Automated research tool
First Claim
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1. A method for gathering research data comprising:
- identifying a target website about which research data will be gathered;
characterizing the target website including determining a site profile, the site profile including information for characterizing the target website content and usage;
automatically selecting questions from a predefined list of questions directed to a research metric based on the site profile;
said selecting selects n questions;
partitioning the question set into a plurality of m subsets of questions where a subset m of questions includes ri questions and where
n=Σ
mi=1ri;
identifying k participants to query;
presenting one or more subsets of questions from the question set to at least one of the identified participants without presenting all of the n questions to all of the k participants and without presenting the same questions to each participant, the presenting step including gathering responses from each participant to their respective subset(s) of questions presented for the research metric coincident with a navigation of the target website by a given participant; and
combining the participants'"'"' responses to produce an index of the research metric;
the step of characterizing the target website further includes determining a task to be performed by a participant while navigating the target website;
the step of selecting one or more subsets of questions includes selecting questions relevant to the task; and
the step of presenting one or more subsets of questions from the question set to at least one of the identified participants includes presenting the one or more subsets of questions to a participant coincident with the navigation of the target website.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for automatically gathering research data for a website. The method includes forming questions in a question set that are a measure of a research metric to be gathered for the website, partitioning the question set into a plurality of subsets of questions, identifying participants to query, and only presenting a subset of questions from the question set to each participant. Responses are gathered from each participant to the questions presented for the research metric and the participants'"'"' responses are combined to produce an index of the research metric.
135 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method for gathering research data comprising:
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identifying a target website about which research data will be gathered;
characterizing the target website including determining a site profile, the site profile including information for characterizing the target website content and usage;
automatically selecting questions from a predefined list of questions directed to a research metric based on the site profile;
said selecting selects n questions;
partitioning the question set into a plurality of m subsets of questions where a subset m of questions includes ri questions and where
n=Σ
mi=1ri;
identifying k participants to query;
presenting one or more subsets of questions from the question set to at least one of the identified participants without presenting all of the n questions to all of the k participants and without presenting the same questions to each participant, the presenting step including gathering responses from each participant to their respective subset(s) of questions presented for the research metric coincident with a navigation of the target website by a given participant; and
combining the participants'"'"' responses to produce an index of the research metric;
the step of characterizing the target website further includes determining a task to be performed by a participant while navigating the target website;
the step of selecting one or more subsets of questions includes selecting questions relevant to the task; and
the step of presenting one or more subsets of questions from the question set to at least one of the identified participants includes presenting the one or more subsets of questions to a participant coincident with the navigation of the target website. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An apparatus for gathering research data comprising:
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a research module operable to identifying a target website about which research data will be gathered, characterizing the target website including determining a site profile, the site profile including information for characterizing the target website content and usage, automatically select questions from a predefined list of questions directed to a research metric based on the site profile including selecting n questions, and partitioning the question set into a plurality of m subsets of questions where a subset of m questions includes ri questions and where n=Σ
mi=1 ri;
identifying k participants to query;
a runtime engine operable to only present one or more;
subsets of questions from the question set to at least one of the identified participants without presenting all of the n questions to all of the k participants and without presenting the same questions to each participant, gather responses from each participant to their respective question subsets presented for the research metric coincident with a navigation of the target website by a given participant, and combine the participants'"'"' responses to produce an index of the research metric;
wherein the research module includes a setup engine operable to characterize the target website including determine a site profile and a task to be performed by a participant while navigating the target website; and
a build tool operable to automatically select questions from a predefined list of questions directed to the research metric based on the site profile including selecting questions relevant to the task and present the one or more subsets of questions to a participant coincident with the navigation of the target website while performing the predetermined task. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification