From the research process, requirements were narrowed down into functional and non-functional.

Functional requirements

1. The user will be able to login

2. The user will be able to register

3. The user will be able to add income

4. The user will be able to add expense

5. The user will be able to view income

6. The user will be able to view expense

7. The user will be able to view the dashboard

• Scalability of app

• Response time

• Security

• Supportability

• availability

The actors within the use case diagram are the user and firebase. The use cases are goals. The actor interacts with the use case.

Problem Area

While there are resources that assist children with neurodevelopmental disorders in maths, memory, and critical thinking there is a lack of resources that assist adults with their finances.

For an adult to live a comfortable monetary lifestyle they must have financial literacy (Hendriks, 2010). Mathematical ability plays an important role when it comes to participating in day-to-day life. This includes decision making, handling numerical instructions, or determining the importance of values (Jonas, 2018). As stated previously, 1 in 4 adults in Ireland range at level 1 or below out of the 5-level assessment for numeracy (OECD, 2019). Level 1 or below is described as having difficulty with basic maths focused tasks (OECD, 2016). This would also imply that the 1 in 4 adults in Ireland may live an uncomfortable monetary life.

However, a lower level of education alone is not the only contributing factor that can cause low numerical ability.

Dyscalculia, for instance, is a neurodevelopmental disorder which seriously impacts a person's capacity to learn mathematics (Butterworth, Varma & Laurillard, 2011). This is the sole shortage of the condition and, all things considered, can be found to influence individuals who in any case have ordinary intelligence and cognitive ability. Queen’s University Belfast conducted a study on the performance of over 2,400 primary school children and findings showed that 112 of the children had a mathematical learning disorder (Kennedy, MA, & BCET, 2019).

ADHD is another example of a neurodevelopmental condition that can negatively impair a person in their mathematical ability in day-to-day life. ADHD affects an individual’s working memory which can in turn can make memorizing math facts and ability to follow instructions and procedures significantly more difficult than someone who is neurotypical. For example, the problem of 2+2 and the answer 4 must both be active in the phonological buffer of the brain for a neural connection to be made and reinforced between the problem and the answer (Kennedy, MA, & BCET, 2019).

As of 2020 there are no distinct statistics and data on the pervasiveness of ADHD in Ireland, with ongoing statistical information neglecting to recognize explicit inconsistencies such as not differentiating between different disabilities. However, 2016 census data determined that 156,968 (3.3%) of people have trouble learning, remembering, or concentrating. While these classifications and numbers may well speak to ADHD numbers intently, the expansive idea of this categorisation implies it is difficult to recognize explicit information about ADHD (Woods, Keane, & Keane, 2018).

Further to the above findings, anxiety related to maths and numerical related tasks can also negatively impact one’s mathematical ability. An individual can experience a severe uneasiness and panic when presented with numerical tasks, which can in turn negatively impact one’s capability to complete the mathematical task (Ashcraft, 2002). This can cause an individual to perceive their numerical ability as poor, can affect the results of the standardised school numeracy tests and can cause one to become completely maths avoidant. However, their actual numerical ability may not be accurately reflected as it is impacted by the individual’s own anxieties related to maths. This can be seen in Faust, Ashcraft & Fleck (1996), where participants with anxiety related to mathematics were assigned 3 mathematical problems to complete in both a high stress level environment as well as a low stress environment. The results concluded that under the low stress conditions where the participants were not timed and where they were able to use spare paper to do rough work on, they achieved much better scores.

In relation to the extent of maths anxiety in the Irish populous, there is limited research available. However, Shiel and Kelleher (2017) conducted a study on secondary school students and found that 35% of students disclosed being nervous while undergoing mathematical problems, whereas 29.7% disclosed having a great deal of nervousness while undergoing a maths problem.

An individual’s capability to engage effectively and positively with numerical information on a day-to-day basis is a vital ability and directly affects financial decision making. Despite being extensively limited, the available research on objective and subjective numeracy is predominantly in agreement. In the Nye and Hillyard (2013) research of quantitative literacy, subjective numeracy, and materialism on personal financial behaviour, found that there is a positive association with well-established mathematical efficiency and favourable subjective numeracy scores in connection to favourable financial behaviour and financial stability.

This can be corroborated by both studies from Tompkins (2015) and Tompkins (2018). The 2015 study measured the scale of the participant’s subjective and objective numeracy and then issued them questionnaires in relation to their financial behaviour before the test was taken and their financial behaviour one-year post study. Interestingly, the findings determined that those who scored higher on the Subjective Numeracy Scale scored performed better with their finances. Perhaps a higher sense of self-worth affects our cognitive function?

It should also be noted that this study’s participants were undergraduate students and likely excluded many financial responsibilities such as mortgage payments.

Tompkins (2018) determined that the participants that performed well in Objective Numeracy and Subjective Numeracy demonstrated the most personal financial success. Another interesting note from this study demonstrated that those who scored high on subjective numeracy with a combined low score on objective numeracy displayed the worst personal financial outcomes. Despite being confident in their numerical ability, these participants lacked the objective mathematical ability to back that up. This led them to make poor financial decisions which were detrimental to their personal finances. These participants, having unwavering confidence in their financial abilities, were unable to recognize the faults and errors in their financial decisions.

Peters et al. (2019) further confirmed the above study. In this study Objective numeracy and numeric self-efficiency were measured on the “ability” subscale of the subjective numeracy scale in relation to personal financial and medical decisions. In relation to the findings in terms of financial aspect of the study, coincided with Tompkins (2018)’s results determining that high objective numeracy and subjective numeracy scores coincided with positive financial behaviour, planning and progression. It also found that participants that scored lower on subjective numeracy combined with a high objective numeracy score performed only slightly worse than the above. It was found that those who scored high on subjective numeracy combined with a low score on objective numeracy performed the worst. The study connected the most favourable financial outcomes coincided with those who scored high on both subjective as well as object numeracy[M1] .

In 2018 The Money Advice Service indicated that low numeracy skills contribute to the poor management of bills. Although this is a contributing factor, an individual’s numerical confidence plays a large role too.

From Tompkins (2018) study it was determined that participants who performed well in Objective Numeracy and Subjective Numeracy demonstrated the most personal financial success. Participants who scored high on subjective numeracy with a combined low score on objective numeracy displayed the worst personal financial outcomes.

While there are services such as Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) that help people deal with debt and offer advice and resources to people who are in need. There is also need for an app that can prevent people from falling into debt in the first place.

Technical Research

Android software development is the process by which applications are created for devices running the Android operating system.

Android applications can be written in various languages such as Java, Kotlin and C++. The Android SDK tools compile your code along with any data and resource files into an APK, an Android package, which is an archive file with an .apk suffix.

The google play store has over 2.56 million apps available. In today’s modern age there are more Android devices on the market than any other operating system. As time goes on the demand for high quality applications developed by developers will increase.

As of 2020 there are 2.5 billion active Android devices on the market. This means that the demand for applications and experienced android application developers will increase in the future.

Development environment

Program Design

Model View ViewModel (MVVM) is a design pattern that helps in the construction of software. It assists in separating business logic of the application from View and UI.

The Model is in charge of handling data within an application. It is not able to interact with views directly. Instead, it interacts with the ViewModels. The View is the User Interface of the application and it does not contain application logic. The Viewmodel is the link between the view and the Model.

When MVVM is used within Android this architecture is used. (See figure below)

Application architecture allows the applications framework to be defined. Android architecture components are a collection of libraries that allow for design, testing and maintain applications. The ViewModel is designed to hold data in relation to View or UI.

Expense manager app uses firebase Realtime Database which allows for quick development and high quality. Firebase is a Backend-as-a-service (Baas). Firebase is a NoSQL database. Firebase is a large JSON object. This means the database has no schema, tables, or columns. Instead, it is a combination of key/value pairs

The UML diagram represents the classes within the app. The classes have attributes and behaviours. Private operations hide information outside the class partition. Public operations allow all other classes to view the marked information. An attribute is a piece of data that contains values that describe each instance of that class. Also known as fields, variable, or properties.

This section looked at the design of The Expense Manager App. Program design and user interface design were discussed. The program design looked at Technologies and how android studio is structured. Design patterns such as MVVM were looked at and how it works with android to structure an application.

User interface looked at the design of The Expense Manager App. Wireframes were created to give a more visual idea of how the finished app would look. The user flow diagram looked at how the app would flow if a user were to use it.

Implementation

Introduction

The Expense manager app is an application built using Android studio tools and Firebase to create a visual financial aid for people with neurodevelopmental disorders and low numeracy. The application is intended to be used by people who struggle with managing their finances on a day-to-day basis. This section will discuss the implementation process of this project.

Development Environment

The application for this project has been developed using Android studio and Firebase. Android studio is Android’s official IDE. An integrated development environment (IDE) is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development. Android studio offers tools such as code editing, debugging, testing, and profiling tools.

Android SDK

This project uses Android 11(API level 30). The SDK is a cluster of files that is needed in the creation of android applications. When Android studio is being installed an option is given to choose a path for the SDK installation

Project Files and Folders

Resources

Layout

The res/layout folder stores xml layout files. Layout contains the UI definition.

Animation

Res/anim describes animation properties. This information can be retrieved through the R.anim class.

Drawable

Drawable contains information about images such as .jpg and .png. This information is retrieved through the R.drawable class.

Raw

Files that are saved in their raw form. For example, audio files(.wav).

Menu

Defines the application menu.

AndroidManifest.xml

The manifest file is where the application begins. When the application runs the manifest helps the components to exist in the app. The <activity> declares the components or intents that the main activity contains. The < intent-filter> defines the actions and category tags. Intent invokes any activity. Main activity is invoked as can be seen in the figure below.

When an application is launched the first screen that appears on a mobile device is the main menu. This is due to <category> that can be seen in figure 36 above.

build.gradle

Gradle is a build tool. It is highly configurable and uses defaults. It builds the files necessary based on the configurations implemented or scripts that are running.

Android Virtual Device or Real Android Device

The android device is used for testing and running the application. To set up a real android device enable usb debugging option. In device settings click about phone and inside device information tap seven times on build number option to show developer option. In settings developer option appears. In developer options enable usb debugging. The Android device is then connected to a PC. The Android device used is a Huawei. When HI suite is downloaded to the PC the device connected will install ‘HiSuite’ as well. The notification bar appears to change it from default tap transfer files. In android studio to run the application click run app and the app launches on the device.

Login and registration layout design

An XML file used for layout design. For the file to function data tags are selected to create the design of the login and registration screen. Attributes are given to each tag.

Login and Registration functionality integrating Firebase

Firebase allows developers to register their application which in turn makes it possible to add firebase to your android app.

After registering the app, a google-service.json file is given. The file is downloaded and placed into The Expense Manager App.

Plugins are then placed into the gradle file. This lets the application use google services within the application.

Firebase dependencies are place in the gradle file. This gives access to firebase UI, authentication, and database.

Firebase authentication is set up which means firebase authentication SDK can integrate sign-in methods for the application.

Email/password authentication was chosen for the application.

Initialising Registration variables and firebase.

This Creates private void method within registration Activity. This method is called within the onCreate method. The variables are assigned IDs from the registration XML file. A setOnClickListener is used and String variables are used for username and password. If the username or password String is blank a message will display saying “Email is required” or “A password is required”. When the button is clicked the activity will start.

Bottom bar design

The bottom navbar is designed within the XML file.

The functions and tags that are assigned to the bottom navigation view.

The drawable folder where the Expense Manager App icons for the bottom navigation are stored.

Participants

The main participants of this project are people with neurodevelopmental disorders and low numeracy. Two of the three participants are diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder. One participant was diagnosed with ADHD and the other was diagnosed with Dyscalculia. The third participant is a faculty member of the college who specialises in Android development. The application will be tested by adults to see if it is suitable for managing expenses.

Ease of use

This project involves ease of use. This is to measure the degree to which an intended user can achieve specified goals with efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction in a specified context of use. The major components of ease of use allows us to evaluate our application.

• Efficiency looks at the time it takes to complete a task.

• Effectiveness will reveal how accurately a task can be completed and how commonly are errors produced.

• Engagement shows if users are satisfied or frustrated using the mobile application.

• Error Tolerance will show a user’s reaction when they encounter problems or errors.

An important question when it came to the design and structure of the application was ‘Can the user understand the information being displayed?’. It is crucial that users who use the application can determine their income and expenditure. The user’s ability to use the application is important as well, as it allows them to incorporate the application into their daily life.

Test environment

The testing environment would be in a designated testing area. The user within the designated test environment would be moderated to help the testing progress run smoothly. The user would be given a survey before and after the test. They would also be given instructions and tasks to complete during the test.

It would be ideal to have an onsite test to see how the user would react in a real-world scenario. This testing environment would have less moderating to give more control to the user. This would show information that might have been missed or overlooked during the controlled environment testing.

However, due to covid-19 testing was limited to online and remote in-person use.

Test Results

The test results look at:

• Issues the user encountered while performing tasks

• Actions they took

Comments (both positive and negative) they made

For the user testing there were three users of varying ages tested. Due to Covid-19 there was a limited number of users who met the requirements for testing the application. Two of the three users had disclosed that they had a neuro-development disorder.

The test results from user testing gave invaluable insight into the applications functionality and design.

The most pressing issues with the application were the location and design of buttons, Lack of visual aid, and navigation.

Furthermore, when a user was asked could they understand the tasks they were given to complete they said they were initially confused with the dashboard as they could not see the floating action button that adds an expense or income. The user goes on to say that the colour of the button was hard to see in comparison to the other features on screen. When the user first saw the screen, they instinctively tried to click income and expense on the dashboard. The user said they did not pay attention to the bottom part of the screen. The user comments that they did not realise they could navigate to different screens through the bottom navigation. Instead, they used the navigation sidebar at the top of the screen.

Another user pointed out the bug with the floating action button and how it was difficult to click the expense as it was being blocked. They also pointed out that if they wished to leave the button selection you could not simply click out of it. The user said that the button on the dashboard was not noticeable to them. When asked” what do they think would make the button more noticeable?” They said if the plus on the button was bold on the inside of the button and the button was larger. They also commented how purple made it difficult to see the button and made it blend in. The user suggested a yellow colour as they would see it as an indication of importance.

One user when asked to add an income instinctively went to the income menu as they did not see the button on screen as it was too small. The user also pointed out that when an income or expense is added that they should be able to click on them in the dashboard screen.

It is interesting to note that two of the three users did not notice the bottom navigation or simply forgot it was there. One user said that they did not look down at the bottom of the screen often and instinctively looked at the top part of the screen for navigation. The same user also pointed out that they wished they could add an income or expense on the different menus instead of going back to the dashboard.

When a user saw the income and expense would be calculated when added to the list, they said they liked the feature but noted it would be more noticeable when more is added to the lists.

Solutions for these issues would involve changing the button design on the dashboard such as colour and size. Adding buttons to the income and expense menus instead of the dashboard.

All users were able to add an income and expense but the time it took to do so varied. For example, one user took about four minutes to complete all tasks while another took nearly six minutes. The time variation was due to the users experience with mobile applications and how frequently they used them. One user even mentioned how they do most tasks/work on their computer.

When users were asked at the end of the test what features they would like to see within the application they all said a visual feature that would display income and expense on a graph. One user said they would like that feature in its own section separate from the dashboard while another user said they would like to see a graph/stat on the dashboard.

Discussion

General

From the researcher’s perspective the project turned out adequate for the limited time that was given to complete it.

If the researcher had to do the project again, hey would plan my time more efficiently. There was a limited amount of time to complete this project. They would create a tighter schedule that would allow them to complete tasks in sprints. This way they would be more organised and have set goals that needed to be completed.

The researcher would also conduct more research on the technical aspects of the project as they felt there were weak spots during the development of the application.

The design of the application in my opinion is lacking. If was to redo this part of the project I would put more emphasis on design as I believe it would have improved the applications appeal and made it more stylistic. It would also help with the user’s visualisation of numbers.

Strengths

The research done for people with neurodevelopment disorders and low numeracy was done well. It gave me significant insight into other people’s perspective and how they are treated within society that does not necessarily cater to their needs.

Limitations

The design of the application could be improved upon as the final product was lacking in some respects such as colour and styling.

The programmer’s knowledge of android studio and Firebase could be improved. It felt at certain points of the project that the programmer was lacking knowledge in key areas that slowed down the development process.

Future work

The next step forward for this project would be to add more functionality to the application. The application was missing features that were not included in the final version. The project could dive deeper into categorizing income and expense. The app would also benefit from having more visual features such as diagrams and charts so that users can visualize what they are spending and earning.

The project could use more programmers to help with the development of the application. A team being setup to continue the project would be ideal but that would require time and resources.

Finally, more research should be done on people with neurodevelopment disorders and low numeracy to improve the user experience of the application. More interviews would be conducted about why an application like the expense manager app is beneficial for improving the way of living for the target users.