openXdata Mobile Charts: Instant graphic reports on mobile devices. Prototype software development and system usability survey

Abstract

Researchers working in international health may require the use of charts to quickly visualize data and see trends. These may be required at frequent intervals. The openXdata Mobile Charts prototype was developed as software that can automatically create charts by reading a database and making the charts available for viewing through a password-protected web application tailored for mid-range mobile phones. A system usability survey was conducted to determine how user-friendly the software is. Participants rated ten items relating to user-friendliness using options from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree." An eleventh item with adjective rating options for overall user-friendliness was added to determine how closely it matched with the score of the ten preceding items. The mean score for the ten-item system usability survey was 88.1 out of 100 while the mean score for the adjective rating was 85.0. A strong positive correlation (r = 0.914) was found between survey scores and adjective ratings. The prototype of openXdata Mobile Charts was given high ratings indicating that a production version of the software may be beneficial in fulfilling some visual reporting tasks.