An Experimental Comparison Between a Light Pen and a Joystick when Used for Free-Hand Drawing

Abstract

This paper reports the results of an experimental study, made by Henrik Andersen and the author at the Department of Computer Science of Aarhus University as a part of their Masters' Thesis work.

A comparison is made between a light pen and a joystick, when used for free-hand drawing on a CRT-screen. The joystick proved superior for drawing horizontal and vertical lines, but hardly for anything else. The light pen proved to be an all-round instrument for free-hand drawing.

The subjects of the experiment were 52 undergraduate students at the Department, each of whom carried out two sessions of drawing a predefined set of images on the screen. After each session the students filled in a questionnaire on their own evaluation of the resulting images.

The paper contains a discussion of some of the methodological problems which arise in the planning and execution of investigations into man- computer interaction.