Abstract
The modular construction of many new communications systems offers the possibility for customers to troubleshoot and maintain their own systems. The purpose of this research was to develop and evaluate a set of procedures and instructions for customer maintenance of a telephone system for small businesses. Customer maintenance requires that the customer identify the particular component that is causing a problem, and then replace the faulty component.
A set of general principles was formulated to guide the design of troubleshooting procedures that could be used by customers with no expertise in telephony or troubleshooting. Logical troubleshooting procedures were then developed and were described in a step-by-step Trouble Isolation Manual.
A simulated telephone system, the “Troublemaker”, was used to evaluate the procedures and instructions. With the Troublemaker, the experimenter could specify one of several symptoms (e.g., can't break dial tone) and the particular component (e.g., control unit) which was “causing” the symptom. As components were switched or bypassed during troubleshooting, the symptom tracked the “faulty” component.
Ten subjects in each of two groups—one a “technical” group and the other a “nontechnical” group—participated in the study. Each participant was given five problems that required locating the cause of a trouble while using the Manual. During the troubleshooting problems, the participant was observed and was requested to “think out loud.” Non-directive questions were asked, when appropriate, to gain information on sources of confusion or difficulty in the procedures or instructions.
Several measures of performance were collected and analyzed: (1) success in locating the cause of a trouble (scored using a strict and a liberal criterion); (2) proportion of steps completed correctly; (3) time required to locate the trouble; (4) subject ratings of the instructions and procedures, and (5) type of errors.
These results, their use in revising the Trouble Isolation Manual, and their implications for customer troubleshooting will be discussed.
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