A trace mechanism for telephone interactions using VoiceXML

The research that we present here are related to a study for the design and implementation of a follow-up survey of students via an interactive voice response (IVR) using VoiceXML, a W3C standard language. We present a corpus of questions and answers obtained in natural language, and we validate scientific hypotheses concerning the use of modes of interaction (voice versus direct manipulation). Then, we explain how we passed from a mechanism of exogenous traces (with a monitoring system performed by external tools recordings) to an endogenous mechanism (with a monitoring system made from within the IVR) to provide tools and instruments more adapted to the evaluation of multimodal applications that use speech and gesture (telephone keypad or mouse click on hyperlink). The trace mechanism for telephone interactions using VoiceXML presented here increases the quality of the evaluation of human-machine telephone interactions, because these traces are automatically recorded and reusable. Furthermore, we show that it is possible to get instant statistics (histograms and graphs made in real time, in PHP) using the method presented here. Thus, we have shown that pedagogical surveys, which traditionally are laborious, complex to implement and very time consuming can be facilitated through the methods and tools we recommend.