Spreadsheets And Metrics

Problem

As a problem, formula complexity is user centred (in the cognitive domain). Metrics should be great way to identify the areas of complexity in a spreadsheet. However, finding the right metrics can be difficult. The best way to find good mappings between metrics and complexity would be through trailing them via usability testing.

Concept

Introduce a corpus analysis step between the concept metrics and usability testing to save time.

Approach

I've already got the spreadsheet and corpus toolkit. I just need to apply it...

Desirable metric properties

This is the difficult bit. Ideally the metric should be a (reasonably) accurate representation of the attribute your trying to measure.

There should be a linear mapping between the metric and the attribute. Both increase and decrease respectively.

Usability Testing

I need to demonstrate that people can relate to the metrics.