Usability Evalution methods - need to learn

Surveys Description

Research Methodology for gathering information form a sample of people to understand user opinions, behaviors, and experiences regarding a product or service.

Survey Examples

Examples include:
Face to Face
Over the phone
Self admin (admin / paper)

Survey Advantages

Can tailor to specific aspects of prototype / system
Provides control over question wording and structure
Captures quantitate data for comparison across different prototypes

Survey disadvantages

Limited depth meaning it may not capture full user experiences or reasoning
Potential question bias is working is poor
Surveys take time and expertise

Questionnaires Description

A set of written questions for conducting a survey

The 2 types of Questionnaires

Open
Closed

Open Questionnaires

Free text responses allowing detailed feedback

Closed Questionnaires

Predefined, yes/no, multiple choice questions

Questionnaires Advantages

Establishes validity and reliability
Saves time
Easy to administer to users

Questionnaires disadvantages #1

Limited flexibility - many not cover specific areas of your system
Some cost money for questionnaires
Hard to modify questions without affecting validity / reliability

Usability testing

Observing real users performing tasks on prototypes / systems
Identifies issues , measures efficient, errors and satisfaction

Usability testing advantages

Directly measures how users interact with a system
Reveals actual problems not perceived issues
Resource intensive as it need participants, facilitation and analysis time

Usability testing disadvantages

Time consuming for multiple tasks / users
Resource intensive as it needs participation, facilitation and analysis time