Abstract
Current problem-solving theory suggests that users will have particular difficulty solving problems using photocopier functions when their current beliefs indicate that the functions are not available. Identifying users' beliefs about what is or is not possible on a photocopier provides a database upon which researchers can draw. College students, college faculty, and clerical staff completed two questionnaires in which they rated, on a 10-point scale, the likelihood that 84 copier functions were possible on an existing photocopier and their perception of the usefulness of these 84 functions. Experienced users were more accurate in their perceptions of what was possible than were faculty or students. The latter could conceptualize a broader range of utility, while clerical employees' decisions about usefulness seemed bounded by their day-to-day job experience. Existing functions that users believed were not possible also were identified. Carrying out tasks involving these functions should be especially problematic for users. Also identified were functions users believed might be useful but which do not currently exist. These functions might provide new directions for design engineers to pursue. Finally, there were differences between executive and clerical users in what functions they viewed as useful. These differences may have implications for photocopier design and marketing strategy.
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