Efficacy of Workshop Design and Impact on Future Workshops 125 

In addition to answering the research questions, the conduction of these workshops and the feedback gathered helps identify ways in which future testing can be improved. This is done by examining how useful the responses gathered were in answering the questions, identifying any areas of interest that were not satisfactorily investigated, and determining what changes to the script would improve these.

Likert Scale Questions

Most of the questions that asked participants to respond using a five-point Likert scale did not end up being useful in the analysis of the results beyond identifying if there was a unanimous opinion. The small sample size makes it impossible to derive any statistically significant results from the data, as the opinions of a few users can drastically alter the results. However, if testing was completed using a much larger audience, these questions

would be useful in pinpointing areas of significance. This is especially useful when the sheer number of responses would make it difficult to identify common themes in feedback from the open-ended questions.

The last section of the questionnaire consisted of a series of Likert scale questions about usefulness of various tools at different spatial scales. It did not include an open-ended question where participants could discuss their responses. As discussed earlier in this chapter, some of the responses closely matched the expected outcome as certain tools were designed to be used at certain scales. Adding an opportunity for participants to explain their responses may shed light on alternative reasons for these responses.

Participants Forming Groups

As described in the first section in this chapter, some of the participants of the first workshop formed into groups. One possible contributing factor to this was the shortage of computers that would have required at least two participants to work together. Another possible factor is that it was never explicitly stated in the workshop script that participants must work individually. Groups were formed among those with existing work relationships, which for one group affected how they completed the exercise. It was observed that one member took a leadership role, while the other two executed the tasks and provided supplementary input into all discussion and decision making. For the group that submitted multiple questionnaires, it is possible that completing the workshop together introduced bias as the group actively discussed most aspects of the workshop. The formation of groups was avoided in subsequent workshops by ensuring enough computers were available and individually setting up each participant at a computer. In future workshops that take advantage of online testing, it is possible that multiple individuals will work together to complete a questionnaire. The impact this would have on results is uncertain

Additional Research Questions

As discussed earlier in this chapter, it became evident that too little explanation was provided for how the solar resource data and estimated values were calculated. In addition to the recommendations of adding suitable information about the processes, investigating if the participants understand these data and its assumptions and uncertainties is important. Additional questions would focus on determining if the supplementary information was useful and if the participants understood what the data was displaying and the significance of the assumptions being made.

Inquiring about the perceived usefulness of potential tools such as a ranking system for rooftop solar feasibility, added data layers, or other suggested features would help identify if there is a general interest in them. However, the challenge is avoiding scope creep by assuring that added features do not detract from the usability of the application. It is important to keep focus on a small number of key functions and expand functionality to support these, rather than building an application that slowly resembles a broad, open-ended SDSS.

Benefit of Future Research

The next logical step in the refinement process of SunSpot is to make the changes proposed in this chapter and then to expand the workshops online, targeting a broader audience including more industry professionals. The absence of any critical errors in the completed workshops suggests that SunSpot is ready to be tested by a much larger audience without the need of in-person assistance. It was important to ensure this was true using in-person workshops as any critical errors, oversights in workshop design, or misunderstandings in data presentation and results could generate a considerable amount of non-useful feedback. It is possible that significant errors can limit completion or distract participants from testing all components of the application. Inclusion of industry professionals would expose the application to additional experts with a more intimate understanding of solar resource

estimation. These individuals would be able to evaluate and comment on a number of issues that cannot be tested by the general public. Some of these include getting an idea if the results are within reasonable ranges and are consistent with their expert knowledge.

Chapter 6 – Conclusion

The overall goal of this thesis was to investigate how local scale environmental initiatives might be communicated and made more accessible to individuals through the use of new Web-GIS technologies and decision support practices. SunSpot was built and tested as a way to determine the effectiveness of design improvements made, based on opportunities identified through the literature and existing Web-GIS applications. The first section of this chapter summarises how each research objective was met in order to achieve this goal. Next, a number of limitations to this project are described and possible resolutions are proposed. The chapter is concluded with recommendations for a number of future research opportunities identified from the workshop results discussed in Chapter Five and through the research and development stages of SunSpot.