Today@Dal

We invite you to take part in a study being conducted by researchers at Dalhousie University to learn how to develop a more engaging and informative online mortgage calculator. We are looking for input and feedback on initial prototypes that incorporate greater interactivity and use of visualizations, intended to both simplify the calculator's use and provide greater flexibility over existing options. Anyone with recent experience obtaining or shopping for a mortgage in Canada is welcome to participate. (This is the second round of this phase of the study; if you participated in the first round and indicated that you would like to return for later rounds, we will be contacting you shortly.)

During a one-hour session, you will be asked to meet with researchers to take part in an exploratory activity where you will use a prototype mortgage calculator to perform some common tasks, and then discuss your thoughts on the experience. The findings from this study will be used to develop guidelines for creating engaging and usable visualizations intended for casual users in financial and other domains, and may drive improvements in the designs of commercial mortgage calculator web sites. This work is being funded by NSERC (the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada), in conjunction with our private-sector partner, HomeZilla.

The next sessions will take place during the week of March 18-24. Study sessions will be conducted in a quiet meeting room either on the Dalhousie University campus or in downtown Halifax, whichever is more convenient for you. The entire session is expected to take about 60 minutes, and you will be compensated with $20 for your participation. If you are interested in participating, please contact Michael Hackett by email at michael.hackett@dal.ca.