment varied the difference between the size of the peg and the hole in the disk as well as the distance between pegs.  A final experiment asked subjects to move pegs from one rack to another.  The experiment varied the tolerance between the size of the hole and the size of the peg as well as the distance between the racks of pegs.
-Fitts cited 25 sources in his paper.  The majority of the sources were other scholarly papers printed in similar journals.
+Fitts found that "the rate of performance for all tasks studied increased uniformly as movement amplitude was decreased and as tolerance limits were extended" (<nowiki>[</nowiki>Reprint<nowiki>]</nowiki> 266).  Fitts also found that movements become difficult when there was a low tolerance and that movement was inefficient with a large tolerance and small amplitude.  I would agree with his results and I believe that they make common sense.
-Fitts’ report broke new ground in 1954 by creating a unified thory reconciling the amplitude, duration, and variability of movements of the human motor system.  His research was later built upon and confirmed by many substituent researchers.  His law has been proven to be very important in the computer industry since it also applies to moving a mouse along the screen.  Fitts’ law was used in creating Microsoft Office 2007 to make buttons easier to hit.
+As mentioned earlier, the results also match the user experience on a computer using a mouse of touch screen (Jensen).
-==Works Cited==
+Fitts<nowiki>’</nowiki> report was only the beginning of research.  Many researchers have worked on and extended his ideas (Jensen). Thus the original report written by Fitts does not provide a comprehensive introduction to Fitts<nowiki>’</nowiki> Law which has been subsequently far more extensively researched.  However Fitts<nowiki>’</nowiki> research must have been convincing, since many people have worked on and built upon it.
-*Office blog post
-*Fitts
-*Amt of work built upon it
-[[AP Psychology]] Review of Scholarly Article
+Fitts<nowiki>’</nowiki> goal was to investigate human motor skills under an Air Force contract.  He was looking for a unified theory of motor capacity related to information gathered.  I felt that he did not clearly explain how information was related to movement.  He invented an index of difficulty and formula to create it.  I however, do not see what the index of difficulty is trying to show.  Also how does "information" relate to movement?  I think that the information component should have been better explained or left out completely and the report should have focused on the time component.
-'''One-to-One Contact’s Effects on Enhancing Self-Efficacy in Becoming a Union Steward'''
+I do not think that Fitts was biased or even could have been.  Who has anything to gain by slanting research about human motor skills?
-<u>In The Potency of One-to-One Contact With Union leaders: Enhancing Self-Efficacy to Become a Union Steward</u>, Steven Mellor and others try to identify the importance of 4 enhancers to self-efficacy (self-confidence).  Mellor and others built upon the work of P.A. Roby’s 1995 report which first identified the importance of one-to-one contact with a union steward to become union stewards themselves.
+After reading Fitts<nowiki>’</nowiki> report I am wondering about how the information component affects results or even how that could be tested.  I am also wondering what his index of difficulty explains.
-When I first saw the title I thought that this article was not going to be very ground breaking.  After reading the article my suspicions were confirmed.  Much of it is common sense, but I suppose there is not much research remaining the field of labor organization.  It seems common sense that increasing a potential steward’s self confidence would help them do a better job.  At the end the paper advocates training for stewards to increase self confidence.  I thought the self confidence training is already a key component of almost every self-help and leadership training programs.  For example, the GO program for 9th graders at Haverford High School attempts to increase self confidence.
+Fitts states that his research was unique because it attempted to find a unifying theory reconciling the amplitude, duration, and variability of movements (262).  He did this by proposing a formula which takes into account all of these factors.
-I suppose that the writers’ goal in producing this paper was “publish or perish.”  Many universities pressure their professors to conduct research and publish papers.  It seems to me that all of the substantive research in this field has already been completed.  However, I think that the author did achieve their goal of confirming the obvious.  However, the sample size of 44 mail in surveys was inexcusably small especially when broken down into subgroups.  Since the survey was mail in – it should have been very easy to distribute more surveys.
+This is a scholarly report because it is terse and does not clearly summarize the importance of this new research.  Also it is published in a scholarly journal and lays out the experiments in detail.
-The authors did convincingly and comprehensively confirm their hypothesizes however their survey size was way too small.  They did not neglect anything besides a large sample.
+Fitts cited 25 sources in his paper.  The majority of the sources were other scholarly papers printed in similar journals.
-I do not believe that this article was biased in its writing.  However their sample was 70% women, while union officials reported that 48% of stewards were women.  This is slanted especially when coupled with the small survey size.
-I enjoyed how the authors broke down the 4 “modes” which enhance self confidence.  I also found it interesting that women and people of color were more likely to receive a personal invitation to become a steward than white men (417). Women and people of color were historically unrepresented and underrepresented in leadership positions.  However is should be noted that 70% of respondents to the survey were women.  This raised the question in my mind about why this is the case.
+Fitts<nowiki>’</nowiki> report broke new ground in 1954 by creating a unified theory reconciling the amplitude, duration, and variability of movements of the human motor system.  His research was later built upon and confirmed by many substituent researchers.  His law has been proven to be very important in the computer industry since it also applies to moving a mouse along the screen.  Fitts<nowiki>’</nowiki> Law was used in creating Microsoft Office 2007 to make buttons easier to hit.
-Unique aspects of this research include the above findings about the importance of race and gender in affecting what it takes to become a union steward.  However, the findings are marred by the small sample size.
+==Works Cited==
-This is a scholarly article because it was published in a scholarly journal.  It also makes use of statistical techniques to make sure the findings are not simply due to chance.  A popular article would not mention these necessary steps.
+*Harris, Jensen. "Giving You Fitts." <u>Jensen Harris: An Office User Interface Blog</u>. 22 Aug 2006. Microsoft. 25 Mar 2008 <nowiki><</nowiki>http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/2006/08/22/711808.aspx<nowiki>></nowiki>.
+*Fitts, Paul M. "Information Capacity of Human Motor Systems in Controlling the Amplitude of Movement." <u>Journal of Experimental Psychology</u>. 47 (1954) 381-391.
-The article mentions 24 sources, the majority being from reputable journals.  These sources are believed to be primary sources since journals usually publish unique material.
-−
-In summation the article was primarily common sense, however there were sections of unique material.  However these sections were hampered by the small sample size.
-==Works Cited==
 ==AP Psychology Scholarly Paper Series==