Usability Evaluations

Usability Evaluation involves testing the usability of a user interface by having a representative sample of the target audience performing typical, realistic tasks.

This should be done at a stage where there is time to correct any problems before the new or revised product is launched (goes live).

• Ensure your product or service is appealing to your users
• Make your offerings more appealing and easy to use
• Ensure users can accomplish their tasks satisfactorily using your product or service
• Understand what your actual users think of your product or service

• Gather subjective data about the appeal of the product or service
• Identify common problems areas with the site/product and propose viable solutions
• Involve the users in the design process
• Gather user feedback through the medium of paper designs, electronic prototypes through to beta and live versions of your product or service.

This service can be used at the following stages of the product development cycle:

• Design
• Prototyping
• Code
• Test
• Deployment.

1. A research plan is devised in consultation with the client, to determine which areas of the product or service need to be tested. A set of tasks is then devised by the consultant to extract information from the participants about each of these tasks. If web logs and web analytics are available they are used to help identify the problem areas and construct the tasks, so optimum use is made of the participants’ time
2. One participant at a time is interviewed, typically for a maximum of 75 minutes
3. Before the test begins a questionnaire is administered to the participant to discover any assumptions, opinions and preferences held by the participant. Each participant is given access to the product or service and a list of tasks that he/she is required to complete in order
4. The participant ‘thinks-aloud’ while performing the tasks verbalising his/her thoughts, feelings, and opinions while interacting with the system. The evaluator prompts the participant by asking direct questions about the product or service, in order to understand the participant’s mental model of the system and the tasks, and where she/he has trouble in understanding and using the system

5. The participant’s on-screen interactions, facial expressions and verbalisations can be captured and recorded for in-depth analysis if required. This is also useful for compiling video-highlights for stakeholders who were not able to attend the evaluation sessions
6. Following the completion of all of the tasks the participant is interviewed to measure overall perceptions and to understand particular observed behaviours. This allows the evaluator to retrace selected behaviours with the participant and fathom why certain actions were taken, without disturbing the user’s flow too much
7. After the interview the participant is given a questionnaire to complete. The questionnaire asks the participant about features/functionality that were considered most useful, desired features/functionality, problem areas and general likes and dislikes
8. Analyse findings: The results are gathered and analysed. Any behavioural trends are noted as well as any interesting outcroppings. Qualitative data in the form of participants’ verbalisations, post-test questioning and responses to open-ended questions within the questionnaire is gathered and any common threads are highlighted. The relevant quantitative data is graphed and presented along with the qualitative data and a psychological analysis of the reasons behind the behaviour and recommendations as to how to remove the problems encountered by the participants.

For a typical project covering one user profile and 8 target users (participants):

Duration: 7.5 days plus 7 days lapsed time for recruitment of participants

Cost: £3,000 - £5,000

Activities

1. Recruit participants
2. Briefing meeting
3. Research plan
4. Conduct evaluations
5. Analyse findings
6. Deliver report.

Deliverables

• Research plan
• Evaluation report, including analysis of test results, graphs of quantative information, recommendations on how to eradicate usability issues, best practice information and results of questionnaires administered to participants. Why not view a sample Usability Evaluation report?
• PowerPoint presentation (optional)
• Preparation & delivery of video highlights (optional).