Participants Needed for Study of Automation Scraping Tool

We are embarking on a user study to evaluate the usability of a web automation scraping tool. With this tool, users no longer need to write a scraping script. Instead, users only need to demonstrate which content to scrape from a webpage, and the PBD tool will automatically synthesize a script for users. Our study will inform the design of the next generation of tools for web scraping. Are you interested in participating? The study will take about 60 min and you will receive a $25 amazon gift card as the compensation for your time.

This study has been approved by Purdue IRB. The official study title is “Evaluating the Usability of Web Automation Tools”, and the IRB protocol number is IRB-2022-978.

--A bit more about this study--

The user study will take place in person. You will be asked to complete two web scraping tasks, one using this tool and the other using another similar tool. The web automation tool is deployed as a public web application so you don’t have to install anything.

--Eligibility--

You need to be fluent in English and over 18 years of age. We will ask a few questions about your programming experience, in order for us to invite a balanced pool of participants into our study. If you are selected, we will reach out to schedule a study.

--PI information--

Tianyi Zhang, tianyi@purdue.edu, 7654947823, Lawson 3154H, 305 N University St, West Lafayette, IN 47907.

If you are interested, please fill out the linked pre-study survey

https://purdue.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1SUVx6JEvKxfPAq

We are happy to answer questions over email.

Best,

Weihao Chen

Ph.D student of Computer Science,

Purdue University