Comment 418 for bug 532633

Big thanks to Mark for clarifying what he meant by "data".

Data gathering on the scale suggested (hundreds of desktops over several weeks) can be a pretty big undertaking if taken seriously.

My comments to Mark's questions:

Question 1: "Where does the average mouse rest? I.e., when it's not being used."

Data gathering methods:
1A: Ask people where the mouse usually rests within a 3X3 screen grid.
1B: Observe users doing everyday tasks, and make note of the mouse location.
1C: Create and install a piece of software that collects statistical data over a period of days or weeks.

Caveats:
What does "not being used" mean? Does it mean the mouse is in the hand but not actively doing anything productive, or does it also include situations where the user has let go of the mouse? My opinion is that 5 seconds with the mouse motionless but in hand is much more relevant than 5 minutes where the user has let go of the mouse while reading an article.
Are we only interested in the habits of existing Ubuntu users? Or are we also interested in Windows users? And Mac users? Should we collect data separately for each group to see if there are statistically relevant differences?

Question 2. "Are there accidental clicks on the close button in the new location?"

Data gathering methods:
2A: Ask people how often they have clicked on the close button when they did not mean to.
2B: Observe users doing everyday tasks, and make note of the mistakes they make.

Caveats:
The fact that a users click the wrong button (e.g. close instead of maximize) might not automatically be attributable to the placement. Maybe they would have made the mistake even with the right side button placement? What we really are interested in is are there more or less accidents now than before. So gathering the same type of data from a control group (with the regular button placement) might be useful to create a baseline to measure against.

Question 3. "Does it take longer to click it in the new location, once one is moving with intent in the right direction?"

Data gathering methods:
2A: Ask people if they feel the use of window buttons takes longer or shorter now than before.
2B: Ask people if the use of window buttons feels more natural and intuitive now than before.
2C: Observe users doing everyday tasks before the switch, measuring the time of critical operations. Then do the switch. Then make them do the same type of tasks, and measure the time of the same operations. Then compare to see if certain operations have become slower or quicker.
2D: Create and install a piece of software to measure mouse activity and gather statistical data from the seconds immediately preceding a button operation. (Did the mouse change course or did it go straight? How fast did it move? How far from the target button did the speed start to decelerate? How quickly after deceleration did the click occur?)

Caveats:
Data gathering should start before doing the switch, in order to collect control data. What we are interested in is the difference before/after, for each individual test subject.

If we want to gain scientific information about these things we need to be specific about what specifically we are measuring and why exactly that is relevant to our research. This is even more important if several groups of people gather data from around the world, and we want to be able to merge the data sets later.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operationalization

My 2 cents...