Some Standard Techniques for Usability Inspection

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Some Standard Techniques for Usability Inspection

• Lecture 14

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Interviews

• Phrase the questions in an open or neutral way.
  Also, encourage the user to reply with full
  sentences, rather than a simple "yes" or "no".
  For example, ask, "What do you think of this
  feature?" and not "Did you like this new
  feature?"
• Begin with less demanding topics and move to more
  complex issues.
• Ask questions to reveal more information, not to
  confirm the investigator's beliefs.
• Include instructions about the answer. For
  example, answers can range from lengthy
  descriptions, to briefer explanations, to
  identification or simple selection, to a simple
  "yes" or "no".
• Do not try to explain to a subject why the system
  behaved in a particular way. Do not justify the
  design decision.

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Interviews.cont

• Avoid using jorgon. Use terms that the subjects
  can understand.
• Do not ask leading questions. A leading question
  implies that a situation exists and influences
  the direction of response. For example, "how did
  that poorly designed dialog affect you?"
• Do not agree or disagree with the user remain
  neutral.
• Use probes to obtain further information after
  the original question is answered (especially
  during the earlier stages of usability testing).
  Probes are used to encourage the subjects to
  continue speaking, or to guide their response in
  a particular direction so a maximum amount of
  useful information is collected.

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Focus Groups

• The general procedures for conducting a focus
  groups study is
• Locate representative users (typically 6 to 9 per
  focus group) who are willing to participate.
• Select a moderator.
• Prepare a list of issues to be discussed and
  goals for the type of information to gather.
• Keep the discussion on track without inhibiting
  the free flow of ideas and comment.
• Ensure that all participants get to contribute to
  the discussion. Guard against having a single
  participant's opinion dominate the discussion.
• Have the discussion feel free-flowing and
  relatively unstructured to the participants, but
  try to follow a prepanned script.
• Write a summary of the prevailing mood and
  critical comments of the session, including
  representative quotes.

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Focus Groups..cont

• The following is a list of things to be
  considered when conducting a focus groups study
• Consider having more than one focus group, since
  the outcome of a single session may not be
  representative and a single discussion may have
  focused on a subset of the issues or minor
  aspects of the system.
• The moderator needs to be skilled in group
  facilitation and communication to make a focus
  group successful. It is not as simple as
  preparing questions, because the moderator needs
  to facilitate and guide discussion in real time.
• The data collected tend to have low validity and
  are very difficult to analyze because of their
  unstructured and free-flowing nature.
• Computer conferencing or electronic mail networks
  or bulletin boards may be an alternative way of
  simulating the focus group approach. However,
  their limitation is that the people who are
  responding are probably not representative users,
  but rather expert users.