2011 MGDS Search Interface Usability Study

1.

With the launch of new, custom search capability for the Ridge 2000, GeoPRISMS and MARGINS data portals, we request anonymous feedback on how you use the MGDS system and on its ease-of-use. What features do you require that we do not already provide? Is any functionality unnecessary? The following nine questions will take about 3 minutes to answer. Thank you very much!

Question Title

* 1. Who are you? Tick all that apply.

Scientist

Early-Career Scientist (including post-doc)

Educator: University-level

Educator: Community college

Educator: K-12

Student: Graduate

Student: Undergraduate

Student: K-12

Commercial user

Other (please specify:)

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* 2. What is your primary field of scientific expertise?

Geophysics / Geology

Geochemistry

Biology

Physical Oceanography

Ecology / Environmental Sciences

Atmospheric Science

Other (please specify:)

Question Title

* 3. What is your primary use of the data you find at MGDS?

Research

Education

Commercial

Government / Policy

General Interest

Other (please specify:)

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* 4. What types of data do you look for at MGDS? Tick all that apply.

Data sets specifically funded by Ridge2000-MARGINS-GeoPRISMS

Bathymetry

Sidescan

Sub-bottom (e.g. Knudsen, CHIRP)

Seismic active-source (MCS / SCS / OBS)

Earthquake

Gravity-Magnetics

Navigation

Geochemistry

Sample Information (Rock, Fluid, Biology)

CTD / ADCP

Photograph / Image / Video

Visualization

Other (please specify:)

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* 5. MGDS Search Interface: How useful is the ability to search on each of the following criteria?

	Very useful	Somewhat useful	Not at all useful	Rarely or never use
Name of field expedition or data compilation	Name of field expedition or data compilation Very useful	Name of field expedition or data compilation Somewhat useful	Name of field expedition or data compilation Not at all useful	Name of field expedition or data compilation Rarely or never use
Data Type	Data Type Very useful	Data Type Somewhat useful	Data Type Not at all useful	Data Type Rarely or never use
Device Type	Device Type Very useful	Device Type Somewhat useful	Device Type Not at all useful	Device Type Rarely or never use
Investigator Name	Investigator Name Very useful	Investigator Name Somewhat useful	Investigator Name Not at all useful	Investigator Name Rarely or never use
Reference/Citation	Reference/Citation Very useful	Reference/Citation Somewhat useful	Reference/Citation Not at all useful	Reference/Citation Rarely or never use
Geographical Location	Geographical Location Very useful	Geographical Location Somewhat useful	Geographical Location Not at all useful	Geographical Location Rarely or never use
Platform Type (e.g. Ship, HOV)	Platform Type (e.g. Ship, HOV) Very useful	Platform Type (e.g. Ship, HOV) Somewhat useful	Platform Type (e.g. Ship, HOV) Not at all useful	Platform Type (e.g. Ship, HOV) Rarely or never use
Platform name (e.g. Melville, Alvin)	Platform name (e.g. Melville, Alvin) Very useful	Platform name (e.g. Melville, Alvin) Somewhat useful	Platform name (e.g. Melville, Alvin) Not at all useful	Platform name (e.g. Melville, Alvin) Rarely or never use
Ability to search for only program-funded or program-related data	Ability to search for only program-funded or program-related data Very useful	Ability to search for only program-funded or program-related data Somewhat useful	Ability to search for only program-funded or program-related data Not at all useful	Ability to search for only program-funded or program-related data Rarely or never use
Ability to search for ALL data registered in MGDS	Ability to search for ALL data registered in MGDS Very useful	Ability to search for ALL data registered in MGDS Somewhat useful	Ability to search for ALL data registered in MGDS Not at all useful	Ability to search for ALL data registered in MGDS Rarely or never use

Question Title

* 6. MGDS Search Interface: Which of the following additional search criteria would you also be likely to use? (Tick all that apply.)

Data file format (e.g. NetCDF, EDF, SEG-Y)

Funding award number (e.g. OCE00-01827)

Funding agency (e.g. NSF, DOE, NERC)

Date range of data or field program

Investigator's home institution

Other (please specify:)

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* 7. Search Results page: Which of these features do you find useful? (Tick all that apply.)

MapView display of labelled track lines and geographic bounds

Information about expeditions and data for which data sets are not yet publicly available

Ability to download search results as a table

Other (please specify:)

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* 8. Search results page: When you display the results by expedition, is the summary information sufficient? If not, how can we improve its content or appearance?

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* 9. Are the search interface, search help, and search results pages sufficiently intuitive? If not, what improvements should we make? What new search capability should we offer?

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* 10. Optional: If you would like us to contact you about your comments above, please enter your name and e-mail address:

Name

E-mail