soc-se-bot
commented
2 months ago Team's Response
This depends on what field the social worker is in.
Additionally, there is a work-around, which is that the user is free to enter a "donthaveemail@noemail".
This work-around will reassure the social worker that this client does not have an email, rather than wonder if they have forgotten to ask for the client's email.
Items for the Tester to Verify
:question: Issue response
Team chose [response.Rejected]
- [x] I disagree
Reason for disagreement: > This depends on what field the social worker is in.
Since the target audience for this app are social workers, it is probable to assume that they work with vulnerable communities like young children, elderly, people with serious physical or mental disabilities. Many people from these vulnerable communities are unlikely to have email addresses. For example, "1 in 10 older adults have not successfully used any [digital applications]" (Tadai, 2023).
Therefore, this feature flaw causes occasional inconvenience to some users.
Additionally, there is a work-around, which is that the user is free to enter a "donthaveemail@noemail".
This work-around will reassure the social worker that this client does not have an email, rather than wonder if they have forgotten to ask for the client's email.
This work-around still causes inconvenience to users. Firstly, users might not be aware of this work-around. Secondly, this work-around does not reassure the social worker. Instead, it is may confuse the user that the client has the email "donthaveemail@noemail". It makes it appear that the client has an email when he actually does not.
A simple fix would be to allow empty strings for the email field, or make the email parameter and optional parameter in the add command. This would greatly improve the application, and allow the users to avoid clumsy work-arounds that can potentially confuse them.
References: Tadai, M. E. (n.d.). Digital literacy among older adults in Singapore Digital literacy among older adults in Singapore. Ink.library.smu.edu.sg. https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=rosa_reports
## :question: Issue severity Team chose [`severity.Low`] Originally [`severity.Medium`] - [x] I disagree **Reason for disagreement:** Since the target audience for this app are social workers, it is probable to assume that they work with vulnerable communities like young children, elderly, people with serious physical or mental disabilities. Many people from these vulnerable communities are unlikely to have email addresses. For example, "1 in 10 older adults have not successfully used any [digital applications]" (Tadai, 2023). Amongst vulnerable elderly communities that social workers work with (those that live alone, those who have health problems) this number is likely to be higher. Since this problem affects at least 1 in 10 in every contact for social workers that work with elderly communities, this problem affects users occasionally, so it is a severity.Medium. References: Tadai, M. E. (n.d.). Digital literacy among older adults in Singapore Digital literacy among older adults in Singapore. Ink.library.smu.edu.sg. https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=rosa_reports
As the app is targeted to social workers, they might work with many elderly clients. Some elderly may not have an email. As such, the app should allow user to create a contact without an email, or leave the email field blank.